Nők a Nőkért Együtt az Erőszak Ellen Egyesület
NANE Egyesület
NANE Women’s Rights Association was established in 1994 with the aim to step up against violence against women and children.
ID: 223678334987-47
Lobbying Activity
Response to Amendment of the EU rules on victims’ rights
10 Jan 2022
Effective response to violence against women (VAW) shall be a key priority aim and action for the EU.
NANE Association, together with PATENT (People Opposing Patriarchy) Association and Hungarian Women’s Lobby believes that there is an essential need for diligently and specifically strengthening and safeguarding the rights, protection and support for victims of violence against women and girls, as well as for the children of domestic violence/intimate partner violence victims. The scale and specific nature of the problem justifies that per se. In addition, experience of women’s rights NGOs providing services for VAW victims in Hungary revealed gaps and room for improvement in both the wording and utilization of respective EU acquis. Transposition of relevant EU norms can rather be seen as technical/mechanical, restricted to the required minimum. Related experiences and research also show that women victims of domestic violence do not benefit in practice from existing measures, including the ones in the Victims' Rights Directive.
One of the major problems in the country in responding to VAW is the lack of (duly) addressing the root causes of such violence: unequal power relations, prejudices, sexism. That often leads in practice to victim-blaming by professionals (in the justice system and beyond), as well as to degrading or ignoring the severity of VAW. Adequate systematic mandatory training as well as protocols and minimum standards to effectively handle the cases - that place the rights of victims in the centre and have sufficient depth - for all relevant professionals are also missing. The lack of specific expertise, commitment and due diligence, including the lack of recognizing the specific nature and severity of VAW, often leads to failing to apply existing measures (e.g. those included in the directives on victims' rights, compensation, and EPO), or leads to failing to introduce specific measures. That also leads to offering and promoting measures that might be useful for other crime victims but are clearly harmful for VAW victims (such as mediation).
While there is a serious gap and need for specialist support services that follow a women’s rights approach, recent state acts promote generic support services for victims of domestic violence. It raises concern on how to guarantee specific protection and support for VAW victims. Ignoring the severity and special nature of domestic violence/intimate partner violence has been a long-standing problem; lack of effective response by the state and its authorities contributes to femicide cases. Women victims of domestic violence/intimate partner violence and their children face specific danger in relation to child custody and visitation regulation and practice. Ignoring the history of violence, underestimating the effects of intimate partner violence on children, and giving priority for the right to contact and visitation of violent parents over the rights and safety of the victims, have lead to infanticide cases.
All of these shortcomings constitute major obstacles for victims in accessing justice and adequate protection and assistance. We therefore support the introduction of a specific, stand-alone EU legal framework to address VAW, with the widest possible scope, containing duly targeted and detailed measures. It is crucial to set basic guiding principles and minimum standards of operation driven by the international normative framework, including the Istanbul Convention, for all relevant professions, authorities and service providers, for all related actions and fields, such as policies, funding schemes, or handling cases. Introducing related quality assurance for effective response is of due importance. Impact assessment for the revision of victim’s rights acquis, and for the upcoming Directive addressing VAW and domestic violence shall determine the best regulatory option to guarantee the highest level of protection and support for all VAW victims and affected children.
Read full responseResponse to Preventing and combatting gender-based violence
13 Jan 2021
NANE Women’s Rights Association and our partner PATENT (People Opposing Patriarchy) Association – NGOs with decades of experience in responding to violence against women (VAW) – welcome the European Commission’s current initiative. The organizations fully support the initiative’s aim “at bringing together and strengthening the measures in EU law relating to violence against women.” Among the scenarios listed we prefer the introduction of a holistic legal response to the problem (option 3). In this context we encourage the adoption of a comprehensive legal measure (e.g. a directive), as well as including violence against women and girls (VAWG) among EU crimes. We further recommend to put in place a comprehensive policy framework to address all forms of VAWG, also linking it to the policy framework on advancing equality between women and men.
According to our experience – grounded in daily contact with victims as well as relevant professionals through our helplines - the “soft laws”, non-binding measures have not brought adequate protection for victims at national level. In the absence of accountability for non-compliance, operationalising, duly implementing these 'soft' measures have been and are dependent on individual political (good)will. At the same time, individual, fragmented measures focusing only on specific forms or types of VAW, or only on one segment of the “4 Ps” approach (prevention, protection, prosecution, integrated policies) - even though relevant and important also in and of themselves - have not led to effective, efficient systemic responses. Furthermore, the rather general, not specific measures left ample room to different interpretations.
In our experience, neither the related legal and policy measures and programs, nor institutional, law-enforcement and legal practice responding to VAW and domestic violence at national level have followed existing international norms and standards, including of the Istanbul Convention. Practice often does not follow even the few legal and policy instruments that are in place nationally.
Our victim support services and programs have provided evidence that the context of domestic violence is rarely uncovered or taken into consideration in child custody and visitation cases, thus jeopardizing human rights and safety of women and children. Negligent institutional responses precede the tragic cases of women and children murdered by abusive partners and fathers. Furthermore, latency and underreporting of sexual violence against women and children is extremely high. We believe that setting binding standards in the field would therefore be indispensable. In this context, we recommend the introduction of respective quality assurance, accurate monitoring and evaluation, and impact assessment mechanisms for the implementation of legal and policy measures that will be adopted, as well as for standard-setting in provision of services. We also recommend the introduction of such quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for the distribution and utilization of respective EU funding. It is not without precedent that EU funds have been misused in the field of gender equality. For responding to VAW and domestic violence it is of utmost importance that supported initiatives follow international norms, placing women’s human rights and safety of victims in the centre.
Research and systematic (administrative) data collection on VAW is of crucial importance. There is a need for up-to-date, EU-wide comparable data on the phenomenon, including on the state/institutional response across Member States. Collection and availability of relevant data - so as to other measures - shall not be dependent on the states’ good will, and shall not enable distortion in assessing national measures’ claimed effectiveness.
While drafting the respective EU measures, we suggest taking into account that certain governments strongly oppose the word “gender” and are unlikely to take it on board.
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