What changed between the plenary report and the adopted text

Removed:Recital 28: (28) Victims of domestic violence and violence against women are typically in need of immediate protection and specific support, for example in the case of intimate partner violence or sexual violence, where the rate of recidivism tends to be high. Therefore, a gender-sensitive individual assessment to identify the victim’s protection needs and medical and specialist support needs should be conducted upon the very first contact of competent authorities with the victim or as soon as suspicion arises that the person is a victim of violence against women or domestic violence. This can be done before a victim has formally reported an offence or proactively if a third party reports the offence.

Removed:Recital 29: (29) When assessing the victim’s protection and support needs, the primary concern should lie in safeguarding the victim and dependant’s safety and the victim’s rights and needs, and providing tailored protection and support, taking into account, among other matters, the individual circumstances and vulnerability of the victim. Such circumstances requiring special attention could include the victim’s pregnancy, the victim’s physical and mental health, disabilities, substance abuse issues, the presence of children, the presence of companion animals, the victim’s dependence on or relationship to the offender, including economic dependence or dependence for reasons relating to residence status, or the victim having a common child with the offender.

Removed:Recital 30: (30) In order to ensure comprehensive, appropriate and coordinated support and protection to victims, a standardised approach to risk assessment that promotes a shared understanding of the risk throughout proceedings, and a common language to communicate risk, should be adopted. All competent authorities and relevant bodies, not limited to law enforcement and judicial authorities, should be involved in assessing the risks for victims and appropriate support and protection measures. That should be done on the basis of gender-sensitive and culturally sensitive risk assessment protocols and clear guidelines issued by the Member States, developed in cooperation with women’s specialist support services and the European Institute of Gender Equality. Such guidelines should include factors to be taken into consideration when assessing the risk emanating from the specificities of the forms of violence covered by this Directive, including coercive and controlling behaviour from the offender or suspect, and the consideration that suspects charged with minor or first offences are as likely to be dangerous as those charged with more severe or repeated offences, especially in cases of domestic violence, and stalking. Specialised training for frontline professionals on the use of risk assessment tools is also essential. Risk assessments should be revised at important junctures in the process, such as the commencement of a court case, the handing down of a judgment or discussions as to the r…

Removed:Recital 31: (31) Due to their vulnerability to secondary and repeat victimisation, to intimidation and to retaliation, and the fact that they suffer emotional harm that prejudices their development, the victim’s children should receive the same protection measures as those accorded to the victim. Other persons dependant on the victim, such as adults with disabilities or older dependant adults for whom the victim provides care, may can experience similar emotional harm and should thus be accorded the same protection measures. In the context of violence against women, ill treatment of children by perpetrators can be used to exercise power over and commit acts of violence against mothers, a type of indirect violence against women known in some Member States as vicarious violence. Animals are also often used as leverage in the execution of power by the perpetrator. It is therefore vital that Member States ensure that the relevant authorities are adequately trained on the complex dynamics of abusive relationships so that they are able to accord such protection measures wherever and whenever they are appropriate.

Removed:Recital 32: (32) Victims of violence against women and domestic violence are often in need of specific support services by trained professionals and of medical care. To ensure they effectively receive offers of support, the competent authorities should immediately refer victims to appropriate support services, including medical services. This should in particular be the case where an individual assessment has found particular support and medical needs of the victim. In that case, support services should be able to reach out to the victim even without the victim’s consent, but with due regard for the victim's safety, taking into consideration the victim’s needs and preventing any further or secondary victimisation. However, due caution should be exercised in that regard because a victim could be put in danger if support services reach out to the victim without the victim's consent, for instance if the victim lives with a controlling offender. That also risks further isolating victims from support due to fear. Therefore, support services should only reach out to victims without their consent where they deem it vital for the victims’ safety and wellbeing. For the processing of related personal data by competent authorities, Member States should ensure that it is based on law, in accordance with Article 6(1)(c) read in conjunction with Article (6)(2) and (3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council7 and Directive (EU) 2016/680. Such laws should include approp…

Removed:Recital 32 a (new): (32a) Ensuring the presence of specialised staff within Member States’ law enforcement, prosecution and judicial authorities is of great importance. The establishment of specialist courts or chambers and the designation of specialised prosecutors on violence against women and domestic violence should be considered as an option for Member States to ensure a gender-sensitive approach to combating those offences. Member States should ensure that the competent authorities are provided with sufficient resources to investigate the offences covered by this Directive in order to avoid a situation whereby an inadequate investigation leads to the ineffective prosecution of the offence and in order to avoid increasing impunity.

