Changes from plenary report to adopted text

RemovedDRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

AddedPE739.730

ChangedEuropean Parliament legislative resolution of 24 April 2024 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on combating violence against women and domestic violence (COM(2022)0105 – C9-0058/2022 – 2022/0066(COD))

Removed(COM(2022)0105 – C90058/2022 – 2022/0066(COD))

▸7 unchanged paragraphs

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2022)0105),

– having regard to Article 294(2) and Articles 82(2) and 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C90058/2022),

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs on the proposed legal basis,

– having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to the reasoned opinion submitted, within the framework of Protocol No 2 on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, by the Czech Chamber of Deputies, asserting that the draft legislative act does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity,

Added– having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 13 July 2022,

Added– having regard to the provisional agreement approved by the committees responsible under Rule 74(4) of its Rules of Procedure and the undertaking given by the Council representative by letter of 14 February 2024 to approve Parliament’s position, in accordance with Article 294(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

▸7 unchanged paragraphs

– having regard to Rule 59 and 40 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the joint deliberations of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality under Rule 58 of the Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, the Committee on Budgets and the Committee on Legal Affairs

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality of the (A9-0234/2023),

1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Change 1

RemovedCitation 1: Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 82(2) and Article 83(1) and (2) thereof,

AddedP9_TC1-COD(2022)0066

RemovedRecital 1: (1) The purpose of this Directive is to provide a comprehensive framework to effectively prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence throughout the Union. It does so by strengthening and introducing measures in the following areas: the definition of relevant criminal offences and penalties, the protection of victims and access to justice, victim support and compensation, enhanced data collection, prevention, coordination and cooperation.

AddedPosition of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 24 April 2024 with a view to the adoption of Directive (EU) 2024/… of the European Parliament and of the Council on combating violence against women and domestic violence

RemovedRecital 2: (2) Equality between women and men and non-discrimination are core values of the Union and fundamental rights enshrined, respectively, in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union and in Articles 21 and 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the ‘Charter’). Violence against women and domestic violence endanger these very principles, undermining women and girls’ rights to equality in all areas of life and preventing the full advancement of women, girls and our societies as a whole.

Added(As an agreement was reached between Parliament and Council, Parliament's position corresponds to the final legislative act, Directive (EU) 2024/1385.)

RemovedRecital 3: (3) Violence against women and domestic violence is a violation of fundamental rights such as the right to human dignity, the right to life and integrity of the person, the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the right to respect for private and family life, the right to liberty and security, personal data protection, the right to non-discrimination, including on the grounds of sex, and the rights of the child, as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

RemovedRecital 4: (4) This Directive should apply to criminal conduct which amounts to violence against women or domestic violence, as criminalised under Union or national law. This includes the criminal offences defined in this Directive, namely rape, sexual assault, female genital mutilation, intersex genital mutilation, forced sterilisation, forced marriage, sexual harassment in the world of work, the non-consensual sharing of intimate or manipulated material, cyber stalking, cyber harassment, the unsolicited receipt of sexually explicit material, cyber incitement to violence or hatred and criminal conduct covered by other Union instruments, in particular Directives 2011/36/E36 and 2011/93/EU37of the European Parliament and of the Council, which define criminal offences concerning the sexual exploitation of children and trafficking of human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Lastly, certain criminal offences under national law fall under the definition of violence against women. This includes crimes such as femicide, intimate partner violence, sexual harassment, sexual abuse, stalking, early forced abortion , sexual exploitation through the prostitution of others, preventing or attempting to prevent a voluntary termination of pregnancy and different forms of cyber violence, such as online sexual harassment, or cyber bullying. Domestic violence is a form of violence which may be specifically criminalised under national law or covered by criminal offences which are committed withi…

RemovedRecital 5: (5) The measures under this Directive have been designed to address the specific needs of women and girls, given that they are disproportionately, but not exclusively, affected by the forms of violence covered under this Directive, namely violence against women and domestic violence. According to Eurostat data from 2015, nine out of ten rape victims and eight out of ten sexual assault victims in the Union were women. 99 % of those imprisoned for such crimes were men. This Directive acknowledges that other persons may also fall victim to these forms of violence and should benefit from the measures provided for therein. Therefore, the term ‘victim’ should refer to all persons, regardless of their sex or gender.

