Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE) is a non-profit feminist women's organization which was established in 1994 and has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria. It is the only European network focused exclusively on the elimination of violence against women and children, and it lobbies state governments and relevant bodies of the Council of Europe at the EU level to gain sustainability of women's services. In keeping with the aims of the United Nations, WAVE highlights ending all forms of violence against women and children in both public and private life, following document such as the Vienna Declaration, the Declaration on Violence Against Women and the Beijing Platform for Action. The current executive director of Women Against Violence Europe is Stephanie Futter-Orel. Background and history The inspiration for WAVE began in 1993 at the World Conference on Human Rights, which was held in Vienna. The conference explicitly named violence against women as a violation of human rights, which was outlined in the resulting Vienna Declaration. The Declaration defined violence against women, and called for states to take concrete steps to prevent it. Following this, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in December 1993. In October 1994, women gathered at the Vienna NGO Forum to prepare for the 4th UN Conference on Women in Beijing, where the idea of creating a European network dedicated to eliminating violence against women appeared. At the Beijing Conference from September 4 until 15 1995, progress was made on forming the network and initiators ran a working group, with the Platform for Action being developed as a result. The WAVE founding group held its constituent session during the World Conference and, in October 1996, WAVE held its first networking session in Utrecht. The group was originally named the “Information Centre Against Violence” before changing its title to “Women Against Violence” and then “Women Against Violence Europe”. The organization's first meeting took place at the Intervention Centre Against Domestic Violence in Vienna in December 1996, and in 1997 WAVE held its first conference in Belgrade, Serbia. WAVE's work has been supported by the European Commission since 1997. In 2014, WAVE became a legal entity in Austria. Organization structure WAVE Network Members WAVE consists of various European women's NGOs who seek to combat violence against women and children. There are currently over 150 members supported by WAVE who work at