Activities of Diana RIBA I GINER related to 2019/2166(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
The impact of intimate partner violence and custody rights on women and children (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the impact of intimate partner violence and custody rights on women and children
Amendments (61)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1
Citation 1
— having regard to Articles 2 and 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), and Articles 6, 8, and 867 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2
Citation 2
— having regard to Articles 21, 23, 24, and 247 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR),
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8
Citation 8
— having regard to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which entered into force on 1 January 2016, and, in particular, to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on gender equality, as well as SDG 16.2 on ending all forms of violence against children so every child can live free from fear, neglect, abuse and exploitation,
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 10 a (new)
Citation 10 a (new)
— havingregard to the Commission communication of 12 November 2020 entitled‘ Union of Equality: LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020) 698),
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 17 a (new)
Citation 17 a (new)
— having regard to Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime,
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas gender equality is a fundamental value and an objective of the EU; whereas gender-based violence is an extreme form of discrimination against women, a violation of human rights, and one of the biggest obstacles to achieving gender equality;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas gender-based violence, both physical and psychological, are widespread and affect women at all levels of society, regardless of age, education, income, social position or country of origin or residence;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas, in spite of numerous instances of formal recognition and progress having been made on gender equality, women and men do not enjoy the same rights in practicere still discriminated and put in a situation of disadvantage, and social, economic and cultural inequalities persist;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
B b. whereas the present decade is witnessing a visible and organised offensive at global and European level against gender equality and women’s rights, including in the EU;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas intimate partner violence refers to any act of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occurs between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared a residence with the victim; whereas intimate partner violence is one of the most prevalent forms of gender-based violence, with an estimated 22 % of women having experienced physical and/or sexual violence, and 43 % having experienced psychological violence by their partner6 ; whereas women and children are disproportionately affected by this type of violence; whereas domestic violence refers to “all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim”, as defined by the Istanbul Convention; whereas domestic violence is a serious and often hidden social problem that can cause systematic physical and psychological trauma with serious consequences for the victims, as the perpetrator is a person the victim should be able to trust; _________________ 6FRA report of 3 March 2014 entitled ‘Violence against women: an EU-wide survey’.
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas during the lockdowns, a significant rise in domestic violence against LGBTI people, especially young people, was reported;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
D b. whereas shelters and other initiatives providing safety for women and children in distress have experienced an increase in demand during lockdown and other pandemic-related measures, that has left many of them without adequate and timely protection;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D c (new)
Recital D c (new)
D c. whereas the 2014 FRA Survey on violence against women shows that victims had reported their most serious incidents of partner violence to the police in only 14 % of cases, which proves a vast ratio of underreporting;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D d (new)
Recital D d (new)
D d. whereas children of perpetrators of intimate partner violence are often the object of ill-treatment as a way to exercise power and violence against the mother, a phenomenon known as vicarious violence and a form of gender-based violence;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas children may also suffer ‘witnessed violence’ in the family environment, through experiencing any form of ill-treatment, carried out through acts of physical, verbal, psychological, sexual and economic violence against reference figures or other affectively significant figures; whereas such violence has very serious consequences for the psychological and emotional development of the child, and whereas it is therefore essential to pay due attention to this type of violence in separations and parental custody arrangements, takingensuring that the best interests of the child into accountare the primary consideration, in particular in order to determine custody and visitation rights in separation cases;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
E a. whereas the so called parental alienation syndrome (PAS) is used as an strategy against victims of gender-based violence; whereas two of the most prestigious institutions on mental health, namely the World Health Organisation and the American Association of Psychology, reject the use of PAS;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas, in order to address the issue of the eradication of gender-based violence, it is necessary to rely on consistent and comparable administrative data, based on a robust and coordinated framework of data collection; whereas the current available data collected by the Member States’ law enforcement and justice authorities fail to reflect the full extent of intimate partner violence, as most Member States neither collect gender- segregated comparable data on gender- based violence nor do they recognise intimate partner violence as a specific offence; whereas data is also lacking on the heightened risks and prevalence of domestic and intimate partner violence for specific groups, such as older women, disabled women, women of colour and black women, lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex women;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
F a. whereas women and children across the EU are not equally protected against gender-based violence owing to differing policies and legislation across the Member States;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