RemovedRecital 6: (6) Due to their vulnerability, children who witness violence against women or domestic violence suffer direct emotional and psychological harm, which impacts their development. Therefore, such children should be considered victims and benefit from targeted and specialised protection measures, targeted and specialised prevention measures and targeted and specialised support measures. Member States should, in particular, ensure that children of a parent who has been killed as a result of violence against women or domestic violence receive the support they need, including through targeted protection measures and support, especially during any relevant judicial proceedings, due to their particularly vulnerable situation. Targeted measures for children should be based on a holistic and gender-specific understanding of the dynamics of abusive relationships and should ensure that any re-victimisation of the child is avoided and should ensure the rights of the child. That is especially important when considering child custody rights and visitation rights.

RemovedRecital 7: (7) Violence against women is understood to be a violation of human rights and to be a major public health issue and is a persisting manifestation of structural discrimination against women in all their diversity, resulting from historically unequal power relations between women and men. It is a form of gender-based violence, which is inflicted primarily on women and girls, by men. It is rooted in the socially constructed roles, behaviours, gender stereotypes, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men, generally referred to under the term ‘gender’. It remains widespread and affects women at all levels of society, regardless of age, education, income, social position or country of origin or residence. It is one of the most serious obstacles to achieving gender equality.

RemovedRecital 8: (8) Domestic violence is a serious social problem which often remains hidden as a result of social stigma. It can lead to serious psychological and physical trauma with severe consequences for a victim’s personal and professional life because the offender typically is a person known to the victims, whom the victim would expect to be able to trust. Such violence can take on various forms, including physical, sexual, psychological, and economic and can occur within a range of relationships. Domestic violence often includes coercive control and may occur whether or not the offender shares or has shared a household with the victim.

RemovedRecital 9: (9) The persisting gravity of the problem of violence against women and domestic violence in the Union, which is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the existing legal acts and their implementation have proven to be insufficient, in combination with the specificities of those crimes, justifies treating victims of violence against women and domestic violence differently in comparison to victims of other crimes in the Union and justifies the specific measures introduced by this Directive in relation to victims of violence against women and domestic violence. In light of the specificities related to these types of crime it is necessary to lay down a comprehensive set of rules, which addresses the persisting problem of violence against women and domestic violence in a gender-sensitive and holistic manner and caters to the specific needs of victims of such violence. The existing provisions at Union and national levels have proven to be insufficient to effectively combat and prevent violence against women and domestic violence. In particular, Directives 2011/36/EU 2011/93/EU concentrate on specific forms of such violence, while Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council4 lays down the general framework for victims of crime. While providing some safeguards for victims of violence against women and domestic violence, it is not set out to address their specific needs.

RemovedRecital 10: (10) This Directive supports the international commitments the Member States have undertaken to combat and prevent violence against women and domestic violence, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)5, and its General recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and, where relevant, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (‘Istanbul Convention’)6, the International Labour Organization’s Convention concerning the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work, signed on 21 June 2019 in Geneva, and the International Labour Organization’s Convention concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation and Convention concerning decent work for domestic workers.

