In recent weeks, killings of a woman or girl because of her gender (femicide) in a few EU Member States show the urgency to better respond to this phenomenon.
Today EIGE publishes the report Improving legal responses to counter femicide in the European Union: Perspectives from victims and professionals.
The report follows on EIGE’s package to help EU countries gather solid data to classify and measure femicide.
The spate of femicide cases in 2021 puts victims’ rights into sharp focus
According to UN Women, 45,000 women and girls worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or other family members. This means that, on average, more than five women or girls are killed every hour by someone in their own family.
This needs to change.
The international human rights framework obliges States to follow the due diligence principle when shaping responses to violence against women. This means they must prevent, investigate and punish all acts of violence against women as well as protect the victims and provide holistic reparations to help heal their trauma.
Improving legal responses to counter femicide in the European Union: Perspectives from victims and professionals |
But we also need to acknowledge that the victims of femicide go beyond one person
Family members of murdered women – children, parents and other close family members – are hidden in plain sight. However, their experiences with law enforcement and the justice sector are often painful.
This is due to insufficient information on their rights, a lack of victim-oriented, trauma-informed approach and a lack of legal recognition of their role during legal proceedings negatively affecting their access to justice.
In this new report, EIGE gives a voice to both legal professionals and victims who speak about their experiences on what it’s like to deal with the fallout of femicide. Interviews provide an authentic picture into the flaws of the legal systems – such as insufficient immediate action following a report of violence.
To change the way we perceive femicide, legislation must lead by example
Member States can improve legal procedures and reduce the number of victims by:
- Ensuring a coordinated response to femicide. Member States need to have national strategies on violence against women and develop specific measures to prevent femicide.
- Strengthening legal responses. Femicide needs to be seen as a separate criminal offence. This entails adopting investigative protocols for law enforcement officers and guidelines for prosecutors.
- Improving the collection of data on femicide cases. Data is a crucial tool to not only capture the scale of the phenomenon but for designing and monitoring prevention and response measures.
- Ensuring full access to compensation and reparation. This includes a victim’s right to money granted by the state when the perpetrator cannot do so, and reparation such as supporting victims to heal their trauma with counselling.
- Improving the protection of victim’s rights. Ensure that at least the minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims established by the victims’ rights directive are fully recognized in the Member States.
Leave a Reply