Removed:Recital 33: (33) Member States should take the necessary measures to ensure the swift availability of emergency barring, restraining and protection orders as well as the use of arrest and detention to ensure effective protection of victims and their dependants.

Removed:Recital 34: (34) Member States should ensure that emergency barring orders may be issued in situations of immediate danger, such as where harm is imminent or has already materialised and is likely to be inflicted again on victims or dependants.

Removed:Recital 35: (35) Restraining and protection orders can include prohibiting the offender or suspect from accessing certain localities;, places or defined areas where the victim or dependant resides or visits from approaching the victim or dependant closer than a prescribed distance, from contacting the victim or dependant, including through the use of online interfaces, and from possessing firearms or deadly weapons, where necessary. Such orders should be issued whenever the situation of risk to the victim makes it advisable, regardless of whether the victim has reported a criminal offence.

Removed:Recital 36: (36) In order to safeguard the effectiveness of emergency barring, restraining and protection orders, breaches of such orders should be subject to penalties. Those penalties can be of a criminal law or other legal nature and may include prison sentences, fines or any other legal penalty that is effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States should ensure that in situations in which barring, restraining and protection orders are issued, offenders are informed and encouraged to voluntarily enrol in specialised programmes addressing their violent behaviour. It is essential that victims are informed of any breach of barring, restraining or protection orders. As breaches of barring, prescription or protection orders can increase risks and require further protection to be put in place, a renewed assessment of the order should immediately be made after a documented breach.

Removed:Recital 36 a (new): (36a) Electronic monitoring should be used to ensure the enforcement of emergency barring, restraining and protection orders. Electronic monitoring makes it possible to ensure compliance with emergency barring, restraining and protection orders, to record evidence of breaches of such orders and to enhance the supervision of offenders. Victims should always be informed about the capabilities and limitations of electronic monitoring.

Removed:Recital 37: (37) Presenting evidence of past sexual behaviour, the sexual preferences of the victim and the attire or outfit of the victim to challenge the credibility and lack of consent of victims in sexual violence cases, especially rape cases, may reinforce the perpetuation of damaging stereotypes of victims and lead to repeat or secondary victimisation. Therefore, without prejudice to the rights of defence, questions, enquiries and evidence concerning past sexual conduct of the victim should not be permitted in criminal investigations and court proceedings. It should only be possible to use in court proceedings notes taken by counsellors or therapists with the agreement of the person who spoke to the counsellor or therapist.

Removed:Recital 37 a (new): (37a) Women’s specialist services play a crucial role in providing support for victims of violence against women and domestic violence. They provide services that use gender-responsive methodologies to support women and their children who experience violence against women and domestic violence. Such services include women’s support centres, women’s shelters, helplines, rape crisis, sexual violence referral centres, and primary prevention services. They are often provided by non-governmental women’s-led organisations.

Removed:Recital 38: (38) Given the complexities and gravity of offences of violence against women and domestic violence and specific support needs of victims, Member States should ensure additional support and prevention of such offences is provided by specialist services and designated national bodies, equality bodies and other relevant actors. Given their expertise in matters of discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity and sex, national equality bodies, set up in accordance with Directives 2000/43/EC, 2004/113/EC8, 2006/54/EC9 and 2010/41/EU10 of the European Parliament and of the Council, could be well placed to fulfil these tasks provided that they have the adequate specialised expertise in the area of violence against women and domestic violence. In accordance with the individual legal traditions and cultures of the Member States, such bodies and other specialised relevant actors should be able to support data collection and should have legal standing to act on behalf or in support of victims of all forms of violence against women or domestic violence in judicial proceedings, including for the application for compensation and removal of online illegal content, with the victims’ approval. This should include the possibility of acting on behalf or in support of several victims together. To enable these bodies to effectively carry out their tasks, Member States should ensure that they are provided with sufficient human and financial resources and that they are properly trained to keep them…

Removed:Recital 39: (39) Certain offences covered by this Directive involve the increased risk of repeated, prolonged or even continuous victimisation. That risk occurs especially in relation to offences involving the making accessible to other end-users, through information and communication technologies, of material, resulting from certain offences of cyber violence, considering the ease and speed with which such material can be distributed on a large scale and the difficulties that often exist when it comes to removing such material. That risk typically remains even after a conviction. Therefore, in order to effectively safeguard the rights of the victims of those offences, Member States should be required to take suitable measures aimed at the removal of the material in question. Considering that removal at the source may not always be feasible, for instance because of legal or practical difficulties relating to the execution or enforcement of an order to remove, Member States should also be allowed to provide for measures to disable access to such material.

