The EU Council adopted on Tuesday its first-ever law combating Violence Against Women (VAW). Headlines have described it as “historic,” and “groundbreaking,” though, that is simply not the case.
Perhaps the questions that should be asked are why are we only seeing laws like this appear in 2024, and why are we -women, girls, and feminists- expected to celebrate something that should already be a fundamental right?
These are the questions that desperately need an answer if we want to see real systematic change that focuses on not only creating laws but fixing the root causes: the lack of education in schools, victim blaming, and inadequate policing – to name a few.
Moreover, it would be premature to start cheering for a law that has yet to be adopted by member states and the EU Parliament.
A closer look at what this law means for women reveals, in the words of the EU Council, that they are now “taking decisive action” on acts of violence such as requiring all EU countries to criminalize Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), forced marriage, and cyber violence. However, the official body failed to settle on a common definition for rape.
According to the Council, this will “ensure the values and fundamental rights of equality between women and men and of non-discrimination.”
To rub salt in the wound, the EU Council chose to highlight the words of a man, on the law concerning women. “Violence against women and domestic violence is a persisting crime. This law will guarantee EU-wide that its perpetrators will be strongly sanctioned and that its victims will receive all the support they need,” said Paul Van Tigchelt, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and the North Sea.
The dragging of the Council’s heels to adopt such laws casts doubt on how much women’s safety is valued across the bloc.
Some may prefer to believe that Europe is a safe place for women and girls and that incidents of FGM and forced marriage are not a large-scale problem. Meanwhile, the statistics show another story, proving the actions of violence mentioned in the new law should have been introduced long ago.
In the EU at least 600,000 girls and women are survivors of FGM, with France and England having over 120,000 reported survivors respectively. Domestic violence cases are even more prevalent with 1 in 3 women in Europe having experienced sexual or physical violence at the hands of an intimate partner, a 2024 study found.
Cases of forced marriage mostly go unreported; however, in France a study found over 66% of forced marriage cases involved minors. In addition, all the forced marriage cases investigated were also subjected to physical violence.
Hundreds of thousands of people have suffered without a law to protect them, which serves to deepen the normalization of VAW and embeds it deeper into society. Therefore, systems on a societal level are also required.
Survivors should be given opportunities to work with decision-makers and be part of the process to facilitate meaningful change. In addition, to humanize the cases we commonly reduce to statistics, the people behind the numbers who have survived unthinkable violence must have their voices amplified in an empowering way. When we see these actions implemented, maybe then we can consider celebrating.