F b. whereas police and judicial systems often do not provide sufficient support to women and children; whereas, in many cases,victims of gender-based violence can be subjected to degrading comments by law enforcement officials which exacerbates their fear of reporting the violence;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the right of every child to maintain contact with both parents, implied in Article 8 of the ECHR and Article 9 of the CRC, mayshould be restricted byif necessary for the best interests of the child;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
H a. whereas according to article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to express their views in all matters affecting them, including in judicial and administrative proceedings, and their views have tobe given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas criminal proceedings arising from a complaint of domestic violence are often dealt with completely separately from separation proceedings; whereas this can mean that shared custody of the children is ordered and/or visitation rights imposed that endanger the rights and safety of the victim orand the children;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
I a. whereas according to Article 67 TFEU, the Union should constitute an area of freedom, security and justice with respect for fundamental rights, to which non-discriminatory access to justice for all is instrumental;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas the Istanbul Convention requires the Parties to adopt legislative or other necessary measures to ensure that incidents of domestic violence are taken into account when determining custody and visitation rights in relation to children, and that the exercise of any visitation or custody rights does not jeopardise the rights and safety of the victim or their children; whereas the Istanbul Convention has not been ratified yet by Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia nor the EU;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas shared custody in situations of intimate partner violence exposes womenvictims to a continuum of preventable violence, by forcing them to stay in geographical proximity to their abusers, and subjecting them to further exposure to physical and psychological violence, as well as emotional abuse; whereas, in cases of intimate partner violence, the right of women and children to be protected and live a life free of physical and psychological violence should take precedence over the preference for shared custody;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas intimate partner violence is inherently interlinked with violence against children and child abuse; whereas being exposed to domestic violence is to be considered as violence against children; whereas children who are exposed to domestic violence are likely to suffer negative mental and physical health consequences that could be acute and chronic in nature; whereas child victimisation in situations of violence against women may continue and escalate in the context of parental disputes over custody and care;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas growing up in a violent domestic environment has important implications for the child’s development and subsequent behaviour as an adulphysical, emotional, and social development; whereas exposure to violence as a child, either through experiencing maltreatment and/or witnessing partner violence, constitutes a risk factor for becoming vulnerable to victimisation or committing violence as an adult;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P a (new)
Recital P a (new)
P a. whereas the automatic recognition of rulings on proceedings linked to custody rights where gender-based violence is involved are problematic since legislation on gender-based violence differ in each Member State and not all Member States recognise intimate partner violence as a criminal offence and a form of gender-based violence; whereas minimum harmonisation on rules on gender-based violence, including provisions to ensure that incidents of domestic violence are taken into account when determining custody and visitation rights, are essential to ensure a common area of freedom, security and justice;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P b (new)
Recital P b (new)
P b. Whereas civil society organisations, in particular those working with and for children and victims of domestic and gender-based violence, are an important player in preventing and dealing with domestic and intimate partner violence; whereas such organisations can also provide valuable contributions to policies and legislation following their grassroots experience;
Amendment 158 #
P c. Whereas European funding programmes such as the Justice Programme and the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values can be used for activities for the protection and support of victims of domestic and gender-based violence, including to ensure access to justice and financing of civil society organisations working with victims;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Strongly condemns all forms of gender-based violence, domestic violence, and violence against women and deplores the fact that women, in all their diversity, continue to be exposed to intimate partner violence which constitutes a serious violation of their human rights and dignity;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Calls for ratification and implementation of the Istanbul Convention at a national and EU level; calls on the Member States to take all the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that, in the determination of custody and visitation rights of children, incidents of intimate partner violence are taken into account and that the exercise of any visitation or custody rights does not jeopardise the rights and safety of the victim or children; commends all campaigns advocating the ratification and implementation of the Istanbul Convention and strongly condemns all attempts to discredit it;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Points at the alarming figures on gender-based violence, which unveils a patriarchal society, based on power structures that need to be reshaped as a matter of urgency;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Calls on the Commission to add gender-based violence to the list of EU areas of crime under Article 83(1) TFEU, taking into account the special need to combat this crime on a common basis; calls on the Commission to use this as a legal basis to propose binding measures and a holistic EU framework directive to prevent and combat all forms of gender- based violence, including the impact of intimate partner violence on women and children, and contain uniform standards and due diligence obligation to collect data, to prevent, to investigate, to protect the victims and the