Removed:Recital 42: (42) The provisions of this Directive on orders and other measures for the removal and disabling access to relevant material should leave the relevant rules contained in Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 unaffected. In particular, those orders should comply with the prohibition of imposing general obligations of monitoring or active fact-finding and with the specific requirements of that Regulation regarding orders to remove illegal content online.

Removed:Recital 43: (43) Considering the potential importance of material that may be the object of the orders or other measures taken under this Directive to remove or disable access thereto for investigating or prosecuting the relevant offences under criminal law, the necessary measures should be taken to allow the competent authorities to obtain or secure such material for the purpose of providing evidence, where necessary. Those measures could consist, for example, of requiring relevant intermediary service providers to transmit the material to those authorities or to preserve the material for a limited period that does not go beyond what is necessary in the framework of the investigation and to support it. Any such measures should ensure the security of the material, remain limited to what is reasonable, necessary and proportionate, and comply with the applicable rules on the protection of personal data.

Removed:Recital 44: (44) In order to avoid secondary victimisation, victims should be able to obtain compensation in the course of criminal proceedings. Compensation from the offender should be full and should not be restricted by a fixed upper limit. It should cover all harm and trauma experienced by victims and costs incurred to manage the damages, including, among other things, costs for healthcare services, including sexual and reproductive and psychological health services, rehabilitation, therapy costs, impact on the victim’s employment situation, loss of earnings, psychological damages, and moral prejudice due to the violation of dignity. The amount of compensation should reflect that victims of violence against women and domestic violence may have to uproot their lives in order to seek safety, entailing a possible change of residence or employment or finding new schools for children or even creating a new identity. Compensation should be made available to victims as soon as possible.

Removed:Recital 45: (45) Assistance and support to victims of violence against women and domestic violence should be provided without delay before, during and for an appropriate period after the criminal proceedings have ended, for example where medical treatment is still needed to address the severe physical or psychological consequences of the violence, or if the victim’s safety is at risk in particular due to the statements made by the victim in those proceedings. Assistance and support should be available to victims regardless of whether criminal proceedings have been initiated.

Removed:Recital 46: (46) Specialised support services should provide support, advice and information on any relevant legal and practical matters and on referrals to medical forensic examinations and comprehensive healthcare services to victims of all forms of violence against women and domestic violence, including sexual violence, sexual exploitation through the prostitution of others, female and intersex genital mutilation, forced marriage, forced abortion and sterilisation, sexual harassment and of various forms of cyber violence.

Removed:Recital 47: (47) Specialist support should offer victims support, including medical care, tailored to their specific needs, and irrespective of any official complaint. Such services should be provided in addition to, or as an integrated part of, general victim support services, which may call on existing entities providing specialist support, in particular with women’s specialist support services. Referral and cooperation systems between general victim support services and women’s specialised support should be put in place. Specialist support may be provided by national, regional or local authorities, victims’ support organisations, or other non-governmental organisations. They should be granted sufficient human and financial resources and, where the services are provided by non-governmental organisations, Member States should ensure that they receive appropriate funds. When planning the organisation of specialist support services, Member States should take into account the structures of and synergies between existing specialised support services provided by non-governmental organisations and the types of specialised support services offered by non-governmental organisations in order to ensure clear coordination between actors and, as a consequence, to facilitate women’s access to those services.

Removed:Recital 48: (48) Victims of domestic violence and violence against women typically have multiple protection, medical and support needs. That type of support is best ensured by women’s organisations, considering the disproportionate impact that violence against women has on them. National authorities should support and recognise women’s specialist services. Women’s specialist services should systematically be included in multiagency coordination processes for risk assessment and management. In order to effectively address the multiple protection, medical and support needs of victims of domestic violence and violence against women, Member States should provide such services at the same premises, or, alternatively, have such services coordinated through a central contact point. Member States should ensure that such services are equally distributed geographically. To ensure that all victims, including those in remote areas or unable to physically reach such centres, are reached, Member States should provide for online remote access to such services by setting up an app, a website and a helpline that is available 24/7. This should entail, inter alia, setting up a single and updated website where all relevant information on and access to available in-person and online support and protection services is provided (one-stop online access). The website should follow accessibility requirements for persons with disabilities such as those set out in Annex I to Directive (EU) 2019/882. All services, b…

