Proposal for a Directive
of the combating violence against women and domestic violence 

ID 20107 | COM(2022)0105

Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on combating violence against women and domestic violence

Status 03.07.2023 / Download Proposal COM(2022)0105

- In attesa della posizione del Parlamento in prima lettura.
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The current proposal aims to effectively combat violence against women and domestic violence throughout the EU. It does so by proposing measures in the following areas: the criminalisation of and sanctions for relevant offences; protection of victims and access to justice; victim support; prevention; coordination and cooperation.  Violence against women is gender-based violence directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately.

It includes all acts of gender-based violence that result in or are likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering, including threats of such acts. It encompasses offences such as sexual violence, including rape, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, forced abortions or sterilisation, human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, stalking, sexual harassment, femicide, hate speech and crimes on the basis of sex and various forms of online violence (‘cyber violence’), including non-consensual sharing or manipulation of intimate material, cyber stalking and cyber harassment.

Such violence is rooted in gender inequality being a manifestation of structural discrimination against women.

Domestic violence is a form of violence against women as it disproportionately affects women.

It occurs in the family or domestic unit, irrespective of biological or legal family ties, either between intimate partners or between other family members, including between parents and children. Women are disproportionately represented as victims of both forms of violence due to the underlying patterns of coercion, power and/or control. However, anyone can be a potential victim of such violence, regardless of their sex or gender.

In the case of domestic violence, in particular, it can affect any person, including men, younger or older people, children and LGBTIQ1 persons. Violence against women and domestic violence are matters of criminal law, violations of human rights and forms of discrimination. Combating them is part of the European Commission’s action to protect the core EU values and to ensure that the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights is upheld.

Violence against women and domestic violence are pervasive throughout the EU and are estimated to affect 1 in 3 women in the EU. Looking at the more specific types of violence, in 2014, 1 in 10 women reported that they had been victim of sexual violence and 1 in 20 had been raped.

More than 1 in 5 women have suffered domestic violence.

Cyber violence is just as prevalent: in 2020, it was estimated that 1 in 2 young women experienced gender-based cyber violence.

Women in general, more frequently experience cyber violence based on their sex or gender, in particular sexual forms of cyber violence. Women are systematically targeted online by violent right wing extremist groups and terrorist groups intending to spread hatred against them.

The so-called ‘incel’ (involuntary celibate) movement, for instance, incites to violence against women online and promotes such violence as heroic acts. Cyber violence particularly impacts women active in public life, such as politicians, journalists and human rights defenders.

This can have the effect of silencing women, hindering their societal participation and undermining the principle of democracy as enshrined in the Treaty on European Union.  Women also experience violence at work: about a third of women in the EU who have faced sexual harassment experienced it at work. 
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