Violence against women and domestic violence: The new Commission proposal in light of European Parliament requests

Gender-based violence, including violence against women and domestic violence, breaches human rights and is an extreme form of gender-based discrimination. However, violence against women and domestic violence are pervasive throughout the European Union (EU). While the full scale of the problem is not known due to a lack of data, the results of the most comprehensive survey on violence against women at EU level to date, published by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in 2014, provide an indication of its dimension. The coronavirus pandemic and related lockdowns have further worsened the situation. On 8 March 2022, the European Commission presented a long-awaited proposal for a directive combating violence against women and domestic violence. Ahead of its deliberations, the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) asked the Ex-Post Evaluation Unit (EVAL) within DG EPRS to prepare an analysis of the Commission proposal in light of the European Parliament's requests for a legislative framework on preventing and combating gender-based violence, submitted over time. Accordingly, this study examines the Parliament's main requests in this regard adopted since 2009 – when Parliament first called for a directive on preventing and combating all forms of violence against women – compared against the provisions of the Commission proposal.