RemovedRecital 11: (11) Violence against women and domestic violence can be exacerbated where it intersects with and is inseparable from discrimination based on gender or sex and other grounds of discrimination prohibited by Union law, namely nationality, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, residence status, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. Member States should therefore pay due regard to victims affected by such intersectional discrimination through providing specific measures where intersecting forms of discrimination are present. In particular, lesbian, bisexual, trans, non-binary, intersex and queer (LBTIQ) women, women with disabilities, pregnant women, women living in rural areas and women with a minority racial or ethnic background are at a heightened risk of experiencing gender-based violence and domestic violence. For example, acts of gender-based violence which seek to punish victims for their sexual orientation, gender expression or gender identity, such as so-called “corrective rape”, should be given particular attention. In addition, women and girls exposed to discrimination and violence on the basis of a combination of their sex or gender and other grounds are disproportionately affected by cyber violence, including cyber harassment and cyber incitement to violence or hatred and, the…

RemovedRecital 12: (12) Victims of violence against women and domestic violence are at an increased risk of intimidation, retaliation, secondary and repeat victimisation. Particular attention should thus be paid to these risks and to the need to protect the physical and psychological dignity and integrity of such victims in all cases, including before, during and after criminal proceedings, and their right to protection and support, while ensuring justice by holding offenders accountable. According to a report from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights entitled ‘Violence against women: an EU-wide survey’, 67% of victims of sexual violence have had some previous acquaintance or relationship with the perpetrator and, therefore, robust victim protection is needed in order to prevent further attacks.

RemovedRecital 13: (13) Rape is one of the most serious offences breaching a person’s dignity and sexual and bodily integrity and is a crime that disproportionately affect women. It entails a power imbalance between the offender and the victim, which allows the offender to sexually exploit the victim for purposes such as personal gratification, asserting domination, gaining social recognition, advancement, possibly financial gain or punishment through “corrective rape”. Many Member States still require the use of force, threats or coercion for the crime of rape. Other Member States solely rely on the condition that the victim has not consented to the sexual act. Only the latter approach achieves the full protection of the sexual integrity of victims. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure equal protection throughout the Union by providing the constitutive elements of the crime of rape of women in particular.

RemovedRecital 14: (14) Rape should explicitly include all types of sexual penetration, with any bodily part or object. The lack of consent should be a central and constitutive element of the definition of rape, given that frequently no physical violence or use of force is involved when the act is committed. Consent should be withdrawable at any given time during the act, in line with the sexual autonomy of the victim, and should not automatically imply consent for future acts. Non-consensual sexual penetration should constitute rape, including where committed against a spouse or intimate partner.

RemovedRecital 14 a (new): (14a) Sexual assault is a type of sexual violence that disproportionately affects women and that seriously violates a person's physical integrity and bodily autonomy. National law on sexual assault varies widely across Member States and there is therefore a clear need to establish rules on sexual assault at Union level. Sexual assault covers acts of a sexual nature. Acts of a sexual nature includes acts where there is physical contact between the perpetrator’s body and the victim’s genitals and acts where there is contact between the victim’s body and the perpetrator’s genitals.

RemovedRecital 14 b (new): (14b) Consent should always be given freely and voluntarily. Consent should be withdrawable at any given time during an act, in line with the sexual autonomy of the victim, and should not automatically imply consent for future acts. There are a number of situations in which a victim is unable to form free will and offences committed in those situations should therefore be deemed non-consensual acts. While making an assessment of a particular situation, personal and external circumstances should be taken into account. In that context, fear is not limited to the threat of a criminal act. The lack of consent due to intoxication should cover incapacitation caused by drugs, alcohol or other intoxicating substances. Particularly vulnerable situations include situations in which victims have clearly limited opportunities to defend their bodily and sexual integrity and avoid an assault. A particularly vulnerable situation could also include situations of a particularly serious power imbalance or of serious economic dependence. Stealthing involves intentionally and secretly ceasing to use a method of prophylaxis or reproductive control during penetration. Due to the fact that stealthing changes the circumstances in which consent was given, it could be considered rape or sexual assault.

RemovedRecital 15: (15) Offenders who have been convicted of rape should be obliged to participate in evidence-based intervention programmes to mitigate the risk of recidivism, to ensure safe relations and to address, in a comprehensive and informative manner, the harm caused by recognising their responsibility and changing their harmful attitudes and behaviours. The competent authorities should inform the judicial authorities of the availability of such programmes.

