Activities of Konstantinos ARVANITIS related to 2022/0066(COD)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on combating violence against women and domestic violence
Amendments (39)
Amendment 28 #
Proposal for a directive
Citation 1
Citation 1
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 82(2) and, Article 83(1), Article 153 and Article 156 thereof,
Amendment 50 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) This Directive supports the international commitments the Member States have undertaken to combat and prevent violence against women and domestic violence, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)39, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and, where relevant, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (‘Istanbul Convention’)40 and the International Labour Organization’s Convention concerning the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work, signed on 21 June 2019 in Geneva. _________________ 39 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), UNGA, 1979. 40 Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention),Council of Europe, 2011.
Amendment 100 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 51
Recital 51
(51) HSexual harassment and 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 at work has significant negative consequences both for the victims and the employers, advice on adequately addressing such instances at the workplace, on legal remedies available to the employer to remove the offender from the workplace, access to justice and providing the possibility of early conciliation, if the victim so wishes, should be provided by external counselling services to both victims and employers. Social partners, trade unions and workers’ representatives play a critical role in preventing, identifying and tackling gender-based violence at the workplace, as well as providing support to victims. In order to protect female workers and to address fear of victimisation in case of violence arising at the workplace, they should be able to be represented by a trade union or other workers’ representative, as recognised in the ILO Convention nº 135, at all times.
Amendment 105 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 51 a (new)
Recital 51 a (new)
(51 a) Women active in public life such as politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and well-known figures are more often victims of violence with the risk of silencing them and hindering their societal participation, consequently undermining the principle of democracy. For instance, a study commissioned by the Inter-Parliamentary Union1a reports that 85.2 per cent of female MPs who took part in the study said that they had suffered psychological violence in the course of their term of office, 46.9 per cent had received death threats or threats of rape or beating, 58.2 per cent had been the target of online sexist attacks on social networks, 67.9 per cent had been the target of comments relating to their physical appearance or based on gender stereotypes, 24.7 per cent had suffered sexual violence, 14.8 per cent had suffered physical violence. Female MPs active in the fight against gender inequality and violence against women were often singled out for attack. _________________ 1a http://www.assembly.coe.int/LifeRay/EGA /WomenFFViolence/2018/20181016- WomenParliamentIssues-EN.pdf
Amendment 109 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 51 b (new)
Recital 51 b (new)
(51 b) Female workers that are victims of violence should be able to find support, social and legal assistance at the workplace. While domestic abuse can affect daily work or safety at work and lead to violence, harassment, stalking and assault in the workplace, work can be a preventive and protective factor in the lives of victims, by providing protection from the violence and abuse, and a safe place to seek help. Workplaces may be key in raising awareness on gender-based violence, in identifying it and in supporting victims.
Amendment 111 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 51 c (new)
Recital 51 c (new)
(51 c) The social partners could play a key role in addressing harassment at work, one of the common sites of harassment, as well as domestic violence. Employer and trade unions are particularly well-placed to take measures to address harassment at work, including sexual harassment, and cyber-violence at work. Furthermore, the Preamble to ILO Convention 190 recognises domestic violence as related to the workplace, noting that domestic violence can affect employment, productivity and health and safety. 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 contribute, as part of other measures, to identify instances of domestic violence, to support victims and to address the impacts of domestic violence on professional life. There are already many examples of good practices and agreements between employers and trade unions on workplace practices that give support to victims of domestic violence, enabling them to continue working safely. Trade union and workplace health and safety representatives can, with appropriate training, offer assistance to victims of sexual harassment, cyber violence and domestic violence.
Amendment 114 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 51 d (new)
Recital 51 d (new)
(51 d) Member States should ensure that employers, in consultation with trade union representatives, take appropriate measures to prevent and address instances of sexual harassment at work and cyber violence at work, to identify and provide adequate support to victims of domestic violence. Victims should have access to legal remedies, information and a right to receive support from a trade union representative, and should be entitled to paid leave of appropriate duration to seek counselling and attend to their needs.
Amendment 115 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 51 e (new)
Recital 51 e (new)
(51 e) Member States should take measures to ensure that trade unions can engage in collective bargaining on workplace practices to facilitate the identification, prevention and address of instances of sexual harassment and cyber violence at work as well as domestic violence, and offer support to victims. Such measures should include awareness- raising and training of employers, trade union representatives and workplace health and safety representatives.