Removed:Recital 48 a (new): (48a) Member States should, in consultation and cooperation with, inter alia, women’s specialist support services, victim protection centres, healthcare professionals and other relevant actors, based on evidence, their expertise and best practices, and taking into consideration the process for carrying out and content of specialised individual assessments to identify victims’ protection needs and individual assessments of victims’ support needs under this Directive, issue and review and, where necessary, update, on a regular basis, in light of their practical application, guidelines and protocols for general victim support services. Such guidelines and protocols should include information on how to treat victims in a trauma-, gender-, and child-sensitive manner, in a way that avoids gender stereotypes and in a way that prevents secondary or repeat victimisation.

Removed:Recital 49: (49) Specialist support services, including shelters and rape crisis centres, women’s advice centres, sexual violence referral centres, specialised LGBTIQ centres, helplines, and programmes addressing the rehabilitation of perpetrators of violence and the clinical management of rape should be considered essential during crises and states of emergency, including during health crises. These services should continue to be offered in these situations, where instances of domestic violence and violence against women tend to surge.

Removed:Recital 50: (50) The traumatic nature of sexual violence, including rape, requires a gender-sensitive response by trained and specialised staff. Victims of this type of violence need immediate, comprehensive and long-term medical care, including sexual and reproductive healthcare and the clinical management of rape, including emergency contraception, post-exposure prophylaxis, sexually transmitted infection treatments and access to safe and legal abortion and trauma support as well as the option of long-term support, including counselling. Rape crisis centres or sexual violence referral centres should offer immediate forensic examinations to collect the evidence needed for prosecution and be available on a 24-hour basis in sufficient numbers and adequately spread over the territory of each Member State. Similarly, victims of female and intersex genital mutilation and other harmful practices, who are often girls, typically are in need of tailored support. Therefore, Member States should ensure they provide dedicated support customised to these victims through a multi-disciplinary and victim-centred approach and by providing targeted training to all relevant professionals who might come in contact with a victim or a person at risk. Such specialist support should be provided with the highest standards of privacy, intimacy and confidentiality.

Removed:Recital 50 a (new): (50a) Victims of female genital mutilation, who are often girls, and victims of forced sterilisation typically are in need of targeted support. Therefore, Member States should ensure that they provide support tailored to those victims and that those specialist support services are provided with the highest standards of privacy, intimacy and confidentiality.

Removed:Recital 50 b (new): (50b) Because cyber violence is significantly underreported, providers of specialist support services for victims of cyber violence should be appropriately equipped and such services should be easily accessible. Such services should include psychological support, legal counselling and assistance.

Removed:Recital 50 c (new): (50c) Violence at work and harassment in the world of work is unacceptable and incompatible with decent work. It affects peoples’ psychological, physical and sexual health, dignity, and family and social environment, and the quality of public and private services. In particular, it can prevent people, particularly women, from accessing, and remaining and advancing in, the labour market and is therefore a threat to equal opportunities. It also negatively affects the organisation of work, workplace relations, worker engagement, enterprise reputation and productivity.

Removed:Recital 51: (51) Harassment at work is considered as discrimination on grounds of sex by Directives 2004/113/EC, 2006/54/EC and 2010/41/EU. Given that sexual harassment in the world of work is a form a discrimination that has significant negative consequences both for the victims and the employers, advice on adequately preventing and addressing such instances in the world of work, on legal remedies available to the employer to remove the offender from the workplace and providing the possibility of early conciliation, if the victim so wishes, should be provided by external specialised and trained services to both victims and employers. Sexual harassment in the world of work and violence at work should be tackled by means of social dialogue or by means of legal acts or by means of both, taking into account all workplace locations as laid down by the International Labour Organization’s Convention concerning the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work.

Removed:Recital 51 a (new): (51a) The social partners can play a key role in addressing, through relevant measures, sexual harassment in the world of work and domestic violence. With the increasing availability of home-based telework, the site of domestic violence can in fact be the workplace of the victim. Employers and trade unions can also contribute to the identification of instances of domestic violence, to supporting victims and to addressing the impact of domestic violence on professional life. There are already many examples of good practices and agreements on workplace policies that give support to victims of domestic violence, enabling them to continue working safely.