RemovedRecital 15 a (new): (15a) Forced marriage is a form of exploitation that primarily affects women and girls and has the intention of asserting domination over them. It is a form of violence that entails serious violations of fundamental rights and, in particular, the rights of women and girls to physical integrity, freedom, autonomy, physical and mental health, sexual and reproductive health, education and a private life. Poverty, unemployment, custom or conflicts are all factors that promote forced marriage. Physical and sexual violence and threats of violence are frequently used forms of coercion to force a woman or girl to marry. Once forced to marry, there is a greater risk of sexual exploitation and further violence. Often, forms of physical and psychological exploitation and violence, such as sexual exploitation, accompany forced marriage. It is therefore necessary that all Member States criminalise forced marriage, subject offenders to appropriate penalties and make it possible for such marriages to be annulled or dissolved without any excessive administrative or financial burden for victims.

RemovedRecital 16: (16) In order to address the severe and long-lasting physical and psychological consequences that female genital mutilation has on victims, this offence should be specifically and adequately addressed in the criminal laws. Female genital mutilation is an exploitative practice that pertains to the sexual organs of a girl or a woman and that is performed for the purpose of preserving and asserting domination over women and girls and exerting social control over girls and women’s sexuality. It is sometimes performed in the context of child forced marriage or domestic violence. Female genital mutilation may occur as a traditional practice which some communities perform on their female members. It should cover practices undertaken for non-medical reasons. The term “excising” should refer to the partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia majora. “Infibulating” should cover the closure of the labia majora by partially sewing together the outer lips of the vulva in order to narrow the vaginal opening. The term “performing any other mutilation” should refer to all other physical alterations of the female genitals.

RemovedRecital 16 a (new): (16a) Forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilisation is a harmful and exploitative practice that removes the ability of victims to sexually reproduce, often results in grave consequences for the person’s physical, psychological and social health, and is performed for the purpose of exerting social control over women and children and their sexuality. It violates fundamental rights such as the rights to dignity, physical integrity and privacy, it does not respect the requirement that free and informed consent be given and it is recognised as a form of torture and ill-treatment. Forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilisation is often deeply connected with discrimination and stereotypical ideas about who should or should not be pregnant and have children. Roma women and children, women and children with disabilities, including, in particular, intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, women wishing to obtain gender affirming treatment and women and children living in institutions have been particularly at risk of forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilisation. Specific emphasis should be placed on the prior and informed consent of the woman or child to undergo sterilisation. The consent of the woman or child should not be substituted by the consent of a legal guardian. The provisions on forced sterilisation set out in this Directive do not cover emergency medical interventions or surgical procedures which are carried out, for example, for the purpos…

RemovedRecital 16 b (new): (16b) Intersex genital mutilation is a medically unnecessary, non-vital surgical or medical procedure or treatment that is performed on a person born with variations of sex characteristics with the purpose or effect of altering such characteristics to align them with those considered typically female or male. Non-vital and non-consensual procedures and treatments performed on intersex women and children are based on the belief that a binary option of sex characteristics is the norm and that any alternative is abnormal and needs to be rectified. Procedures or treatments on the sex characteristics of women or children born with variations of sex characteristics who do not have the capacity to consent should only be performed when there is a clear and urgent need to preserve their life or prevent serious harm to their physical health. Non-vital procedures or treatments with the purpose or effect of altering sex characteristics should only be performed with the fully informed and prior consent of a woman or child born with variations of sex characteristics. Intersex genital mutilation can result in life-long physical and psychological impairments and, therefore, should be treated with the same gravity as female genital mutilation. It is therefore important to provide appropriate medical and psychological support to intersex persons and their families and to respect their right to make informed decisions about their own bodies and healthcare.

