Luxembourg to Set Up National Centre for Victims of Violence

On Tuesday 25 June 2024, Luxembourg's Minister for Gender Equality and Diversity, Yuriko Backes, and representatives of the committee for cooperation between professionals in the field of combating violence, presented the committee's report for 2023 to the press.

As reported by the Ministry for Gender Equality and Diversity, the minister had an exchange on the report with members of the committee on family, solidarity and living together, reception, gender equality and diversity of the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg's parliament) before the press conference.

The report contains statistics on domestic violence as presented by the various bodies represented within the committee, namely the public prosecutor's office at the district courts of Luxembourg and Diekirch, the Grand Ducal Police, assistance services for victims of domestic violence (SAVVD, PSYea and ALTERNATIVES) and the service supporting perpetrators of domestic violence (Riicht Eraus).

In 2023, the Grand Ducal Police intervened in 1,057 cases related to domestic abuse (+7.5% compared to 2022); there were also 246 evictions (same number as in 2022). This corresponds to 88 police interventions for domestic violence and 20.5 evictions per month.

The public prosecutor's office at the two district courts of Luxembourg and Diekirch received 1,592 cases of domestic abuse, including 1,266 for the Luxembourg jurisdiction and 326 for the Diekirch jurisdiction.

The SAVVD assistance service for domestic violence victims carried out a total of 327 consultations and 3,856 telephone calls to help victims in the context of the 246 evictions communicated to the service on the basis of the 2003 amended law on domestic violence.

The Riicht Eraus service processed 483 cases in the context of evictions (236) and other routes: judicial constraint (148) and voluntary monitoring (99). According to Riicht Eraus figures, 87.2% of the evicted perpetrators were male and 12.8% were female. The service recorded 52 cases of perpetrators who were asked to leave their home not for the first time in 2023 (repeat offenders).

The ministry noted that the PSYea and ALTERNATIVES services are, on the one hand, assistance services for minor victims of domestic violence in the context of evictions, and on the other hand, consultation services for children and adolescents victims of violence.

As assistance services for minors in the context of evictions, PSYea and ALTERNATIVES took charge of 164 cases involving minors communicated to them on the basis of the 2003 amended law. 302 minor victims, including 142 girls and 160 boys and 23 adult victims (18-21 years old), were treated.

Concerning consultation services for child and adolescent victims of violence, PSYea handled 116 cases and ALTERNATIVES handled 224 cases.

During the press conference, Minister Backes emphasised: "Every victim of domestic violence is one victim too many. Rest assured that my ministry, in close collaboration with other ministries and administrations and its partners in the field, will tirelessly fight against this societal scourge on several levels". She mentioned awareness-raising efforts, working towards preventing violence and supporting victims and perpetrators alike. The minister added that the authorities had "zero tolerance for domestic violence or any other type of violence".

Nevertheless, she also stressed the importance of analysing the "fairly stable" figures of recent years "in the context of our population growth and the increased availability and promotion of services to victims and perpetrators". She expressed her determination to further strengthen cooperation with partner organisations and highlighted the planned development of a national strategy to combat gender-based violence, developed "in a consultative and collaborative process". The national action plan will take into account the current figures and "the multidimensional nature of the problem".

There are also plans to "create a national reception centre for victims of all types of violence, including minors", which the minister described as "a crucial step to assist victims in getting help while ensuring that they are not exposed to further (re)traumatising experiences". She added that the authorities were working on "strengthening the legal framework by introducing the obligation - accompanied by sanctions in the event of non-representation, refusal of monitoring and termination of monitoring - of therapeutic monitoring with Riicht Eraus for any evicted person."

After the press conference, Minister Backes spoke with members of the domestic violence committee and representatives of victims' organisations, including La Voix des Survivantes ASBL, Taboo ASBL, Passerell ASBL and Voix solidaires ASBL. She reassured those present that "our priorities come together and converge towards the same objective, namely the strengthening of systems for, on the one hand, better care and protection of all victims of all forms of violence and, on the other hand, strengthening the accountability of perpetrators."