Removed:Recital 52: (52) Member States should ensure that national helplines for victims seeking support are accessible and operated under the EU-harmonised number [116016] or another existing number, and this number is widely advertised as a public number, free of charge and available round-the-clock. The support provided should include crisis counselling to be carried out by specialised support services, and should be able to refer to face-to-face services, such as shelters, women’s specialist support and other social, health and justice services. Such helplines should be operated separately from other helplines for victims of crime and staff manning such helplines should provide all national emergency numbers. Victims of violence against women and domestic violence, if calling a general support helpline, should be redirected to the specialist helpline operated under the EU-harmonised number or another existing number for targeted counselling. Member States should establish a national helpline in the event that no such helpline exists.

Removed:Recital 53: (53) Shelters play a vital role in protecting victims from acts of violence. Beyond providing a safe place to stay, shelters should provide basic legal guidance and the necessary support concerning interlocking problems related to victims’ health, including mental health, financial situation and the well-being of their children, ultimately preparing victims for an autonomous life. Member States should ensure that there is a sufficient number of dedicated domestic violence shelters available. Member States shall ensure that those shelters are adequately distributed geographically. Those shelters should be solely available for victims of acts of violence and their location should remain confidential in order to ensure women’s safety. A variety of different models of shelter should be made available, including women-only shelters, thereby ensuring maximum flexibility for victims. Shelters should always be available free of charge for the victim and they should ensure the active and continuous physical presence of trained and specialised personnel to engage with and support victims. Shelters and other appropriate interim accommodation should be made available to accommodate the specific needs of victims with disabilities.

Removed:Recital 53 a (new): (53a) Domestic violence often affects the victim’s employment and productivity and health and safety at work due to stress and fear. Perpetrators often prevent their partners or ex-partners from accessing their workplace. In addition, victims will frequently need additional time away from work to attend medical appointments or legal proceedings or to make social arrangements such as searching for new accommodation. Member States should therefore implement measures to ensure that employers who have been notified of a victim’s circumstances are prevented from discriminating or in any way disadvantaging the victim in the immediate aftermath of the violence and due to the impact of factors that relate to the violence. Rather, in order to support victims through difficult transitions and help them to remain in the workforce, thereby safeguarding their economic resources and financial independence, victims should have the right to paid leave and flexible working conditions for an appropriate duration.

Removed:Recital 54: (54) To effectively address negative consequences for child victims, support measures to children should include age-appropriate psychological counselling by trained professionals, together with paediatric care where necessary, and be provided as soon as competent authorities have reasonable grounds to believe that children might have been victims, including child witnesses of violence. Such support measures should not require the prior consent of the holder of parental responsibility, where that person is the offender or suspect, and should be in accordance with the principles laid down in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular Articles 9 and 12 thereof. Such measures should be made available on a long-term basis, in accordance with the victim’s needs. In the provision of support to child victims, the rights of the child, as laid down in Article 24 of the Charter, should be a primary consideration. Cooperation between competent authorities and venues the child visits frequently, such as school, should be ensured, both to support the child and provide due support for other children and parents. Cases of parental alienation syndrome and similar concepts and terms that blame mothers for their children’s ‘alienation’ from their father are often linked to cases of violence against women and domestic violence, risk jeopardising a child’s safety and cause secondary victimisation, additional psychological stress and trauma to victims. Referring to such concepts …

Removed:Recital 55: (55) In order to ensure the safety of children during possible visits with an offender or suspect who is a holder of parental responsibility with rights of access, Member States should ensure that supervised neutral places, including child protection or welfare offices, are made available so that such visits can take place there in the best interests of the child. Supervised neutral places for visits with an offender should ensure the safety of both the child and, where relevant, the non-abusive holder of parental responsibility and should allow for the avoidance of contact between the offender or suspect and the non-violent parent or their relatives when accompanying the child to the meeting. If needed, the visits should take place in the presence of child protection or welfare officials. Where it is necessary to provide for interim accommodation, children should as a priority be accommodated together with the holder of parental responsibility who is not the offender or suspect, such as the child’s mother. The best interests of the child should be always taken into account and prevail over a request from the violent parent for shared custody or rights of access. Appropriate referrals for offenders should be provided in order to address violence towards their family members.