RemovedRecital 16 c (new): (16c) Sexual harassment and harassment related to sex are generally prohibited at national level in the framework of the implementation of the Union directives on gender equality. However, Union legal acts have not proven sufficiently effective in combating those phenomena in practice, in particular with regard to penalties. If such conduct is not penalised under criminal law, victims will not benefit from the targeted protection that this Directive provides. Article 83(2) TFEU allows for the establishment of minimum rules with regard to the definition of criminal offences provided that the approximation of criminal laws of the Member States proves essential to ensure the effective implementation of a Union policy in an area which has been subject to harmonisation measures. Directives 2006/54/EC, 2004/113/EC and 2010/41/EU have harmonised, at Union level, rules concerning sexual harassment at work and sexual harassment in the provision of and access to goods and services. Given that context and the ineffective implementation of the Union’s policy against sexual harassment, additional minimum rules are therefore needed in that area.

RemovedRecital 17: (17) It is necessary to provide for harmonised definitions of offences and penalties regarding certain forms of cyber violence. Cyber violence particularly targets and impacts women politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, activists and persons who are part of marginalised communities or who are subject to intersecting forms of discrimination. Women exposed to discrimination or violence on the basis of their gender or other grounds are disproportionately affected by cyber violence. Cyber violence can have the effect of silencing women and hindering their societal and professional participation on an equal footing with men. The increased use of information and communication technologies at work has led to increased cyber violence against women. As a result of such increased cyber violence, the European Economic and Social Committee, in an opinion entitled ‘Teleworking and gender equality – conditions so that teleworking does not exacerbate the unequal distribution of unpaid care and domestic work between women and men and for it to be an engine for promoting gender equality’, and the International Labour Organization have stated that particular attention needs to be paid to preventative and protective measures in the context of work. Cyber violence also disproportionately affects women and girls in educational settings, such as schools and universities, with detrimental consequences to their further education and to their mental health, which may, in extreme cases, le…

RemovedRecital 18: (18) The use of information and communication technologies bears the risk of easy, fast and wide-spread dissemination of certain forms of cyber violence with the effect of creating or exacerbating profound and long-lasting harm for the victim. Dissemination is a pre-requisite for the perpetration of several offences of cyber violence defined under this Directive and is reflected by the element of making certain material accessible, through information and communication technologies, to other end-users. The term ‘other end-users’ should be understood as referring to reaching a number of end-users of the technologies in question, thus allowing for access to, and potential further distribution of that material. That term should be interpreted and applied having regard to the relevant circumstances, including the technologies used to make that material accessible and the means these technologies offer for dissemination.

RemovedRecital 19: (19) Due to its tendency for easy, swift and broad distribution and perpetration, as well as its intimate nature, the non-consensual making accessible by means of information and communication technologies of intimate material and material of a sexual nature to other end-users, can be very harmful for the victims. The offence provided for in this Directive should cover all types of such material, such as images, photographs and videos, including sexualized images, audio clips and video clips. It should relate to situations where the making accessible of the material to other end-users, through information and communication technologies, occurs without the victim’s consent, irrespective of whether the victim consented to the generation of such material or may have transmitted it to a particular person. The offence should also include the non-consensual production or manipulation, for instance by image editing, including by means of artificial intelligence of material that makes it appear as though another person is engaged in sexual activities, insofar as the material is subsequently made accessible to end-users, through information and communication technologies, without the consent of that person. Such production or manipulation should include the fabrication of ‘deepfakes’, where material which amounts to intimate material or material of a sexual nature depicts a person that appreciably resembles an existing person and would falsely appear to others to be authentic or truth…

