GOOD PRACTICE MODELS

LAST UPDATED ON NOVEMBER 15, 2000

PREVENTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

EUROPEAN SURVEY
GOOD PRACTICE MODELS
WAVE TRAINING PROGRAMME

PREFACE

The present brochure "Prevention of Domestic Violence against Women" deals with preventive measures which have been taken in Europe to combat male violence against women in intimate relationships. It surveys the status of prevention efforts in the EU Member States and in the candidate countries and reviews good practice models.
        The brochure "Prevention of Domestic Violence against Women" has been drawn up as part of a project carried out by the WAVE Office in Vienna and the EU Commission's DAPHNE Initiative. In the course of this project a Training Programme for Professionals has been compiled and, on the basis of this, a Train-the-Trainer Seminar for experts from women's organisations in ten countries was organised. At the end of this brochure you will find a summary of the WAVE Training Programme. It is cited as a practice-oriented training model for law enforcement, judicial, psycho-social and medical professionals.
        The purpose of this brochure is to provide information but also to offer practical advice on how to implement proved preventive strategies effectively. The target groups are non-governmental women's organisations and state bodies, although it was also written with those in mind who are interested in the topic and wish to put the prevention of violence against women on their agenda.
        The project co-ordinators would like to thank those who provided the good practice models for their information and support. This project was made possible by financial support from the EU Commission under the auspices of the DAPHNE Initiative. The DAPHNE project was co-financed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Security and Generations.

The authoresses dedicate the present publication to all women and children survivors of abuse in the hope that it will help to prevent future acts of violence.

TO TOP OF PAGE

1. THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF A SYSTEMATIC PERSPECTIVE ON PREVENTION

It would go beyond the scope of the present treatment, which focuses on the practical implementation and effectiveness of prevention-related strategies and action, to contribute to the debate on a comprehensive theory of prevention. We have thus confined our remarks to a discussion of a systematic perspective on the prevention of violence - a perspective upon which the subsequent sections are founded.

What is meant by prevention?
The term "prevention" and the related concepts of "intervention" and "therapy" are not susceptible to simple definition. Swift offers a neutral definition of the verb "to prevent" as to stop something from happening (Swift, 1985, p. 413, quoted in Alberto Godenzi: Gewalt im sozialen Nahraum, Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basle 1996, p. 320). "Prevention" is thus a generic term, while "intervention" belongs to the category of secondary prevention, and "therapy" largely falls under tertiary prevention. (For an explanation of these terms, see below.)
       As a research field, prevention research came into being only very recently, having evolved out of medical practice. In this context, violence is classified as a disorder, with disorder defined as the dysfunctional outcome of an interaction between the environment and the person (Swift, 1985, p. 414, quoted in Godenzi, p. 321). This view is reflected in the approach chosen by the EU Commission in establishing the DAPHNE Programme, whose purpose is to combat violence against children, young people and women. The EU Commission explicitly linked the DAPHNE Programme to the Union's action on public health, as outlined in Article 152 of the Amsterdam Treaty:

Community action, which shall complement national policies, shall be directed towards improving public health, preventing human illnesses and diseases, and obviating sources of danger to human health. Such action shall cover the fight against the major health scourges, by promoting research into their causes, their transmission and their prevention, as well as health information and education.

Proceeding on the premise that violence is a social disorder, preventive action must choose between two approaches: one directed at the social environment, the other at the individual. The scope for prevention thus lies either in correcting or eliminating harmful factors in society or in strengthening individuals and - ideally - making them immune to dysfunctional influences. As is apparent from these two widely divergent approaches, the choice of preventive strategy will depend very largely on one's view of the causes of violence. In connection with violence in the social environment, the options boil down to these: should we try to empower the potential victims of domestic violence or to change those social structures which encourage violence? Feminist experts and research scientists tend to favour the latter strategy because they regard violence as relating to social and social policy issues and oppose the view that it can be approached on an individual basis.

The 3-level model of prevention
The 3-level model of prevention dates from the year 1964 and was developed by Paul Caplan for use as a prophylactic strategy in the context of psychiatry. Nevertheless, a number of experts (for example Godenzi, Taskinen and Heiliger) have adapted it to the needs of a systematic approach to dealing with violence. The three levels concerned relate primarily to the time sequence within which the various courses of action are adopted:
Primary prevention: action to obviate violence before it occurs
Secondary prevention: action to detect violence in time or to terminate it at the earliest possible juncture
Tertiary prevention: action to prevent a renewed outbreak of violence or to soften the impact of violence.

