notes that progress is fragmentary. There remains the need to eliminate gender-bias and stereotypes that still affect decision and policy-making and impede the advancement of women in political life. The Commissioner encourages the involvement of all relevant actors from both government and civil society to ensure systematic implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the future gender equality action plan. 1.2 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 12. In their human rights assessments concerning Latvia made in 2003 and 2007, the Commissioner’s predecessors referred inter alia to the “relatively common” problem of domestic violence. In that context, one of the leading local NGOs in the field of provision of services to children and adults in crisis situations, the Skalbes crisis centre, reported to the Office of the Commissioner in 2006 that approximately 35 women died every year from violence inflicted by their husbands or partners. Persons subjected to domestic violence were generally reluctant to turn to the law enforcement bodies, as police and the courts tended to diminish the seriousness of domestic violence and to treat it as a private matter. Gaps were identified in the assistance to sufferers of violence, specifically as concerns the availability of shelters and financial allocations for rehabilitation programmes. In his observations, previous Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg encouraged a genuine and substantive debate on domestic violence, as well as broader awareness campaigns for law enforcement agencies, judges, and welfare workers.17 13. Since 2009, the Ministry of Welfare has been compiling annual reports containing data on domestic violence. On average, the police receives 13 calls per day on cases of “family conflicts”; however, 97% of such cases do not result in criminal proceedings, mostly because police do not qualify them as criminal offences.18 Police data, which are lower than the actual instances of domestic violence, reveal the following: in 2013, 155 women were subjected to such violence, and 144 women in 2014. In 2012, three women were killed by their partners. The following year, two women were killed by their partners, while six women were killed by other relatives.19 Moreover, according to the Information Report compiled by the Ministry of Welfare, in 2014, at least five women were killed by their spouses or partners, and four more were killed by other relatives. 20 14. A survey carried out by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in 2012 (published in 2014) suggested that Latvia had one of the highest incidences in the EU of violence against women, with 39% of women in Latvia subjected to sexual and/or physical violence (as compared to the 33% EU average), and 31% of women suffering physical violence inflicted by their partner (EU average: 20%).21 15. In 2008, the Government adopted a Programme for Reducing Domestic Violence for 2008-2011 which included three priority directions: identification of domestic violence, prevention of domestic violence, and institutional cooperation in the provision of assistance and rehabilitation services.22 The information report on the outcomes of the programme prepared by the Ministry of Welfare in July 2012 showed that every third woman had suffered from domestic violence, which corresponds to the figures collected by FRA. The report also revealed the lack of expertise, guidelines and criteria to identify cases of domestic violence against women and children.23 After the end of the abovementioned programme, follow-up activities were included in the Guidelines for State Family Policy for 2011-2017 and their corresponding Action Plan.24 17 Report by Alvaro Gil-Robles, Commissioner for Human Rights, on his visit to Latvia, 5 - 8 October 2003 and Memorandum to the Latvian Government, Assessment of the progress made in implementing the 2003 recommendations of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Strasbourg, 16 May 2007. 18 Information submitted by the Ministry of Welfare to the Office of the Commissioner on 31 August 2016. 19 Ibid. 20 Information Report on the Cases of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence: Their Prevalence and Dynamics in 2014. The Ministry of Welfare: Riga, 2016. 21 Violence against women survey, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, published in March 2014. 22 Programme for the Reduction of Domestic Violence (2008-2011). 23 Information report on the outcomes of the Programme for reducing domestic violence 2008 -2011, published on 12 July 2012. 24 Statement by the representative of the Ministry of Welfare at the 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, UN 2013. 6