Removed:Recital 55 a (new): (55a) Member States should take measures to prevent bias in the determination of “the best interests of the child”. Such bias could include the belief that it is in a child’s best interests to maintain contact with both parents or with relatives at all costs, regardless of the violence the child has witnessed, which has detrimental and dangerous effects for both the child and the other parent. The right of a child to maintain contact with both parents should be restricted if necessary.

Removed:Recital 56: (56) Victims with specific needs and groups at risk of violence against women or domestic violence experiencing intersecting discriminations, such as women with disabilities, women living in institutional care facilities, women with dependant residence status or permit, undocumented migrant women, women applicants for international protection, women fleeing armed conflict, women affected by homelessness, women in low-wage jobs, unemployed women, women with a minority racial or ethnic background, victims of so-called “honour crimes”, women living in rural areas or less prosperous regions, women in prostitution, sexual or gender-identity minorities, women suffering from addiction, detainees, older women or LBTIQ+ women should receive specific protection, medical care and support. Victims of violence covered by this Directive who apply for international protection should be considered as applicants with special reception needs as defined in Directive 2013/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council1a. / 1a Directive 2013/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (OJ L 180, 29.6.2013, p. 96).

Removed:Recital 57: (57) Women with disabilities disproportionately experience violence against women and domestic violence and due to their disability often have difficulties in accessing protection and support measures. The process for reporting violence is often inaccessible because of inadequate policies and standards, negative attitudes, physical barriers, scarce information and communication, a lack of service provision, inadequate funding and a failure to involve victims with disabilities in decisions that directly affect their lives. Therefore, Member States should adapt their support services accordingly to ensure they can benefit fully from the rights set out in this Directive, on an equal basis with others, while paying due attention to the particular vulnerability of such victims and their likely difficulties to reach out for help.

Removed:Recital 57 a (new): (57a) Actions to prevent violence against women and domestic violence should be based on a three-pronged approach composed of primary, secondary and tertiary preventive measures. Adequate coordination of those three approaches should be ensured. Primary preventive measures should aim to prevent violence from occurring and should include awareness-raising campaigns to increase understanding among the general public of the different manifestations of all forms of violence and their consequences. Secondary preventive measures should aim to detect violence early and prevent its progression or escalation at an early stage. Tertiary prevention should be focused on preventing reoffending and revictimisation and on properly managing the consequences of the violence. Those measures should include the promotion of bystander intervention, early intervention centres and intervention programmes.

Removed:Recital 58: (58) Member States should ensure that evidence-based preventive measures, such as long-term awareness-raising campaigns, are taken to counter violence against women and domestic violence through changes in the social and cultural behaviour of women and men. Such campaigns should include the full provision of information about the different manifestations of violence and about the impact of such violence on children and should promote a human rights-centred approach. Prevention should also take place in formal and informal education, in particular, through strengthening comprehensive and age-appropriate sexuality and relationship education and socio-emotional competencies, empathy and developing healthy consensual and respectful relationships. Particular attention should be paid to targeting such campaigns to locations where men frequent. Such campaigns should involve relevant local stakeholders. Preventive measures should be designed in cooperation with relevant affected communities to ensure full coverage of their needs and to ensure that there is sensitive, appropriate and non-stigmatising communication.

Removed:Recital 58 a (new): (58a) Gender equality, the empowerment of women, and investing in a gender-equal society where women are financially and socially autonomous are the best prevention strategies against the various forms of violence against women and domestic violence. Member States should ensure that women have the means and possibilities necessary to leave an abusive relationship by providing access to social support, where required.

Removed:Recital 59: (59) Member States should take measures to prevent the cultivation of harmful gender stereotypes to eradicate the idea of the inferiority of women or stereotyped roles of women and men. This could also include measures aimed at ensuring that culture, custom, religion, tradition or honour is not perceived as a justification for, or a more lenient treatment of, offences of violence against women or domestic violence, but rather as an aggravating circumstance. As so-called “honour crimes” are highly underreported in the Union, it is important that relevant authorities receive adequate training to be able to identify those crimes and to handle them in a correct manner. Considering that from a very young age onwards, children are exposed to gender roles that shape their self-perception and influence their academic and professional choices as well as expectations of their roles as women and men throughout their life, it is crucial to address gender stereotypes as of early-childhood education and care. Overexposure to pornography, where it contributes to gender stereotypes and is often young people’s only reference point for sexual relations, especially in the absence of access to comprehensive sexuality and relationship education, leads to a distorted and violent picture of sexuality. Member States should therefore take into account the impact of pornography on young people and the risk that they might reproduce violent behaviour.