Primary prevention
The target group relating to primary prevention is the public at large. Godenzi sees this level as aiming to bring about a new relationship between experts and target group, because the focus here is not on expertise but on the autonomous responsibility of the community (cf. Godenzi, p. 325). The experts can only point to the ways and means of realising empowerment. Transferring responsibility to the community level is possible primarily because the specific causes of violence cannot be clearly identified, so that broader-based action is a more effective approach. The alternative would be to take action against specific symptomatic occurrences of violence when and where they occur, in which case the experts would draw on their specialised knowledge and initiate action and draw up strategies themselves.
       In the context of this theoretical framework, the main thrust will be not only the negative goal of preventing acts of violence but the positive objective of promoting lifestyles and social structures which pave the way for what Godenzi calls a healthy life (Godenzi, p. 326). The implication here is that there is no room for violence in a healthy society.
       Seen in this light, preventive action at the primary level does not relate to a single cause, so that any given single action would not result in the statistically demonstrable lowering of the incidence of violence. Primary prevention emerges as the endeavour to realise empowerment as a means of bringing about a 'better world' which affords each and every individual the ideal living conditions, either by empowering individuals to handle daily life without recourse to violence or by correcting social structures which encourage violence (R Egger / E Fröschl / L Lercher / R Logar: Österreichische und internationale Strategien zur Prävention von Gewalt, Vienna 1998, p. 6).

Godenzi derives five preventive strategies from the Anglo-American debate on prevention:

1. Elimination of the gender-based imbalance of power (e.g. by incorporating women more widely in the labour process, promoting women's active role in politics, and abolishing the gender-based division of work)
2. Zero tolerance for physical and psychological violence (e.g. by enacting laws prohibiting any form of violence between individuals and making marital rape a punishable offence under criminal law)
3. Correction of economic shortcomings (e.g. by achieving full employment for women and men)
4. Reinforcement of the social network (in such areas as housing policy, child and geriatric care, and by greater social commitment on the part of men, in both private and public life.)
5. Information and education (e.g. by providing information and holding discussions on violence in schools and youth centres, and by working with girls on a feminist basis and with boys on an anti-sexist basis

Godenzi and Lercher agree in their assessment that, while action in the field of primary prevention would be of great importance, in practice it tends to be neglected in favour of secondary and tertiary prevention (cf. Lercher et al., p. 14). The preponderant majority of researchers in the field is unanimous that, in the long term, only primary prevention will eradicate violence. This inevitably raises the question: why is there a preference for action in the secondary and tertiary prevention fields? Godenzi points out that primary prevention calls into question the very foundations of our society and suggests this as the reason why it is not consistently applied: ... after all, it raises such fundamental issues as the organisational basis and the style of modern societies (Godenzi, p. 327).
       At the level of primary prevention, as in fact at the other levels as well, it should be noted that the existing outline plans and programmes have barely been evaluated.

Secondary and tertiary prevention
Action in the fields of secondary and tertiary prevention will not eradicate violence. It is capable only of acting as an early warning system for violence in the social environment, providing prompt intervention, protection and security, and lowering the risk of recurrent violence. As we have seen, secondary and tertiary prevention are virtually synonymous with intervention. In practice primary and secondary prevention tend to overlap, because those working in the primary prevention field frequently come across victims who then turn to them for support.
       In the last decade there has been a greater focus on perpetrators, with a view to preventing recurrent violence.
The Three-level Model can be adapted more accurately to the issues involved by applying a subtler perspective taking account of the categories victims, perpetrators and general public (cf. Anita Heiliger: Täterstrategien und Prävention - Sexueller Missbrauch an Mädchen innerhalb familialer und familienähnlicher Strukturen, Munich 2000, pp. 168-169). Seen in this way, the model comprises:

General primary prevention: by implementing changes in social structures such as abolishing gender-based hierarchies and thus establishing gender equality
Primary perpetrator prevention: by changing the male self-image implicit in gender-based hierarchies, notably the notion of male supremacy over women, proprietary rights and authority over women and children, and the exercise of power
Primary victim prevention: by strengthening victims' self-esteem and resistance, [.....] reinforcing and anchoring their autonomous social and emotional situation [.....]
Secondary victim prevention: by ensuring that all the institutions concerned consistently implement intervention measures, [.....] by making protection of the perpetrator unfeasible and punishable, by enhancing the qualification level of the experts responsible for effective intervention action, by providing victims with support in dealing with the violence they have undergone etc.
Secondary perpetrator prevention: by placing the perpetrator under legal monitoring (on pain of legal sanctions) and where necessary making the perpetrator undergo treatment with a view to averting recurrent violence etc.

