Preventing and combating violence against women and girls is nothing new for Mainz. Many women's organizations, women's counseling centers, and the Women's Office have been working on this for decades. For example, the Working Group on Violence Against Women and Children has been in existence since 1991.

What is new, however, is that the Istanbul Convention views equality, violence prevention, and protection against violence as a single entity, thus offering the opportunity to expand all three areas in terms of funding and personnel and to link them (better) with each other. Politicians and administrators are called upon to develop a concept for this with the support of women's counseling centers and organizations.

The Women's Office then worked out the municipal implications of the Istanbul Convention, discussed them in the Working Group on Violence against Women and Children, and presented them to the Women's Committee.

On the occasion of International Women's Day, the Mainz Women's Center and the municipal Women's Office invited participants to a workshop discussion on the implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Mainz.

After all areas of action had been successively dealt with by the Mainz City Council's Committee on Women's Issues, the city administration set up an Istanbul Convention Working Group. Its task is to develop a concept for implementing the Istanbul Convention in Mainz. In addition to representatives from the Social Affairs Department and the Women's Office, the working group includes the Housing Coordination Center, the Migration Office, and, as external experts, the Mainz Women's Emergency Hotline and SOLWODI as permanent members.