Removed:Recital 60: (60) In order to ensure victims of violence against women and domestic violence are identified, are able to lodge complaints and receive appropriate support, Member States should ensure that professionals likely to come into contact with victims receive adequate and tailored training and targeted information in order to advance their access to justice. Such training, including the supporting material, should be free and should take place during working hours. Training should cover the risk and prevention of intimidation, repeat and secondary victimisation and the availability of protection, medical and support measures for victims. Such training should, in particular, be available for professionals who work with women in institutions, such as residential care homes, asylum centres and prisons, and professionals who work or volunteer at shelters. Specific attention should be paid to the specialised training of competent authorities entering in contact with victims, including, in particular, training on how to avoid victim-blaming attitudes and behaviours, timely victim referral to specialised services, including women’s specialised services, and data treatment, with the aim of facilitating the reporting of violence against women and domestic violence. Such training should also cover gender equality and discrimination, including intersectional discrimination, the prevention of secondary victimisation, communication skills, and the prevention and identification of sexual harassm…

Removed:Recital 60 a (new): (60a) To prevent and appropriately address instances of sexual harassment in the world of work, and to identify and address instances of domestic violence and its consequences, persons with supervisory functions and labour inspectors, should receive training. Such training should cover assessments regarding sexual harassment at the workplace and associated psychosocial safety and health risks as referred to in, and meeting the conditions under, Directive 89/391/EEC of the European Parliament and of the Council1a. Such training should also cover the risk of third-party violence and the fact that support should be in place for victims of such violence as part of occupational health and safety. Third-party violence refers to the violence which staff might suffer at the workplace from someone other than a co-worker. Member States should ensure that employers put in place, in consultation with workers representatives in accordance with Directive 89/391/EEC, inclusive, integrated and specialised strategies to mitigate and prevent sexual harassment in the world of work. / 1a Council Directive 89/391/EEC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work (OJ L 183, 29.6.1989, p. 1).

Removed:Recital 61: (61) In order to counteract underreporting and prevent secondary victimisation, Member States should also liaise with law enforcement authorities, judicial authorities, civil society, community-based organisations, the European Institute for Gender Equality and other relevant specialised actors in the development of trainings in particular regarding harmful gender stereotypes and misconceptions about sexual and domestic violence, but also in the prevention of offences, given their typical close contact with groups at risk of violence, victims and offenders. Training of law enforcement authorities on how to receive a victim of gender-based violence, domestic violence or cyber violence is essential to properly assist the victim in filing a complaint and to properly assess her situation.

Removed:Recital 61 a (new): (61a) Member States should recognise women's civil society organisations, including organisations working with women at a heightened risk of experiencing gender-based violence, as partners in policy development and implementation and should, where relevant, include them in the work of government bodies and committees working to combat violence against women and domestic violence. In addition, other relevant stakeholders should be consulted on relevant issues, such as the social partners in relation to sexual harassment in the world of work.

Removed:Recital 62: (62) Intervention programmes should be set up to prevent and minimise the risk of (repeated) offences of violence against women or domestic violence. They should be carried out by trained and skilled professionals and in close cooperation with specialist support services for victims. The programmes should specifically aim at teaching offenders or those at risk of offending how to adopt non-violent behaviour in interpersonal relationships and how to counter violent behavioural patterns. Where the victim consents to interact with the offender or where the victim is in close physical proximity to the offender with their consent, particular attention should be paid to the victim’s safety during such intervention programmes. Programmes should encourage offenders to take responsibility for their actions and examine their attitudes and beliefs towards women. Programmes should seek to help offenders understand and recognise that they are responsible, change their harmful attitudes and behaviours and adopt non-violent behaviour in interpersonal relationships.

Removed:Recital 62 a (new): (62a) Member States should ensure that intervention programmes comply with minimum standards and are in accordance with best practices. Intervention programmes should be provided by trained staff, have a gender-based approach, be victim-orientated, include a full risk assessment of the perpetrator, be part of multiagency networks, strive to establish strong collaboration with specialist support services, including women’s specialist support services, provide guidelines for evaluating the outcome. Member States should cooperate with the European Institute for Gender Equality on the establishment of common standards and guidelines

Removed:Recital 62 b (new): (62b) All measures provided for in this Directive need to be accompanied by sufficient, predictable and sustainable funding. That is especially important in order to ensure that national authorities and specialised support service providers, including non-governmental women’s specialist services, have sufficient funding and human, technical and technological resources for the effective and comprehensive implementation of this Directive. Member States should include women’s specialist support services as an integral part of the implementation of the national support system for victims of gender-based violence.