witnesses, and to prosecute and punish the perpetrators; recalls that such new legislative measures should in any case be coherent with the rights and obligations of the Istanbul Convention and should be complementary to its ratification; recommends that the Istanbul Convention should be seen as a minimum standard and aspire to make further progress to eradicate gender- based and domestic violence;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Is deeply concerned about the still alarming number of femicides in Europe, which is the most extreme form of violence against women;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1 c. Stresses that measures to combat gender-based and domestic violence need to incorporate an intersectional approach with the aim of preventing blind spots which would cause certain women to be left out or even reinforce exiting discriminations;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1 d. Stresses that violence against children is often the result of gender- based violence, either as witnesses of violence perpetrated against their mothers or as the direct object of ill-treatment suffered which attempts to dominate and exercise violence against their mothers;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. NRecalls that in all actions concerning a child, their best interest shall be the primary concern; notes that, in principle, shared custody and unsupervised visits are desirable in orderfor the child to ensure that parents enjoy equal rights and responsibilities, as well as to safeguard the best interests of the child; underlines, however, that intimate partner violence is clearly incompatible with sharedthe best interests of a child and with custody and care, owing to its severe consequences for women and children, including the risk of extreme acts of femicide and infanticide; stresses that when establishing the arrangements for custody allocation and visitation rights, the protection of women and children from violence and the best interests of the child must be paramount and should take precedence over other criteria; stresses, therefore, that awarding exclusive custody to the non-violent partner, most frequently the mother, represents the best alternative in order to prevent further violence and secondary victimisation of the victims;
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for mandatory targeted training for judicial and law enforcement officers, abouts well as all public servants dealing with cases of gender-based violence and child abuse, and legal practitioners dealing with separation and custody cases about all forms of domestic violence and its mechanisms, including coercion, manipulation and psychological violence, and about the relevance of intimate partner violence to children’s rights, and to their protection and well- being, as well as to provide adequate skills to enable the officers to assess the situation using reliable risk assessment tools and adequate skills to detect signs of abuse; stresses the need to evaluate mechanisms of detecting these signs by professionals involved, e.g. with a methodology of Serious Case Review; stresses that civil society organisations working with and for children and victims of domestic and gender-based violence should be asked to provide or at least be associated in these trainings to share their knowledge and expertise following on the ground experiences;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Calls on Member States to set up a platform for the regular exchange of best practices between civil and criminal courts, legal practitioners dealing with cases of domestic and gender-based violence, child abuse, separation and custody cases, and all other relevant stakeholders;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Calls on the Commission and the European judicial network to set up a European platform for mutual learning and sharing of best practice between legal practitioners and policy makers of different Member States working in all relevant fields;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Strongly recommends that Member States establish specialised courts and judicial offices, as well as appropriate laws, training, procedures and guidelines for all professionals dealing with the victims, including raising awareness of gender-based violence, in order to avoid discrepancies between judicial decisions and discrimination or secondary victimisation during judicial, medical and police proceedings, ensuring that children and women are duly heard and their protection and reparation is given priority; emphasises the need to strengthen dedicated judicial offices and child and female victim- friendly justice, limiting the excessive discretionary powers of practitioners and establishing checks on child custody procedures by qualified professional figures;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses the importance of action at both EU and national level to reach agreement on common legal definitions, as this type of witnessedestablishing at EU level common legal definitions and of minimum harmonisation of rules on combating gender-based violence and the protection of children of victims of gender-based violence, as intimate-partner violence, witnessed and vicarious violence isare not recognised in many legal systems and; in addition, points out the lack of common legal definitions has a direct impact on data collection in the police and judicial sectors, and on cross- border cooperation;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Calls for the recognition of institutional violence that may be committed by public servants in the exercise of their functions with appropriate sanctions and measures for the protection and reparation of the victims;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. CWelcomes the Commission’s commitment to carry out a new EU survey on gender-based violence with results presented in 2023; stresses the need to collect harmonised data on gender-based violence on a regular basis and calls on the Commission and the Member States to set up a permanent mechanism to provide quality, gender- segregated and comparable EU-wide data on the prevalence, causes, consequences and management of intimate partner violence and custody rights, making full use of the capacity and expertise of the EIGE and Eurostat; calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure that data is disaggregated by age, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics, race and ethnicity, disability status among others to ensure that experiences of women in all their diversity are captured;
Amendment 260 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Expresses its concern about the fact that discriminatory gender bias often leads to a lack of trust in women, in particular concerning presumed false allegations of child abuse and of domestic violence; stresses therefore the importance of measures aimed at combating gender stereotypes and patriarchal biases trough education and awareness-raising campaigns;
