Executive summary

• Author: European Institute for Gender Equality (EU body or agency)
• Pages: 9-10

Executive summary

9Intimate partner violence and witness intervention: what are the deciding factors?

Executive summary

The EU has long recognised that violence against

women is a violation of human rights and a form

of gender-based discrimination that has a major

negative impact on victims and significant costs

for society (European Parliament, 2019). Women

are most likely to face violence at the hands of

someone they know, with one in five having expe-

rienced violence at the hands of an intimate part-

ner (FRA, 2014). As women are disproportionately

affected by intimate partner violence, this report

will focus on women victims. While the principal

duty to protect women from violence lies with the

state, the perception that intimate partner v io-

lence is a private matter needs to change across

society, on an individual level as well as in the pri-

vate, professional and public spheres.

This report examines the factors that encour-

age witnesses of intimate partner violence

to intervene (including repor ting the violence

to the relevant authorities). It draws on EU-wide

desk research and in-depth qualitative research

in Denmark, Germany, France and Portugal. As

the desk research found a lack of data and evi-

dence examining witnesses  support for victims

of intimate par tner violence, this report provides

new evidence on when witnesses intervene and

in which types of environment.

Factors that enable witness intervention

Witnesses have a s trong desire to inter-

vene, but not necessarily to report vio-

lence to the police.

Friends and family are a key group for sup-

porting victims of intimate partner violence

through intervention. Neighbours and oth-

ers in the local community also show a s trong

desire to intervene. Co-workers are less likely

to intervene.

Securing the cooperation and consent of

the victim is a key enabler of witness inter-

vention. Witness intervention can include

talking to the victim, helping them access

support services, or assisting in reporting the

issue to the authorities.

Understanding intimate par tner violence

and knowing how to support victims

motivates witnesses to intervene. This high-

lights the importance of awareness-raising

campaigns that build understanding, ena-

ble witnesses to spot the signs of intimate

partner violence (in particular non-physical

violence), and provide guidance on how to

assist vic tims.

The ability to repor t and give evidence on

intimate partner violence anonymously

encourages witnesses to report it to the

authorities, particularly neighbours and

co-workers, who tend to have a less close

relationship with the vic tim and perpetrator.

In healthcare and social-care settings, pro-

fessional obligation is a factor requiring

witnesses to report intimate partner violence

to the authorities. However, these obliga-

tions vary across countries and the perceived

conflict between the obligation to report the

issue and patient–client confidentialit y can

deter witnesses from reporting.

Some factors can act as both enablers of and

barriers to witness intervention. For exam-

ple, witnesses are generally more likely to repor t

intimate partner violence to the authorities if

dependent children are involved. However, this

is not always the case as some witnesses are

concerned about children being separated from

their parents, or experiencing trauma as a result

of a police investigation.