Speech

No safe haven: Integrated prevention measures to end domestic, sexual and gender-based violence

Speaker
Michael O’Flaherty, Director, EU Agency for Fundamental Rights
FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty spoke at conference of Ministers of Council of Europe Member States on 29 September 2022 in Dublin, Ireland. In his speech he highlighted steps to be taken to eliminate violence against women.

Minister McEntee; Ministers; Secretary-General; President of the Parliamentary Assembly; President of GREVIO; distinguished participants – bonjour à toutes et à tous. Je suis ravi d’être parmi vous aujourd’hui.

Distinguished participants, we at the Fundamental Rights Agency greatly appreciate the leadership of the Council of Europe in the combat of violence against women. The significance of the Istanbul Convention cannot be overstated. We also deeply appreciate the work of GREVIO, including in the context of the recent publication of its first General Recommendation. The Convention and the work of GREVIO provide my Agency with a roadmap for our work in this area.

We also greatly appreciate the leadership of the Irish Presidency of the Committee of Ministers. We thank them for choosing the topic for this ministerial meeting. We also thank Ireland for its leadership in legislating on violence against women. We welcome the 2018 Domestic Violence Act and its frankly innovative offence of coercive control.

We endorse and are so encouraged by what the Minister described today – the recently-adopted Zero Tolerance Strategy.

The primary role of the Fundamental Rights Agency in an EU context, of course, is the measurement of the phenomenon of violence against women. A major survey of ours, already referenced from 2014, remains the only EU-wide source of evidence.

I am pleased to confirm today that the survey will be repeated in 2023, this time with Eurostat doing the work in 17 EU Member States, and with my Agency and our sister agency, EIGE, surveying the remaining 10 States. The results will be published in 2024.

Of course, our evidence is also generated from other work. For instance, our studies of the lived experience of members of ethnic minority groups of the LGBTI+ communities of Roma and Travellers also generate important relevant data; and they reinforce understanding of the intersectionality of the human rights abuses experienced by women.

In addition, in 2023 we will do an in-depth survey-based study of the violence perpetrated against Ukrainian women who are now in the European Union. The findings will support appropriate policy responses and, we hope, eventual international criminal accountability.

Allow me now, if you will, to return for a moment to the data – keeping in mind, of course, always that our data is specific to European Union Member States.

When we ask women where the violence occurred, the location is typically in the home. For 37%, it occurred in their own home. Who was the perpetrator? For 32% of respondents, it was a family member. Was the incident reported to the authorities? In the case of partner violence, just 33%; in non-partner violence, 25%.

Where did victims submit the reports? 19% to a health authority, just 14% to the police. The low levels of reporting to the police may be related to how police react. Only one third of women that we have interviewed was offered any protection at all by the police, such as in the form of a barring order, or the arrest of the offender.

A brief word on Covid. A range of studies indicate that the incidents of violence rose significantly during the lockdown periods; and police protection diminished even further. We, of course, also saw some good practice in the lockdowns, such as innovative reporting initiatives that were implemented in some countries.

Staying with good practice, allow me to refer to three encouraging recent developments.

Recently, for instance, we have noted heightened attention by States to coercive control and psychological violence. This is new, it is important, and it is increasing. It is also moving us towards effective implementation of Article 33 of the Istanbul Convention.

Secondly, on the outrageous issue of femicide, at least 40,000 women globally (that we know of) were killed by a family member in 2020 alone. Until recently, there had been a lack of drilled-down national data as to the phenomenon.

Therefore, we welcome that, in March of this year, the United Nations published a new statistical framework that, for the first time internationally, defines femicide and otherwise supports the gathering of comparable data.

The third of my encouraging signs is the proposal in the European Union for a directive on combatting violence against women. This proposed directive will greatly strengthen the regulatory framework in the EU; and, notably, at least in the present draft, it comprehensively addresses online harassment and violence.

Now, as the draft progresses, it is important that it draw on the Istanbul Convention. For instance, by adopting a more explicit rights-based approach; and ensuring that it in no way sets out lower standards than those to be found in the Convention.

By the way, following on remarks from President Kox, my Agency sees enormous value in the European Union eventually acceding to the Istanbul Convention.

In conclusion, I would like to look forward and make four final observations in a justice context.

The first is that we must work hard with our police forces. We must help them to recognise the need for swift and effective responses. They have to better understand that these are criminal matters, not issues of social work.

Second, we have to give our police forces the tools they need, for example as regards seeking emergency barring orders. Then, once they have the tools, they need to be put to use.

Third, we consider that we need to invest in continuing to seek to understand the phenomenon of online sexual violence, whereby it can be monitored and tackled. In this regard, I would like you to be able to count on the Fundamental Rights Agency and our support by way of a number of our projects in the area – such as on the policing of algorithms; the diverse manifestations of misogyny online; and of rights-respectful moderation and take-down of content.

Fourth, and finally, we have to acknowledge that, as the Minister put it earlier, eradicating violence against women is an all-of-society issue. Until we end misogyny and achieve true gender equality, we will only have the most limited of success.

Thank you.

See also