Amendment 277 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Highlights that perpetrators often use litigation to extend their power and control, and to continue to intimidate and incite fear in their victims; stresses that perpetrators often abuse, or threaten to harm or to take the children, in order to harm their partners and ex-partners; recalls that this is also a form of gender-based violence;
Amendment 289 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Member States to promote better access to legal protection, effective hearings and restraining orders, shelters, counselling and victim funds for women victims of intimate partner violence, and to apply particular procedures and give support to mothers who are victims of domestic violence, in order to prevent them from becoming victims again as a result of shared custody or completely losing custody of their children;
Amendment 293 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Urges Members States to ensure that access to justice and victim support is accessible, adequate and free to all women victims of intimate partner violence in all their diversity, in particular regardless their residence and migration status and ensuring interpretation services where needed; calls to ensure that services take into consideration the intersecting forms of discrimination suffered by women with ethnic and religious minority backgrounds, as well as women with disabilities and young women;
Amendment 301 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10 b. Calls on Member States to set up an annual campaign to inform children and raise awareness on children’s rights; calls on the Member States to establish specific centres to attend children victims of violence, with paediatricians and therapists also specialised in gender based-violence; calls on the Member States to establish contact points for children that are easily accessible, including by telephone, e-mail, online chat etc, where they can talk about and ask questions as well as report violence against themselves, a parent or a sibling and where they can get information, advice or be referred on for more help;
Amendment 307 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Paragraph 10 c (new)
10 c. Calls on the Member States, as laid down in Article 16 of the Istanbul Convention, to take the necessary legislative or other measures to set up or support programmes aimed at teaching perpetrators of domestic violence to adopt non-violent behaviour in interpersonal relationships with a view to preventing further violence and changing violent behavioural patterns; recalls that, in doing so, Member States must ensure that the safety of, support for and the human rights of victims are of primary concern and that, where appropriate, these programmes are set up and implemented in close co-ordination with specialist support services for victims;
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to promote EU-wide public awareness campaigns as a necessary measure in the prevention of gender-based violence and domestic violence and the creation of a climate of zero tolerance towards violence; calls on Member States to complement such a European campaign by spreading information about where victims and witnesses can report such violence, including beyond the end of the campaign;
Amendment 321 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Amendment 343 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Emphasises that hearing from the child is importantessential to establish what is in the best interests of the child while examining custody cases; points out nevertheless that in every case, but crucially in cases where intimate partnership violence is suspected, such hearings shouldmust be conducted in a child- friendly environment, with no pressure or influence from parents or relatives, by trained professionals, including those qualified in child neuropsychiatry, to avoid deepening the trauma and victimisation;
Amendment 345 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Urges that in suspected cases of child abuse the principle ‘in dubio pro- filis’ should prevail, applying immediate interim measures while the facts are investigated;
Amendment 346 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12 b. Calls for the prohibition of the use of PAS which punishes mothers who attempt to report cases of child abuse or gender based violence;
Amendment 347 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 c (new)
Paragraph 12 c (new)
12 c. Stresses that courts dealing with child abuse should be specialised in gender-based violence, too;
Amendment 349 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Underlines the importance of the exchange of information between courts, the central authorities of Member States and police bodies, especially in relation to cross-border custody cases; hopes that the revised rules under Council Regulation (EU) 2019/1111 of 25 June 2019 on jurisdiction, the recognition and enforcement of decisions in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, and on international child abduction7 will enhance the cooperation between judicial systems to effectively determine the best interests of the child, irrespective of their parents’ marital status or family constitution, and the victims of intimate partner violence; calls, in this context, on the Commission and the Member States to implement the Brussels IIa Regulation effectively; requests the Commission to report back to the European Parliament on the implementation and impact of these regulations, including in the context of partner violence and custody rights, at the latest by August 2024. _________________ 7 OJ L 178, 2.7.2019, p. 1.
Amendment 356 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Stresses the need to recognise the interconnectedness of criminal, civil and other legal proceedings in order to coordinate the judicial responses to intimate partner violence and to avoid discrepancies between judicial decisions that are harmful to children and women victims; calls to this end on Member States to organise training of all professionals as well as volunteer workers involved in such proceedings, and to associate civil society organisations working with and for children and victims in these trainings;
Amendment 360 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to involve relevant civil society organisations, in particular those working with and for children as well as victims of domestic and gender-based violence, in the development, implementation and evaluation of policies and legislation; calls for providing structural support at European, national and local levels for these CSOs, including financial support, to increase their capacity to react and advocate as well as to ensure adequate access for all people to their services, counselling and support activities;