Amendment 116 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 51 f (new)
Recital 51 f (new)
(51 f) Member States should improve the function of labour inspectorates with necessary funds, resources, staff and training, to widen the scope of monitoring, ensure effective, proportionate and non-discriminatory controls and field inspections, including routine and unannounced visits, in order to detect cases of sexual harassment and cyber violence at work or domestic violence, and strengthen the protection of female workers. Members should also ensure that organisations representing workers, in particular trade unions, have access to the workplace and, with the agreement of the worker, to their data.
Amendment 122 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 57
Recital 57
(57) Women with disability disproportionately experience violence against women and domestic violence and due to their disability often have difficulties in accessing protection and support measures. Therefore, Member States should recognise their specific needs, adapt their support services accordingly and provide relevant actors with adequate trainings. Member States should 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.
Amendment 134 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 60
Recital 60
(60) In order to ensure victims of violence against women and domestic violence are identified and receive appropriate support, Member States should ensure that professionals in the public, private and non-for-profit sector, including trade union and workers’ representatives, likely to come into contact with victims receive training and targeted information. Trainings should cover the risk and prevention of intimidation, repeat and secondary victimisation and the availability of protection and support measures for victims. To prevent and appropriately address instances of sexual harassment at work, persons with supervisory functionhey should also include prevention and identification of sexual harassment of the most marginalised groups who are often the less believed when reporting, such as migrant women, LGBT+ women or women with disabilities. To prevent and appropriately address instances of sexual harassment and cyber violence at work, and to identify and address instances of domestic violence and its consequences on workers, persons with supervisory functions, trade union representatives and workplace health and safety representatives should also receive training. These trainings should also cover assessments regarding sexual harassment at work, cyber violence at work and domestic violence, and associated psychosocial safety and health risks as referred to under Directive 89/391/EEC of the European Parliament and of the Council45 . Training activities should also cover the risk of third party violence. Third party violence refers to violence which staff may suffer at the workplace, not at the hands of a co-worker, and includes cases, such as nurses sexually harassed by a patient. _________________ 45 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).
Amendment 168 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point g
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point g
(g) “sexual harassment at work” means any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, where it occurs in the course of, linked with, or arising in matters of employment, occupation and self-employment, including in the informal sector and regardless of the residence status of the worker concerned, with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of the victim, in particular when creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment;
Amendment 184 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) making material containing the personal data of another person, without that person’s consent, accessible to a multitude of end-users, by means of information and communication technologies, for the purpose of inciting those end-users to cause physical, economic or significant psychological harm to the person.
Amendment 191 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 13 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 13 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) the offence was committed against a person made vulnerable by particular circumstances, such as a situation of dependence or a state of physical, mental, intellectual or sensory disability, or living in institutions, or precarious working arrangements or residence status;
Amendment 195 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 13 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
Article 13 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
(b a) the offense was committed against elected women and women holding public office at all levels;
Amendment 233 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 27 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 27 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) advice and information on any relevant legal or practical matters arising as a result of the crime, including on access to affordable, appropriate and accessible housing, education, training and assistance to remain in or find employment;
Amendment 236 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 27 – paragraph 2
Article 27 – paragraph 2
2. Specialist support referred to in paragraph 1 shall be offered in-person and shall be easily accessible, including online or through other adequate means, such as information and communication technologies, tailored to the needs of victims of violence against women and domestic violence, including those with migrant background or disabilities and living in institutions.
Amendment 242 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 27 – paragraph 4
Article 27 – paragraph 4
4. Member States shall provide the protection and specialist support services necessary to comprehensively address the multiple needs of victims at the same premises, or have such services coordinated through a central contact point, or through one-stop online access to such services. Such combined offering of services shall include at least first hand medical care and social services, psychosocial support, legal, and police services, and be available and accessible to victims with disabilities or migrant background.