RemovedRecital 20: (20) Cyber stalking is a modern form of violence which is often perpetrated against family members or persons living in the same household, but also perpetrated by ex-partners or acquaintances. Typically, technology is misused by the offender to proceed to intensify coercive and controlling behaviour, manipulation and surveillance, thereby increasing the victim’s fear, anxiety and gradual isolation from friends, family and work. Therefore, minimum rules on cyber stalking should be established. The offence of cyber stalking should cover the continuous surveillance of the victim without their consent or legal authorisation by means of information and communication technologies. This might be enabled by processing the victim’s personal data, such as through identity theft or the spying out of such data on their various social media or messaging platforms, their emails and phone, stealing passwords or hacking their devices or secretly activating keylogging software to access their private spaces, via the installation of geo-localisation apps, including stalkerware, or via stealing their devices. Furthermore, stalking should cover the monitoring of victims, without that person’s consent or authorisation, via technology devices connected through the Internet of Things, such as smart home appliances. Moreover, since the repeated sending of threatening and insulting messages in private conversations is a common form of violence against women, it should therefore be covered by this Di…

RemovedRecital 21: (21) Minimum rules concerning the offence of cyber harassment should be laid down to counter initiating an attack or participating in such an attack directed at another person, by making threatening or insulting material accessible to other end-users. Such broad attacks, including coordinated online mob attacks, may morph into offline assault or cause significant psychological injury and in extreme cases lead to suicide of the victim. They often target prominent (female) politicians, journalists, human-rights defenders or otherwise well-known persons, but they can also occur in different contexts, for instance on campuses or in schools and in the world of work. Such online violence should be addressed especially where the attacks occur on a wide-scale, for example in the form of pile-on harassment by a significant amount of people.

RemovedRecital 22: (22) The prevalence of dominant online platforms has played a significant role in the increase in internet and social media usage and has led to a sharp rise in public incitement to violence and hatred, including based on sex or gender, especially in combination with other grounds, over the past years. The easy, fast and broad sharing of hate speech through the digital word is reinforced by the online disinhibition effect, as the presumed anonymity on the internet and sense of impunity reduce people’s inhibition to engage in such speech. However, anonymity can also be essential to survivors of gender-based violence and to other communities at risk Women are often the target of sexist and misogynous hate online, which can escalate into hate crime offline. Children and young people can also be the target of cyber violence which often refers to personal characteristics such as disability, racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics or other grounds which, if left unaddressed, can cause social exclusion, anxiety, inducement to inflict self-harm and, in extreme situations, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts or suicide. This needs to be prevented or intercepted at an early stage. The language used in this type of incitement does not always directly refer to the sex or gender of the targeted person(s), but the biased motivation can be inferred from the overall content or context of the incitement.

RemovedRecital 23: (23) The offence of cyber incitement to violence or hatred presupposes that the incitement is not expressed in a purely private context, but publicly through the use of information and communication technologies. Therefore, it should require dissemination to the public, which should be understood as entailing the making available through information and communications technologies, of a given item of material inciting to violence or hatred to a potentially unlimited number of persons, namely making the material easily accessible to users in general, without requiring further action by the person who provided the material, irrespective of whether those persons actually access the information in question. Accordingly, where access to the material requires registration or admittance to a group of users, that information should be considered to be disseminated to the public only where users seeking to access the material are automatically registered or admitted without a human decision or selection of whom to grant access. In assessing whether material qualifies as amounting to incitement to hatred or violence, the competent authorities should take into account the fundamental rights to freedom of expression as enshrined in Article 11 of the Charter. In order to ensure that online material qualifies as cyber incitement to violence or hatred, Member States should ensure that such material is assessed, on a case-by-case basis, based on the criteria laid down in the United Nation’s …

RemovedRecital 23 a (new): (23a) Member States should ensure that the fact that an offence is committed with the intention of bringing profit or gain or that an offence actually brought profit or gain, for example through blackmail in the case of cyber violence or by earning income through perpetrating female genital mutilation or forced sterilisation, is considered to be an aggravating circumstance because profit or gain proves that there was a systematic and methodical approach to the crime, thus highlighting its gravity.

