Project ´New ways to tackle gender-based violence: N-B approach`

An equal and inclusive society, where everyone lives a good life should be the goal for all of us. One
of the prerequisites for an equal society is the absence of any gender-based violence. This is also one
of the priorities of the Nordic Council of Ministers, which is why both the Nordic and Baltic countries
are working on the development and implementation of effective methods to eradicate all forms of
gender-based violence. It was this activity that gave rise to the ‘New ways to tackle gender-based
violence: Nordic and Baltic approach in 2021-2022’ project.
The objective of the project is to provide a common platform for professionals across the Nordic and
Baltic countries to collaborate and communicate in order to raise awareness of gender-based
violence, to prevent it and to provide greater support and safety for victims of domestic violence.

In august 2021 the first event, an international hybride Conference "Domestic Violence – from near
and far” was organized in Tallinn, Estonia. The Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating
violence against women and domestic violence, defines violence against women as falling under four
key forms: physical, sexual, psychological and economic. These aspects were discussed at the
Conference by the speakers from the Nordic countries, Estonia, UK and USA.

Four round tables and study visits in Lithuania, Finland, Latvia and Estonia were held during the
project.

In Estonia in November 2022 a local training course was organised, which included two lectures:
‘What is trauma?’ by psychologist Kaia Kastepõld-Tõrs, and ‘Practical examples of trauma informed
care in the law enforcement organizations practice’ by Ask Elklit, professor at the University of
Southern Denmark.
Final event of the Project was held on 7- 8 December in Estonia.

In total, 271 people participated in the various activities of the project on site and 1400 people
watched the conference online.
The project was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The project was launched and co-funded
by the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic of Estonia, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of
Estonia, the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Estonia, the Social Insurance Board, the Police
and Border Guard Board and the Prosecutor’s Office.

Cooperation partners of the project were The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Ministry of
Justice in Finland, Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, State Police of Latvia,
Ministry of Welfare of the Republic of Latvia, National Board on Health and Welfare in Sweden,
Norwegian Directorate of Health, Office of the national commissioner of Police in Iceland, Dialog
mod Vold in Denmark.

During the round-table in December it was discussed by all the NB8 country representatives whether
further activities are needed after the end of the project, and the unanimous decision was that it is
definitely necessary to continue on the domestic violence issues. Concrete topics were proposed for
the follow-up project: guidelines on sharing information between agencies (including data
protection issues), work with perpetrators, psychological violence (coercive control), child
participation. Iceland, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia are ready to coordinate the follow-up project.