Amendment 252 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 30 – title
Article 30 – title
Specialist support for victims of sexual harassment at, cyber violence and third-party violence in the world of work
Amendment 258 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 30 – paragraph 1
Article 30 – paragraph 1
Member States shall, in consultation with the social partners, take measures to ensure external counselling services and legal services are available for victims and employers in cases of sexual harassment at work or cyber violence and harrassment at work. These services shall include advice on adequately addressing such instances at the workplace, on legal remedies available to the employer to remove the offender from the workplace and providing t. The possibility of early conciliation, if the victim so wishes should be available only if the victim so wishes. The costs of such counselling services and legal services shall be covered by the Member State or by the employer.
Amendment 261 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 30 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 30 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Workers shall have the right to receive support and representation from their trade union, to have access to information on available remedies and access to legal remedies. Trade union representatives shall be able to support workers in any relevant proceedings.
Amendment 263 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 30 – paragraph 1 b (new)
Article 30 – paragraph 1 b (new)
Member States shall ensure that employers take appropriate measures to prevent and address instances of sexual harassment, cyber violence and third- party violence at work. Employers should not prevent or discriminate, directly or indirectly, their workers from exercising rights arising from this directive.
Amendment 264 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 30 a (new)
Article 30 a (new)
Article 30 a Support at work for victims of domestic violence 1. Member States shall ensure that employers, in cooperation with the social partners, take appropriate measures to provide a safe working environment and support to victims of domestic violence, and to ensure that consequences of such violence on the safety of victims and co- workers and on productivity and performance at work are not taken into account in performance evaluations. Workers shall have the right to receive support from a trade union as well as the health and safety representative at the workplace. 2. Victims of domestic violence shall be entitled to a specific paid leave of appropriate duration, distinct from other ordinary leave rights such as annual, sick and bereavement leaves. They shall also be entitled to flexible work arrangements according to their needs, including: a) a prior right to the change of workplace centre, with a 6 months right to return to the same job, as well as a right to geographical mobility in the same terms when the company has workplaces in other regions; b) a reduction of working hours, with a proportional reduction in salary, as well as flexible working time arrangements; c) the suspension of the employment relationship, with a 6 months right to return to the job and entitlement to access to unemployment benefits; d) the extinction of the employment contract, with the right to access to unemployment benefits; e) temporary protection against dismissal for victims of domestic violence, as appropriate, except on grounds unrelated to domestic violence and its consequences. 3. Member states shall take measures to support self-employed victims of domestic violence who have to cease their activity for safety reasons or to exercise their rights as victims.
Amendment 265 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 30 a (new)
Article 30 a (new)
Article 30 a Support at work for victims of violence against women and domestic violence 1. Member States shall ensure that employers, in cooperation with trade union representatives, take appropriate measures to provide a safe working environment and support to victims of domestic violence, and to ensure that consequences of domestic violence on the safety of victims and co-workers and on productivity and performance at work are not taken into account in performance evaluations. Workers shall have the right to receive support from a trade union and the workplace health and safety representative. 2. Member States shall ensure that victims of sexual harassment or cyber violence and harassment at work, including victims of domestic violence, shall be entitled to paid leave of appropriate duration in order to attend to their needs, seek counselling services and extract themselves from the abusive environment.
Amendment 272 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 30 b (new)
Article 30 b (new)
Article 30 b Collective bargaining on harassment at work and domestic violence 1. Member States shall ensure that trade unions are able to bargain collectively on workplace measures to prevent and address sexual harassment and cyber violence at work, and to identify and support victims of domestic violence. 2. Member States shall take measures to promote collective barganing on workplace practices on preventing and addressing instances of sexual harassment, cyber violence and domestic violence, including through awareness- raising and training of employers, trade union representatives and workplace health and safety representatives.
Amendment 273 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 31 – paragraph 1
Article 31 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall set up state- wide round-the-clock (24/7) telephone helplines, free of charge, to provide advice for victims of violence against women and domestic violence. Advice shall be provided confidentially or with due regard for their anonymity. Member States shall ensure the provision of such service also through other information and communication technologies, including online applications. Member States shall take into consideration language barriers and provide services accessible in more languages than the one officially recognized in the country.
Amendment 276 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 32 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 32 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. The shelters and other appropriate interim accommodations shall be accessible and equipped to accommodate the specific needs of victims with disabilities or different language and cultural backgrounds.