RemovedRecital 23 b (new): (23b) So called “honour crimes” are committed to pursue an aim other than, or in addition to, the immediate effect of the crime. That aim could be the restoration of family “honour” or the desire to be seen as respecting tradition or complying with the perceived religious, cultural or customary requirements of a particular community. Such crimes put severe pressure on the victim, can lead to violations of the victim’s human rights and tend to affect the person’s whole life, thereby making the victim particularly vulnerable.

RemovedRecital 23 c (new): (23c) A gender-sensitive perspective implies taking into account the particularities pertaining to the lives of both women and men, while aiming to eliminate inequalities and promote gender equality, thereby addressing and taking into account the gender dimension. Consequently, Member States should include a gender-sensitive perspective in the implementation of this Directive and in the evaluation of its implementation. A gender-sensitive perspective also includes the structural understanding of the roots of gender-based violence, including violence against women and domestic violence as a systemic phenomenon and as a result of pervasive inequality and discrimination against women, which provides a breeding ground for tolerance of violence against women.

RemovedRecital 24: (24) Victims should be able to report crimes of violence against women or domestic violence and provide evidence easily without being subject to secondary or repeat victimisation. With due regard to the specificities of the crimes covered by this Directive, and the clear risk that victims might withdraw their criminal complaint, Member States should ensure that relevant authorities take all necessary measures to ensure that evidence is collected in a comprehensive manner as early as possible. Member States are encouraged to share best practices on how to ensure the protection of the evidence in investigations into such crimes, including by enabling video recording of the first interview with the victim, as appropriate. Although perhaps not mentioned by the victim, competent authorities should always consider that the crimes covered by this Directive are violence against women or domestic violence and should, therefore, consider assessing that aspect in the course of the investigation. To this end, Member States should, in addition to in-person reporting, provide the possibility to submit complaints, in a safe environment, online or through other accessible information and communication technologies for the reporting of such crimes. Online complaint systems should meet security standards and should not endanger the safety of the victim. Member States should facilitate reporting by victims in all their diversity, including by, inter alia, ensuring easy and accessible options fo…

RemovedRecital 25: (25) In the case of domestic violence and violence against women, especially when committed by close family members or intimate partners, victims may be under such duress by the offender that they fear to reach out to the competent authorities, even if their lives are in danger. Therefore, Member States should ensure their confidentiality rules do not constitute an obstacle for relevant professionals, such as healthcare professionals, to report to the competent authorities, where they have reasonable grounds to believe that the life of the victim is at serious risk of physical harm. Such third-party reporting is justified as a targeted measure for violence against women and domestic violence because such violence often occurs in close relationships or family circumstances and might not be regarded as a criminal act and therefore not reported by those who experience or directly witness it. Similarly, instances of domestic violence or violence against women affecting children are often only intercepted by third parties noticing irregular behaviour or physical harm to the child. Children need to be effectively protected from such forms of violence given the long-lasting detrimental consequences it has on them, and adequate measures need to be promptly taken. Therefore, relevant professionals coming in contact with child victims or potential child victims, including healthcare or education professionals, should equally not be constrained by confidentiality and should act where th…

RemovedRecital 26: (26) In order to tackle underreporting in the cases when the victim is a child, safe and child-friendly reporting procedures should be established. This can include questioning by competent authorities in simple and accessible language. To safeguard the best interests of the child, Member States should ensure that professionals specialised in caring for and supporting children are present in order to assist them with reporting procedures.

RemovedRecital 27: (27) Delays in processing complaints of violence against women and domestic violence can bear particular risks to victims thereof, given that they might still be in immediate danger given that offenders might often be close family members or spouses. Therefore, the competent authorities for investigation and prosecution should process such complaints without delay. The fact that the victim has complained or intends to leave the relationship can mean increased danger for the victim. The competent authorities should have sufficient specialised expertise and effective investigative tools to investigate and prosecute such crimes without undue delay because the continuum of violence means that even those offences which are perceived to be least damaging can be the first such offence in escalating seriousness.