Almost 900 Domestic Violence Cases Reported in Luxembourg Last Year

Luxembourg's Ministry for Equality between Women and Men has revealed statistics on domestic violence in the Grand Duchy for the year 2018.

At a press conference earlier today, Minister for Equality between Women and Men, Taina Bofferding, presented the 2018 report of the "Committee for cooperation between professionals in the fight against violence". The report contains recommendations to the Luxembourg Government as well as the collection of statistics on domestic violence by the various bodies represented on the Committee, namely the Public Prosecutor's Office of the District Courts of Luxembourg and Diekirch, the Luxembourg Police, support services for domestic abuse victims (services such as SAVVD, PSYea and ALTERNATIVES) and the "Riicht Eraus" service for domestic abusers.

The report revealed that the Luxembourg Police made 739 interventions in domestic violence cases last year, which represents an increase of 3.36% compared to 2017 (715 cases). In addition, the Public Prosecutor's Office expelled 231 domestic abusers from their homes (compared to 217 in 2017). On average, the police intervened 61.58 times and carried out 19.25 expulsions per month.

For their part, the Public Prosecutor's Office of the District Courts of Luxembourg and Diekirch received 869 cases of domestic violence in 2018. Meanwhile, Riicht Eraus handled 409 cases, of which 226 involved expulsion (55.3% of cases). The remaining 183 cases included clients who voluntarily visited the service and clients who were legally obliged to use the service. The service supervised domestic abusers from 43 different countries and 92% of the perpetrators using the service were male.

In light of these figures, Minister Taina Bofferding has stressed that "violence is neither a normality nor a banality. The use of violence is unacceptable. Luxembourg has efficient legislation and an effective institutional framework with the cooperation committee between professionals in the field of the fight against violence".

The Committee also made recommendations to the government aimed at professionalising statistics on domestic violence and improving the protection of victims by creating a body that makes a thorough follow-up analysis of the causes underlying the fatal consequences of domestic violence.

The coalition programme and the provisions of the "Council of Europe Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence", ratified in Luxembourg law in 2018, will guide the government in its efforts to reduce domestic violence in the years to come. 

Indeed, Taina Bofferding chose today's press conference as the opportunity to present a new prevention campaign. The Ministry for Equality between Women and Men will try to raise awareness of the different dimensions of domestic violence through a brochure, a poster and the website www.violence.lu. Minister Bofferding explained: "Violence especially against girls and women have multiple faces. Beyond domestic violence, it can be physical, psychological or sexual. [...] To undergo them is neither normal nor banal. That's why it's essential to motivate victims to come forward for help".

These campaign resources can be obtained from the ministry via e-mail: secretariat@mega.etat.lu.