Women victims of violence receive insufficient support in Europe

Research conducted by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) has shown domestic violence against women remains widespread and under-reported, and that victims of violence are not effectively supported by public services.

Insufficient specialised services for women victims of violence was found in 12 out of the 27 EU Member States.

Nine out of ten victims of intimate partner violence in the EU are women, and women victims of physical, intimate partner violence in the EU ranges between 12% to 35% across the member states.

"EIGE's research shows that current support services do not meet the needs of women victims of violence," Virginija Langbakk, director of EIGE, said. "The specialised services are insufficient and unequally distributed in certain countries and the funding for them is inconsistent. Moreover, training for professionals working with victims of violence is not yet mandatory, systematic or gender-sensitive." 

The report points out that 26 member states and Croatia have counselling centres for victims of violence, but only eight member states and Croatia fulfill the recommended ratio of one counselling centre per 50,000 women.

Although 17 Member States have helplines for women victims of violence, only six of these helplines are free of charge and available 24/7, which are the basic requirements highlighted in the Istanbul Convention.

"It is important to highlight that the vast majority of member states have developed and implemented national action plans to combat domestic violence," Langbakk said.

"They have also included intimate partner violence into the penal codes and adopted protection orders. Some member states have demonstrated significant improvements in service provision, such as the provision of services for women facing multiple discrimination, including migrant, young, older, ethnic, LBT women and also women with disabilities."

However - she added - there is still space for improvement. "The majority of national action plans lack monitoring and evaluation systems; only four Member States introduced gender-based definition of domestic violence into their criminal codes and in many member sttes the protection orders are not implemented effectively."