26 Amendments of Miriam LEXMANN related to 2022/0066(COD)
Amendment 38 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) The measures under this Directive have been designed to address the specific needs of women and girls, given that they are disproportionately affected by the forms of violence covered under this Directive, namely violence against women and domestic violence. This Directive, however, acknowledges that other persons may also fall victim to these forms of violence and should benefit from the measures provided for therein. Therefore, the term ‘victim’ should refer to all persons, regardless of their sex or gender.
Amendment 40 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) Violence against women is a persisting manifestation of structural discrimination against women, resulting from historically unequal power relations between women and men. It is a form of gender-based violence, which is inflicted primarily on women and girls, by men. It is rooted in the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men, generally referred to under the term ‘gender’.
Amendment 44 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) In light of the specificities related to these types of crime it is necessary to lay down a comprehensive set of rules, which addresses the persisting problem of violence against women and domestic violence in a targeted manner and caters to the specific needs of victims of such violence. The existing provisions at Union and national levels have proven to be insufficient to effectively combat and prevent violence against women and domestic violence. In particular, Directives 2011/36/EU and 2011/93/EU concentrate on specific forms of such violence, while Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council38 lays down the general framework for victims of crime. While providing some safeguards for victims of violence against women and domestic violence, it is not set out to address their specific needs. _________________ 38 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, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA (OJ L 315, 14.11.2012, p. 57).
Amendment 49 #
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 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 65 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 17 a (new)
Recital 17 a (new)
(17 a) It is necessary to address the practice of surrogacy, a global phenomenon that exposes women worldwide to exploitation while targeting financially and socially vulnerable women in particular. The practice of surrogacy has a severe impact on women, women’s and children´s rights, women’s health and equality as well as serious cross-border implications.
Amendment 66 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) Especially due to its tendency for easy, swift and broad distribution and perpetration, as well as its intimate nature, the non-consensual making accessible of intimate images or videos and material that depict sexual activities, to a multitude of end-users, by means of information and communication technologies, can be very harmful for the victims. The offence provided for in this Directive should cover all types of such material, such as images, photographs and videos, including sexualized images, audio clips and video clips. It should relate to situations where the making accessible of the material to a multitude of end-users, through information and communication technologies, occurs without the victim’s consent, irrespective of whether the victim consented to the generation of such material or may have transmitted it to a particular person. The offence should also include the non-consensual production or manipulation, for instance by image editing, including by using Artificial intelligence, of material that makes it appear as though another person is engaged in sexual activities, insofar as the material is subsequently made accessible to a multitude of end-users, through information and communication technologies, without the consent of that person. Such production or manipulation should include the fabrication of ‘deepfakes’, where the material appreciably resembles an existing person, objects, places or other entities or events, depicting sexual activities of another person, and would falsely appear to others to be authentic or truthful. In the interest of effectively protecting victims of such conduct, threatening to engage in such conduct should be covered as well.
Amendment 71 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 22
Recital 22
(22) The increase in internet and social media usage has led to a sharp rise in public incitement to violence and hatred, including based on sex or gender, over the past years. The easy, fast and broad sharing of hate speech through the digital word is reinforced by the online disinhibition effect, as the presumed anonymity on the internet and sense of impunity reduce people’s inhibition to engage in such speech. Women are often the target of sexist and misogynous hate online, which can escalate into hate crime offline. This needs to be intercepted at an early stage. The language used in this type of incitement does not always directly refer to the sex or gender of the targeted person(s), but the biased motivation can be inferred from the overall content or context of the incitement.
Amendment 72 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 24
Recital 24
(24) Victims should be able to report crimes of violence against women or domestic violence easily without being subject to secondary or repeat victimisation. To this end, Member States should provide the possibility to submit complaints online or through other information and communication technologies for the reporting of such crimes. Victims of cyber violence should be able to upload materials relating to their report, such as screenshots of the alleged violent behaviour. Complaint mechanisms should be accessible also for victims without digital skills, victims living in remote or rural areas with a difficult access to digital tools and internet as well as for persons with disabilities.
Amendment 75 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 26
Recital 26
(26) In order to tackle underreporting in the cases when the victim is a child, safe and child-friendly reporting procedures should be established. This can include questioning by competent authorities in simple and accessible language. Member States should ensure sufficient training of professionals coming in contact with child victims or potential child victims.
Amendment 82 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 33
Recital 33
(33) Member States should take the necessary measures to ensure the availability of emergency barring, restraining and protection orders to ensure effective protection of victims and their dependants. Member States should ensure that the length of the protection orders is sufficient taking into account time required to access administrative or judicial procedures victim can take in order to report a criminal offence or seek a long-term protection.
