Overview of existing evidence from all EU Member States

• Author: European Institute for Gender Equality (EU body or agency)
• Pages: 15-32

2. Overview of existing evidence from all EU Member States

15Intimate partner violence and witness intervention: what are the deciding factors?

2. Overview of existing evidence from all

EU Member States

(7) This includes the United Kingdom. At the time of writing, the United Kingdom was in a transition period and had not yet fully exited the European Union.

(8) Among the EU Member States, ratication of the convention is pending in Bulgaria, Czechia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovakia and the United Kingdom

(Council of Europe, 2020).

Findings in this chapter are based on desk

research conducted by a network of national

experts across all EU Member States ( 7).

2.1. Relevant EU provisions,

policies and legislation

The EU has in the last decade increased its efforts

to tackle gender-based violence of all sorts. Nota-

bly, building on the commitments to address

gender-based violence established by the Euro-

pean Commissions Womens Charter (European

Commission, 2010) and the European Pact for

Gender Equality 20112020 (Council of the Euro-

pean Union, 2011), the Commissions gender

equality strategy 20202025 (European Commis-

sion, 2020) highlights ending gender-based vio-

lence as a key strategic goal. The strategy calls on

Member States to implement Directive 2012/29/

EU establishing minimum standards on the

rights, support and protection of victims of crime

(Victims Right s Direc tive) and other relevant EU

law protecting victims of gender-based violence.

As a major landmark, the Vic tims Rights Direc-

tive provides a definition of gender-based vio-

lence, recognises that violence often take place

in close relationships and requires special forms

of support and protection (European Parliament

and Council of the European Union, 2012). The

directive provides minimum standards for vic-

tims, including the right to specialis t support

for victims with specific needs, such as victims

of sexual violence, victims of gender-based

violence and vic tims of violence in intimate

relationships, including trauma support and coun-

selling. Although the Victims Rights Direc tive does

not specifically cover witness protection, the

Commissions guidance document (European

Commission, 2013) does encourage Member

States to organise the courtrooms so that nei-

ther victims nor witnesses have to walk in front

of either the defendant or any of the defendant s

friends or family in order to testify, as this may

increase their sense of feeling threatened or

intimidated. Furthermore, those guidelines sug-

gested that Member States establish procedures

to make a victim- or witness-contac ting suppor t

service available, to provide information and sup-

port, prepare them for the trial, or meet them

on arrival in court and wait with them to provide

moral support during the trial, if required.

As signatories of the Council of Europe Con-

vention on Preventing and Combating Violence

against Women and Domestic Violence (Istan-

bul Convention) (Council of Europe, 2011), the EU

and its Member States (8) are expected to of fer

appropriate witness-support mechanisms and

protection. Ar ticle 18(2) of the convention calls

on the signatory countries to ensure that there

are appropriate mechanisms to provide for effec-

tive cooperation between relevant agencies and

organisations in protecting and supporting vic-

tims and witnesses of all forms of violence cov-

ered by the scope of the convention (Council of

Europe, 2011). The Istanbul Convention calls for

the protection of victims, their families and wit-

nesses from intimidation, retaliation and repeat

victimisation. Particular protection and support

are envisaged for child witnesses. Free 24-hour

(24/7) telephone helplines set up st ate-wide are

expected across Member States as a form of

general suppor t ser vice (Article 24). Article 27, on

reporting, is particularly relevant for this report,

as it calls on countries to take the necessary

measures to encourage any person witness to

the commission of acts of violence covered by

the scope of this Convention or who has reason-

able grounds to believe that such an act may be

2. Overview of existing evidence from all EU Member States

European Institute for Gender Equality16

committed, or that further acts of v iolence are

to be expected, to report this to the competent

organisations or authorities (Council of Europe,

2011). Article 28 focuses on professionals report-

ing of violence and requests that Member States

take the necessary measures to ensure that the

confidentiality rules do not cons titute an obstacle

to this reporting. In 2019 all Member States either

adopted national action plans to address gen-

der-based violence or incorporated such meas-

ures into related action plans, although Women

Against Violence Europe (WAVE) states that not all

of these Member State measures are considered

sufficient to meet Istanbul Convention standards

(WAVE, 2018). The Member State national action

plans tend to cover three key areas: the training

of key players (actors); preventing and changing

violent behaviour; and support for victims (EIGE,

2012). As a key line of analysis, the present report

offers a first overview of Member State meas-

ures to encourage witness reporting, exploring

how national legislation and national action plans

support the involvement of witnes ses in official

reporting procedures.

The available evidence on repor ting of inti-

mate par tner violence at EU level suggests that

many of the most serious incidents of violence

against women are not reported to the author-

ities. A study carried out by the European Union

Agency for Fundament al Rights (FR A) (Funda-

mental Rights Agency ) gauges the full scale of

under-reporting, showing that only about 14 %

of women reported the most serious incident of

violence they had experienced since the age of

15 to police authorities, while about one quarter

to one third reported it to at least one organi-

sation offering support to vic tims (including the

police). This stud y suggests that less serious inci-

dents are even less likely to be repor ted, so the

true severity of the problem of gender-based

violence is not accounted for by of ficial reporting

(FRA, 2014).

Reporting by witnesses is equally low. Despite

the central role witnesses can play in supporting

the victim, whether by contacting the authorities

(9) EIGE denes femicide as killing of women and girls on account of their gender, perpetrated or tolerated by both private and public actors. It covers,

inter alia, the murder of a woman as a result of intimate partner violence, the torture and misogynistic slaying of women, the killing of women and

girls in the name of so-called honour and other harmful-practice-related killings, the targeted killing of women and girls in the context of armed

conict, and cases of femicide connected with gangs, organised crime, drug dealers and tracking in women and girls (see: https://eige.europa.eu/

thesaurus/terms/1128).

themselves or by encouraging and/or accompa-

nying the victims to make a report, a Eurobarom-

eter survey showed that only 12 % of respondents

who knew about instances of domestic violence 

whether a friend or family member, a neighbour

or a colleague at work  spoke to the police (Euro-

pean Commission, 2016). There is consequently a

need to better understand the role of witnesses

in supporting victims of intimate partner violence

and factors that affec t their involvement, includ-

ing their reporting of intimate partner violence to

the relevant authorities.

2.2. Comparative and

international evidence

on witness intervention

There is a lack of comparative or EU-level

evidence about how witnesses support

victims of intimate partner violence, including

reporting it to the authorities, a gap this

report star ts to fill by conducting research

across Member States. The existing evidence

suggests that a number of factors influence

witnesses willingness to intervene, including

demographic characteristics, social attitudes,

the context in which the crime occurs and

whether the victim knows the perpetrator.

Witnesses may be reluctant to report the

issue directly to the police or other authorities,

preferring to inter vene in other ways such as

by supporting the victim.

Intimate partner violence against women is con-

sidered one of the most prevalent forms of

violence against women (Stöckl et al., 2013).

According to FR A, about 22 % of women have

been victims of physical and/or sexual violence by

their partners since the age of 15 (FRA, 2014). Vio-

lence in intimate relationships can end in intimate

partner femicide (9); in contrast to the declining

trajectory of homicide rates in general, femicide

rates are relatively stable (Weil et al., 2018).