As part of FRA’s drive to further engage with Member States and to tackle violence against women, FRA presented the results of its survey on gender-based violence to the German Bundestag’s Committee on Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth on 4 February.

The presidency of the Committee on Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth had earlier visited FRA in November 2014 where they heard about the Agency’s work.

During the presentation in the German Bundestag, FRA explained how the survey was carried out, its findings as well as the reasons for differences across Member States. It also outlined its recommendations for what can be done in the Member States to counter the abuse suffered by women at home, work, in public and online. The Committee invited FRA to present the survey findings as Germany is currently reviewing its legislation to see how it can best address violence against women. This process is part of the country’s efforts to ratify the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. The convention, which came into effect on 1 August, contains legally-binding standards and a comprehensive framework for effective policies to combat all forms of violence against women.

This meeting in the German Bundestag is one of many that FRA has been holding across EU Member States to discuss its survey findings and how they can be used to effectively tackle violence against women. The results have been presented before to ministers, parliaments, support groups and civil society organisations, as well as healthcare practitioners and law enforcement officials in almost 20 Member States. As the survey also covered childhood experiences of violence, this was also an opportunity for FRA to speak about its recent work on the need for targeted victim support services, on the various child protection systems that exist across the EU, and on how to make judicial systems more child-friendly.