Good news for us women
The Commission welcomes the political agreement reached today between the European Parliament and the Council on the Commission's proposal for a Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence from March 2022. the first comprehensive legal instrument at EU level to tackle violence against women in Political Guidelines to do everything possible to prevent violence against women, including domestic violence, to protect victims and punish offenders.
The Directive criminalises physical violence, as well as psychological, economic and sexual violence against women across the EU, both offline and online. Female genital mutilation as well as forced marriage will be criminalised as stand-alone crimes. Moreover, the most widespread forms of cyber-violence will be criminalised under the new rules, including the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (including deepfakes), cyber-stalking, cyber-harassment, misogynous hate speech and “cyber-flashing”.These criminalisations will in particular help victims of these forms of cyberviolence in Member States that did not yet criminalise these acts. This is an urgent issue to address, given the exponential spread and dramatic impact of violence online.
One key to combat cyber-violence is digital literacy. That is why the new Directive also requires measures to develop skills that enable users to identify and address cyber violence, seek support and prevent its perpetration.
The new Directive also provides for measures to prevent all types of violence against women, including domestic violence and sets new standards for victims' protection, support, and access to justice, for example, by obliging Member States to establish helplines and rape crisis centres to support victims.As proposed by the Commission, the Directive will require Member States to ensure safe, gender-sensitive and easier reporting of crimes of violence against women and domestic violence - including an option to report online. This will tackle the under-reporting of violence against women that still exists today. Moreover, law enforcement authorities will have to assess if the offender might do further harm to the victim and, in that case, take necessary protection measures, such as the prohibition to enter the home of the victim The respect for the victims' privacy in judicial proceedings is another key point of the new rules.Finally, to ensure better coordination and cooperation, Member States will be encouraged to gather the most important data on violence against women and foster coordination and exchanges of best practices and cooperation in criminal cases, including via Eurojust and the European Judicial Network.It is an important step against many forms of violence in real world but mainly it brings a major change in an online world by criminalizing certain forms of cyber-violence. The latest developments show it is high time. Non-consensual sharing of intimate images, including AI-generated ones, may lead to mental health issues and even to suicides in extreme cases; cyber-stalking and cyber-harassment wipes out women from public space. This Directive would ensure that the authors of such a coward behavior don’t go unpunished.
So to the men of the cyber world beware when you think your safe behind your screens and can mistreat or abuse a female.
The Commission welcomes the political agreement reached today between the European Parliament and the Council on the Commission's proposal for a Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence from March 2022. the first comprehensive legal instrument at EU level to tackle violence against women in Political Guidelines to do everything possible to prevent violence against women, including domestic violence, to protect victims and punish offenders.
The Directive criminalises physical violence, as well as psychological, economic and sexual violence against women across the EU, both offline and online. Female genital mutilation as well as forced marriage will be criminalised as stand-alone crimes. Moreover, the most widespread forms of cyber-violence will be criminalised under the new rules, including the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (including deepfakes), cyber-stalking, cyber-harassment, misogynous hate speech and “cyber-flashing”.These criminalisations will in particular help victims of these forms of cyberviolence in Member States that did not yet criminalise these acts. This is an urgent issue to address, given the exponential spread and dramatic impact of violence online.
One key to combat cyber-violence is digital literacy. That is why the new Directive also requires measures to develop skills that enable users to identify and address cyber violence, seek support and prevent its perpetration.
The new Directive also provides for measures to prevent all types of violence against women, including domestic violence and sets new standards for victims' protection, support, and access to justice, for example, by obliging Member States to establish helplines and rape crisis centres to support victims.As proposed by the Commission, the Directive will require Member States to ensure safe, gender-sensitive and easier reporting of crimes of violence against women and domestic violence - including an option to report online. This will tackle the under-reporting of violence against women that still exists today. Moreover, law enforcement authorities will have to assess if the offender might do further harm to the victim and, in that case, take necessary protection measures, such as the prohibition to enter the home of the victim The respect for the victims' privacy in judicial proceedings is another key point of the new rules.Finally, to ensure better coordination and cooperation, Member States will be encouraged to gather the most important data on violence against women and foster coordination and exchanges of best practices and cooperation in criminal cases, including via Eurojust and the European Judicial Network.It is an important step against many forms of violence in real world but mainly it brings a major change in an online world by criminalizing certain forms of cyber-violence. The latest developments show it is high time. Non-consensual sharing of intimate images, including AI-generated ones, may lead to mental health issues and even to suicides in extreme cases; cyber-stalking and cyber-harassment wipes out women from public space. This Directive would ensure that the authors of such a coward behavior don’t go unpunished.
So to the men of the cyber world beware when you think your safe behind your screens and can mistreat or abuse a female.
