Berlin passed on Friday its first federal law to tackle domestic violence though it will take another seven years to fully implement it.
In Germany, the latest figures reveal that in 2023, there were 180,715 female victims of domestic violence, a 5.6% increase from the previous year. Cases of sexual violence affected 52,330 women, up by 6.2%, and digital violence targeted 17,193 women, a 25% rise.
The cross-party Violence Protection Act, seeking to address the scale of violence, received formal approval on 14 February from the Bundesrat, the body representing Germany’s 16 federal states.
“One in three women will experience physical or sexual violence at least once in her life. One in three – that means we all know someone,” said Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus. She hailed the act as “truly historic,” as violence against women knows no social boundaries.
What’s in
The Act introduces, for the first time at the federal level, the right to free protection and counselling, effective from January 2032. The extended timeline is intended to give federal states time to strengthen support systems in line with the new legal requirements.
The government will now allocate €2.6 billion by 2036 to expand women’s shelters and close gaps in the network of counselling services.
“The law is a crucial driver to ensure that we at least maintain, if not improve, the current level of support and funding,” Germany’s Association of Women’s Shelters told Euractiv.
The law will also focus on violence prevention through offender programmes, public awareness campaigns, and better coordination between specialist support services and general assistance networks.
“The Violence Protection Act will save lives. Access to protective facilities is absolutely essential,” said Green MEP Katrin Langensiepen to Euractiv.
What’s out
Despite being a major advancement, the law’s implementation won’t occur until 2032, potentially exacerbating the scale of gender-based violence, especially in its most severe form: femicide.
“There can be no ‘resting’ on this law or waiting for the legal entitlement to come into force,” Germany’s Association of Women’s Shelters warned.
The 2032 start date for legal support entitlements is “too late,” the NGO said, adding the lack of protection only increases the risk of violence, with deadly consequences, as seen in the rising number of femicides.
Femicide is broadly defined as “the killing of a woman or girl because of her gender, such as the murder of women as a result of intimate partner violence; the torture and misogynistic slaying of women.”
Of the 938 women and girls who were victims of attempted or completed killings, 360 lost their lives. This means that in 2023, Germany recorded nearly one femicide every day.
The legislation also fails to define rape clearly. “The law lacks a clear, universally applicable definition of rape based on the ‘Only Yes Means Yes’ principle,” said Green MEP Alexandra Geese to Euractiv.
Geese pointed to successful examples from other European countries, such as Spain, which have adopted clearer definitions of sexual violence to strengthen the rights of survivors.
EU-wide discrepancies
Across Europe, laws on women’s sexual and reproductive rights, as well as protections against sexual violence, remain inconsistent.
“In the last legislative term, we ratified the Istanbul Convention and adopted the EU directive to combat violence against women,” said Langensiepen, which the Parliament passed last April after two years of intense negotiations.
Still, the Directive has “fallen far short of expectations,” said Geese. She criticised her home country, Germany, which along with France, blocked an EU-wide definition of rape – a move that would have offered better protection for all women in Europe instead.
To correct this, “we must insist, during the upcoming negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework, that EU funds be allocated specifically for the protection of women,” added Langensiepen.