Today, the Council of Europe Expert Group on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) published its first baseline evaluation report on Germany.
The report contains a comprehensive analysis of the implementation of the provisions of the Istanbul Convention. It acknowledges the steps taken by the country to comply with the treaty but identifies areas where progress is still needed.
Germany has made significant efforts towards building a legislative and institutional framework to prevent and combat violence against women before and after it ratified the Istanbul Convention in 2017. These positive steps include regional action plans, the creation of a national telephone helpline, the criminalisation of all non-consensual sexual acts, as well as recent amendments of the Criminal Code to account for the rising prevalence of the digital dimension of violence against women, such as cyberstalking. The Act on the Protection from Violence also gives law-enforcement officials the necessary tools to act immediately and issue emergency protection orders for victims of violence.
GREVIO notes, however, that more efforts are needed in particular to develop a national strategy offering long-term and co-ordinated policies to address all forms of violence against women, to ensure that all relevant professionals receive systematic initial and in-service training on identifying and responding to all forms of violence against women and to ensure that the needs of some groups of women who are facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination are being taken into account sufficiently in policy making on violence against women.
