Council of Europe Evaluation Visit Kicks Off on Luxembourg's Fight Against Domestic Violence

On Monday 24 October 2022, Luxembourg's Minister of Equality between Women and Men, Taina Bofferding, and the Minister of Justice, Sam Tanson, attended the official opening meeting of the first evaluation visit of the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO).

On 3 July 2018, Luxembourg ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention. On Monday, Luxembourg hosted a GREVIO delegation in order to discuss the progress made by it and to draw up an initial assessment of its implementation of the Istanbul Convention at national level on the basis of a preliminary report submitted by Luxembourg on 8 March 2022.

According to the two ministries, the fight against all forms of violence against women and domestic violence is not only at the heart of human rights, but has been one of the priorities of the Luxembourg government for years.

Thus, the Istanbul Convention was from the outset not only seen as the first legally binding European treaty in the fight against violence against women and domestic violence, but also as a guideline and a concrete commitment for the three ministries responsible for its implementation, namely the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Equality between Women and Men, in order to strengthen the legislative and procedural which was put in place well before the approval of the said agreement.

Minister Bofferding underlined: “In my overall approach, the care of victims must undeniably also involve the care of perpetrators. For me the equation is clear: fewer perpetrators means fewer victims.”

Minister Tanson highlighted that the government's comprehensive approach includes prevention and awareness-raising actions, as well as new legislative initiatives aimed at improving the repression of violence as well as the protection of victims. “Our approach is very collaborative and transversal, as all national actors involved in the fight against violence work together in order to offer the best possible care to both victims and perpetrators of domestic violence”, said Minister Tanson.

The exchanges and sharing of experiences between all the national actors involved in the fight against violence against women and domestic violence and the GREVIO experts scheduled for the next four days will allow to further discuss on the legislative and procedural system in matter.