“20 years of legislation against domestic violence – a common, strong and lasting commitment to reinforce the fight“.
For the 20th anniversary of the amended law of 8 September 2003 on domestic violence, the Ministry for Gender Equality and Diversity organised a conference to review 20 years of fighting against domestic violence, to see the current challenges of dealing with recidivist perpetrators of violence and to discuss operational perspectives with experts in the field.
Minister of Gender Equality Taina Bofferding, Minister of Justice Sam Tanson and Minister of Internal Security Henri Kox opened the conference, emphasising their unwavering commitment to the fight against domestic violence and their willingness to join forces in order to strengthen the care of victims and the work with perpetrators of domestic violence.
“In Luxembourg, domestic violence is not a fate. Strengthening the care of perpetrators is one of the keys to our lasting success. We need to better understand the types of offenders, develop risk analysis and make offenders more accountable to break the cycle of violence. The equation is simple: fewer perpetrators means fewer victims”,
Taina Bofferding.
In their respective speeches, Ministers Sam Tanson and Henri Kox emphasised this message: “We strive for effective legislation on domestic violence in order to combat this phenomenon as a whole, in particular through effective criminal prosecution, adequate follow-up of the perpetrators and holistic care and protection of the victim”. In his speech, Henri Kox underlined the importance of police work in the field of domestic violence: “The fight against domestic violence will remain a priority for my Ministry and for the entire grand-ducal Police. Our police officers are equipped to face this challenge and are ready to intervene whenever they are called. They are present for all victims, because each one of these victims is one too many.”
After viewing recent events in pictures, Mrs. Bettina Riederer from the Zentrum für Kriminologie und Polizeiforschung spoke about “Perspektiven von Täterarbeit von Häuslicher Gewalt und das Paradigma von Opferschutz.*”. This topic as well as different perspectives from the field were further developed during a round table discussion on “recidivists: a challenge in the fight against domestic violence”.
The ensuing discussions provided an opportunity to debate the different points of view presented during the various presentations and to exchange views with the various experts present.
*perspectives of domestic violence by a perpetrator and the paradigm of victim protection
