The German Cabinet on Wednesday adopted a strategy to address violence against women and implement measures from the Istanbul Convention to combat gender-based violence against girls and women.
The treaty, struck by the Council of Europe, has been in force in Germany since 2018 and calls for legal and political measures to stop violence against women.
The German strategy, which contains 120 steps, was presented by Minister of Family Affairs Lisa Paus, a Green politician. There is a new office in the ministry to coordinate the measures throughout the government.
“In the end, it's about doing everything we can to protect women from violence in the best possible way,” said Paus after the decision of the Cabinet in Berlin.
She again called for the Violence Support Act to be passed before the end of this legislative period. The legislation would provide additional funding for sufficient women's shelters in Germany.
According to the Ministry of Family Affairs, there are more than 400 women's shelters with a capacity for more than 6,000 places in Germany for women and their children affected by violence, as well as about 750 special advice centers for violence against women.
The German government currently lacks a majority in parliament, after the coalition collapsed in early November, and would need the support of opposition lawmakers to pass the legislation.
According to the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), 360 women and girls were killed in 2023 in gender-motivated murders, known as femicides. Many were killed by their current or former partners.
Another 576 women and girls survived attempts on their lives in 2023, according to BKA figures.
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