Amendment 86 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 39
Recital 39
(39) Certain offences covered by this Directive involve the increased risk of repeated, prolonged or even continuous victimisation. That risk occurs especially in relation to offences involving the making accessible to a multitude of end-users, through information and communication technologies, of material, resulting from certain offences of cyber violence, considering the ease and speed with which such material can be distributed on a large scale and the difficulties that often exist when it comes to removing such material. That risk typically remains even after a conviction. Therefore, in order to effectively safeguard the rights of the victims of those offences, Member States should be required to take suitable measures aimed at the prompt removal of the material in question. Considering that removal at the source may not always be feasible, for instance because of legal or practical difficulties relating to the execution or enforcement of an order to remove, Member States should also be allowed to provide for measures to disable access to such material.
Amendment 92 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 46
Recital 46
(46) Specialised support services should provide support to victims of all forms of violence against women and domestic violence, including sexual violence, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, forced abortion and sterilisation, surrogacy, sexual harassment and of various forms of cyber violence.
Amendment 94 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 47
Recital 47
(47) Specialist support should offer victims support tailored to their specific needs, and irrespective of any official complaint. Such services could be provided in addition to, or as an integrated part of, general victim support services, which may call on existing entities providing specialist support. Specialist support may be provided by national authorities, victims’ support organisations, or other non- governmental or charitable and church- based organisations. They should be granted sufficient human and financial resources and, where the services are provided by non-governmental or charitable and church-based organisations, Member States should ensure that they receive appropriate funds.
Amendment 130 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 58
Recital 58
(58) Member States should ensure that preventive measures, such as awareness- raising campaigns, are taken to counter violence against women and domestic violence. Prevention should also take place in formal education, in particular, through strengthening sexualityage-appropriate relationship education and socio-emotional competencies, empathy and developing healthy and respectful relationships.
Amendment 132 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 59
Recital 59
(59) Member States should take measures to prevent the cultivation of harmful gender stereotypes to eradicate the idea of the inferiority of women or stereotyped roles of women and men. This could also include measures aimed at ensuring that culture, custom, religion, tradition or honour is not perceived as a justification for, or a more lenient treatment of, offences of violence against women or domestic violence. Considering that from a very young age onwards, children are exposed to gender roles that shape their self-perception and influence their academic and professional choices as well as expectations of their roles as women and men throughout their life, iIt is crucial to address genderthese stereotypes as of early-childhood education and care.
Amendment 160 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) “violence against women” means gender-based violence, that is directed against a woman or a girl because she is a woman or a girl or that affects women or girls disproportionately, including all acts of such violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life;
Amendment 164 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) “victim” means any person, regardless of sex or gender, unless specified otherwise, who has suffered harm, which was directly caused by acts of violence covered under this Directive, including child or other vulnerable witnesses of such violence;
Amendment 178 #
Article 6 a Surrogacy Member States shall ensure that the third party reproductive practice in which intending parent(s) or any intermediary contract a surrogate mother to give birth to a child while using her particular circumstances, such as financial difficulties, socially vulnerable position, migratory status or other vulnerabilities is considered a human-rights violation and thus punishable as a criminal offence.
Amendment 192 #
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 including financial dependence or a state of physical, mental, intellectual or sensory disability, or living in institutions;
Amendment 196 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 13 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 13 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) the offence was committed in the presence of a child or other vulnerable person;
Amendment 200 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 16 – paragraph 1
Article 16 – paragraph 1
1. In addition to the rights of victims when making a complaint under Article 5 of Directive 2012/29/EU, Member States shall ensure that victims can report criminal offences of violence against women or domestic violence to the competent authorities in an easy and accessible manner. This shall include the possibility of reporting criminal offences online or through other information and communication technologies, including the possibility to submit evidence, in particular concerning reporting of criminal offences of cyber violence. Complaint mechanisms should be accessible also for victims without digital skills, victims living in remote or rural areas with a difficult access to digital tools and internet as well as for persons with disabilities.
Amendment 223 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 23 – paragraph 1 – point f
Article 23 – paragraph 1 – point f
(f) how to avoid gender stereotypes;
Amendment 224 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 23 – paragraph 1 – point g
Article 23 – paragraph 1 – point g
(g) how to refer victims to appropriate, timely and accessible support services, to ensure the appropriate treatment of victims and handling of cases of violence against women or domestic violence.
Amendment 227 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 24 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point c
Article 24 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point c
(c) exchange available information with corresponding European bodies such as the European Institute for Gender Equality.
Amendment 240 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 27 – paragraph 3
Article 27 – paragraph 3
3. Member States shall ensure sufficient human and financial resources to provide the services referred to in paragraph 1, especially those referred to in point (c) of that paragraph, including where such services are provided by non- governmental or charitable and church- based organisations.
Amendment 329 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 41 – paragraph 1
Article 41 – paragraph 1
Member States shall cooperate with and consult civil society organisations, including non-governmental and charitable and church-based organisations working with victims of violence against women or domestic violence, in particular in providing support to victims, concerning policymaking initiatives, information and awareness-raising campaigns, research and education programmes and in training, as well as in monitoring and evaluating the impact of measures to support and protect victims.