Amendment 278 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 32 – paragraph 2
Article 32 – paragraph 2
2. The shelters and other appropriate interim accommodations shall be equipped to accommodate the specific needs of single-parent families and children, including child victims.
Amendment 284 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 35 – paragraph 1
Article 35 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure the provision of specific support to victims at an increased risk of violence against women or domestic violence, such as women with disabilities, women living in rural areas, women with dependant residence status or permit, undocumented migrant women, women applying for international protection, women fleeing from armed conflict, women affected by homelessness, women with a minority racial or ethnic background, women sex workersin prostitution, women detainees, or older women.
Amendment 290 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 36 – paragraph 3
Article 36 – paragraph 3
3. Member States shall make information on preventive measures, the rights of victims, access to justice and to a lawyer, and the available protection and support measures available to the general public, taking into account cultural and language barriers, and in formats accessible to persons with disabilities.
Amendment 293 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 36 – paragraph 4
Article 36 – paragraph 4
4. Targeted action shall be addressed to groups at risk, including children, according to their age and maturity, and persons with disabilities, taking into consideration language and cultural barriers and different levels of literacy and abilities. Information for children shall be formulated in a child-friendly way.
Amendment 296 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 36 – paragraph 6
Article 36 – paragraph 6
6. Preventive measures shall develop and/or increase sensitivity about the harmful practice of female genital mutilation and forced sterilisation.
Amendment 298 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 36 – paragraph 8
Article 36 – paragraph 8
8. Member States shall ensure that sexual harassment at work, in consultation with the social partners, shall ensure that sexual harassment and cyber violence at work as well as domestic violence is addressed in relevant national policies. Those national policies shall identify and establish targeted actions referred to in paragraph 2 for sectors where workers are most exposed. Trade unions, workers’ representatives as well as labour inspectorates should be involved in the definition and implementation of prevention policies at workplace level.
Amendment 302 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 37 – paragraph 1
Article 37 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that professionals likely to come into contact with victims, including law enforcement authorities, court staff, judges and prosecutors, lawyers, providers of victim support, including in not-for-profit and NGO sectors, and restorative justice services, healthcare professionals, social services, educational and other relevant staff, including trade union and workplace health and safety representatives, receive both general and specialist training and targeted information to a level appropriate to their contacts with victims, to enable them to identify, prevent and address instances of violence against women or domestic violence and to treat victims in a trauma-, gender-, disability- and child- sensitive manner, taking into consideration cultural and language barriers.
Amendment 307 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 37 – paragraph 3
Article 37 – paragraph 3
3. Persons with supervisory functions in the workplace as well as trade union and workplace health and safety representatives, in both the public and private sectors, shall receive training on how to recognise, prevent and address sexual harassment at work, including on risk assessments concerning occupational safety and health risks, cyber violence at work and domestic violence, including on gender-responsive risk assessments concerning occupational safety and health risks, including risks of gender-based violence and harassment form third- parties and risk of domestic violence, to provide support to victims affected thereby and respond in an adequate manner. Those persons and employers shall receive information about the effects of violence against women and domestic violence on work and the risk of third party violence. They shall also receive specific information and targetted training to prevent sexual harassment of the most marginalised groups, who are often less likely to report the offence and be believed, such as undocumented women workers, LGBT+ women and women with disabilities. They shall also receive training on how to recognise instances of domestic violence and provide support to victims and ensure that victims are able to continue working in a safe environment.
Amendment 314 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 37 – paragraph 6
Article 37 – paragraph 6
6. Member States shall ensure that the authorities competent for receiving reports of offences from victims are appropriately trained to facilitate and assist in the reporting of such crimes, including victims with migrant background or disabilities.
Amendment 318 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 37 – paragraph 8 a (new)
Article 37 – paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Training activities refered to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall be defined and implemented in close cooperation with trade unions and health and safety workers’ representatives.
Amendment 319 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 37 – paragraph 8 b (new)
Article 37 – paragraph 8 b (new)
8 b. Strategies for preventing, informing and combating gender-based violence in the workplace can be the subject of collective bargaining. Collective agreements should be promoted at national and sectoral level, in cooperation with the relevant national bodies and according to national law and practices.
Amendment 326 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 40 a (new)
Article 40 a (new)