Violence against women and domestic violence in relation to the Istanbul Convention

• Author: Nathalie Wuiame
• Pages: 58-59

58

10Violence against women and domestic violence in relation to the Istanbul

Convention

10.1General (legal) context

10.1.1Surveys and reports on issues of violence against women and domestic violence

The results of a ‘National Survey on the impact of domestic violence on work, workers and

workplace in Belgium’ were published by the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men

in 2017.95The survey consisted of over 40 questions that focused on workers’ experiences

of domestic violence and the workplace, including questions regarding whether they were

personally experiencing, or had ever experienced domestic violence, and if they were

aware of co-workers who were experiencing or perpetrating domestic violence (DV).

A total of 1 989 people completed the survey (69.3 % of respondents were women and

30.5 % were men). Almost one-third (28 %) of respondents reported personal experience

of domestic violence at some point in their lives, which is similar to the results of other

studies on the impact of DV at the workplace.

Of those who reported DV experience, 72.9 % indicated it affected their ability to work,

and a further 42% indicated that DV affected their workplace ‘most’ of the time or ‘all the’

time, one reason being that the abuse can continue at the workplace through abusive

phone calls or texts, or the abuser physically coming to the workplace. Around 41 %

indicated that DV made them miss work, 12.6 % reported having experienced

discrimination after discussing the DV at work, and sadly, 7.2 % lost their jobs as a result

of the DV.

In terms of reporting to and accessing formal sources of support, almost two-thirds of all

victims did not receive assistance, despite the majority of respondents (89 %) being aware

of the services available for victims of DV. The majority (88 %) did not believe that

employers were aware when DV was affecting their workers, and 22 % believed that

employers did not respond positively to employed victims of DV. Around one-third of the

respondents also indicated that they believed that union officials responded rarely or not

at all in a positive way to help members when union officials became aware of the

experience of DV.

An interim report on the implementation of the National Action Plan for the Fight Against

All Forms of Gender-Based Violence 2015-2019provides information on the registration of

complaints to different services, on the measures to prevent and protect with regard to

gender-based violence adopted by federal and federate entities during the period 2015-

2017 under different aspects, as required by the Istanbul Convention (e.g. phone helpline,

shelter services, etc.).96

In 2018, three sexual assault referral centres were set up in hospitals (one in Flanders,

one in the Brussels Region and one in Wallonia).

95 Institute for the Equality of Women and Men (2017), National Survey results on the impact of domestic

violence on work, workers and workplace in Belgium, https://igvm-

iefh.belgium.be/sites/default/files/rapport_def_eng.pdf.

96 Information on the national action plan and its implementation can be found in French and Dutch at

https://igvm-iefh.belgium.be/fr/activites/violence/pan.