Removed:Recital 63: (63) In order to ensure that victims of the offences of cyber violence contained in this Directive can effectively realise their rights to have illegal material relating to such offences removed, Member States should encourage the cooperation between providers of intermediary services, authorities and civil society organisations, for example by establishing trusted flaggers pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2022/2065. To ensure that such material is detected early on and tackled effectively and that victims of those offences are adequately assisted and supported, Member States should also facilitate the establishment or use of existing self-regulatory measures of a voluntary nature, such as codes of conduct, including on the detection of systematic risks in relation to such cyber violence and the training of the providers’ employees concerned by preventing such violence and assisting victims.

Removed:Recital 63 a (new): (63a) Member States should show their commitment to preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence by developing national action plans in that regard.

Removed:Recital 63 b (new): (63b) With a view to developing a consolidated Union strategy to address violence against women and domestic violence aimed at further strengthening the commitment of, and efforts made, by the Union and the Member States to prevent and combat it, Member States should facilitate the establishment of and the tasks of a coordinator on gender-based violence (the ‘Union coordinator’) The tasks of the Union coordinator should include, for example, improving coordination and coherence, avoiding duplication of efforts between Union institutions and agencies and between Member States and international actors, contributing to the development of existing or new Union policies and strategies relevant to the fight against violence against women and domestic violence and reporting to the Union institutions.

Removed:Recital 64: (64) Policies to adequately tackle violence against women and domestic violence can only be formulated on the basis of comprehensive and comparable disaggregated data. In order to effectively monitor developments in the Member States and fill the gaps of comparable data, Member States should regularly conduct surveys using the harmonised methodology of the Commission (Eurostat) to gather data and transmit these data to the Commission (Eurostat). In addition, qualitative data should be used because they can provide unique insight into the current realities in tackling violence against women and domestic violence and into the progress made in implementing this Directive. Data should be collected at the same point in the process to ensure comparable and relatable results. Non-governmental organisations working on preventing and tackling violence against women or domestic violence, including women’s organisations, women’s specialist support services and other specialist support services, should be involved in the development of data collection methodologies.

Removed:Recital 65: (65) Member States should ensure that the data collected are limited to what is strictly necessary in relation to supporting the monitoring of the prevalence and trends of violence against women and domestic violence and design new policy strategies in this field. Member States should provide relevant data and information to relevant institutions such as European Institute of Gender Equality and Eurofound in order to allow for the comparability, assessment and analysis of those data at Union level. Data collected should include the context in which the offence took place, such as the fact that it was committed at home, at the workplace or online, as well as information about whether a victim is at a heightened risk of experiencing gender-based violence, as this will inform future targeted policy actions. Those data should also include whether violence was committed against victims affected by intersectional discrimination. In order to protect anonymity and confidentiality, to respect the key principles of data protection and to respect fundamental rights, no personal data should be included when the data collected are shared.

Removed:Recital 65 a (new): (65a) Data for statistical purposes should be collected on an ongoing basis to monitor trends and to identify good practices and areas for improvement. Eurostat and the European Institute for Gender Equality should prepare reports regularly on the statistics linked to the implementation of this Directive and transmit them to the Union coordinator, to the European Parliament and to the Council. The Commission should ensure that sufficient funding is allocated to carry out such reporting.

Removed:Recital 71: (71) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and delivered its comments on 4 April 2022,

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point c: (c) the rights of victims’ to protection and support

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point c a (new): (ca) prevention and early intervention.

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1: 1. When implementing the measures under this Directive, Member States shall take into consideration the increased risk of violence faced by victims experiencing intersectional discrimination based on a combination of sex or gender and other grounds so as to cater to their enhanced protection and support needs, as set out in Article 18(4), Article 27(5), Article 35(1) and Article 37(7).

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 2: 2. Member States shall ensure that, in the application of this Directive, particular attention is paid to the risk of intimidation, retaliation, secondary and repeat victimisation and to the need to protect the dignity and rights of victims, including their physical and psychological integrity, privacy and safety.