Check against delivery – Speech by Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Ambassador Gonggrijp, dear Tanja,
President Rousopoulos,
Ms. Alketa Xhafa-Mripa,
Ladies and gentlemen,
There is art that shocks.
Art that moves.
And then, there is art that shifts how we see the world — literally.
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With Thinking of You, Alketa Xhafa-Mripa invites us to look up.
To confront a truth many still find too painful to face.
A truth that hangs before us, silently — carrying unimaginable stories.
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This installation reminds us:
Sexual and gender-based violence is rising.
Women and girls are being raped, abducted, trafficked, married off against their will.
And yet, only a fraction are ever able to speak out — let alone seek justice.
That is when the words of Gisèle Pélicot come back to haunt us:
« J’ai l’impression que la coupable, c’est moi ».
“I feel as if I am the guilty one.”
That shame, that silence — it is part of the violence.
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Whether in war zones or behind closed doors, women are so often the first to suffer.
As Croatian writer Slavenka Drakulić once said:
“Rape is a slow kind of murder.”
This is how women are made into weapons of war.
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But women are also — always — keepers of peace. Of healing. Of memory.
And that is where hope begins.
We are not powerless.
At the Council of Europe, we have the tools.
The Istanbul Convention is a landmark treaty — the most comprehensive legal framework to prevent and combat violence against women, including sexual violence in conflict.
It ensures that victims are seen, supported, and protected — in times of peace and in times of war.
And it makes clear that perpetrators must be held to account.
Today, it guides governments not only in prevention and protection, but in making justice possible.
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And there is progress.
More countries are adopting consent-based definitions of rape — aligning national laws with European Court of Human Rights case law and the Istanbul Convention.
Thanks to this, more survivors are coming forward.
More convictions are happening.
And slowly, justice is catching up.
***
So yes, Thinking of You asks us to face a painful truth.
But it also invites us to imagine a different future…
One where survivors are no longer shamed or silenced…
But believed, supported, and empowered.
Thank you.