Heiliger's suggestions relate to the sexual abuse of children, but her classification of the three levels of prevention into the subdivisions general, victim and perpetrator prevention holds good for the entire field of violence prevention. Godenzi also discusses this perspective. Victim-oriented preventive measures would include protective facilities like shelters, counselling centres and hotlines but also legal and psycho-social facilities. The principal perpetrator-oriented measures are therapy programmes for perpetrators.
       The systematic perspective presented here is intended as a guideline for the following treatment of preventive strategies throughout Europe. However, it should be noted that specific measures may not always be exactly classifiable in one or the other category. This perspective, then, should be regarded as no more than a framework and a pointer to a particular direction, irrespective of the current discussion of a theory of violence prevention.

TO TOP OF PAGE

2. EUROPEAN SURVEY ¹

Prevention strategies are neither solutions to nor a panacea for social injustice. The point is to prompt changes and in so doing to seize and
make full use of every available opportunity, adopting the widest and most varied approach possible.²

If you enter the search strings "violence against women" and "prevention" in one of the standard Internet search machines, it will find you thousands - if not hundreds thousands of - pages. Browsing through the on-line catalogues of large or specialist libraries will likewise produce vast quantities of documentation, albeit in not quite such a bewildering variety. However, the sheer amount of written material available should not be mistaken as indicating a correspondingly impressive level of activity in the field. On the contrary: while most writers stress the importance of violence prevention, outline possible strategies or offer a critical survey of the topic, practical action to halt violence tends to be conspicuous by its absence. Nevertheless, considering that twenty or thirty years ago violence - most notably domestic violence - against women was totally ignored and never discussed in public, the mere fact that so many people are writing about it must rank as a success - if success is an apt term in the context.
Closer scrutiny reveals that many prevention-related activities - most notably those in the field of primary prevention - are confined to specific regions or time periods. Given the abundance of individual activities in the EU Member States and the candidate countries, the present publication does not enlarge on the substantive details of these activities but sets out to identify the structures upon which they are founded. The aim here is not to assess the relative importance of the activities concerned but to establish which activities have been, are being or will be carried out, who instigated them, who is organising them and where the money comes from.
Given our own financial and practical constraints, it is perfectly possible that we have failed to include some activities. Linguistic barriers are a further obstacle to the exhaustive flow of information. Nevertheless, what emerges from the present study is an exposition of the problems which dog the prevention of violence but also the commitment being shown, most notably by women's NGOs.

Activities relating to primary prevention

Although primary prevention plays the most important part in the elimination of violence, it is that form of prevention which has been least consistently implemented, as Godenzi points out (see Chapter 1). In almost all the European countries primary prevention is implemented only in rudimentary form. There may be several activities in specific regions or running for limited time periods, but there is no long-term, comprehensive planning - despite the existence of national action plans. Since such activities as exist occur only sporadically, it is impossible to assess their effectiveness, primary prevention depending on action within society as a whole.

Prevention in education
In the context of primary prevention, education is a key area. But here we encounter a difficulty which Godenzi and others working in the field have anticipated: the issue of violence calls the very foundations of our society into question, while educational administrators and teaching staff tend to be reluctant to condone this. Only seldom is any attempt made to examine the roots of violence against women and girls - and then this is not included in the mandatory curriculum. Apart from education in non-violence, strategies to combat abuse are an important factor, notably in primary education. These strategies involve the teaching staff but also address the children directly. Such programmes are intended both for schools and for such extra-mural institutions as children's and youth facilities and their staff. In some countries the educational activities concerned are confined to teachers and pedagogic staff (cf. Training for Professionals).
It is first and foremost women's organisations which maintain the capacity for putting on action days, workshops and lectures, so that they can provide or help with these activities on request. In some cases they actively offer these services to educational bodies. This is true not only of the EU Member States but also of the candidate countries. Northern Ireland Women's Aid, for instance, has compiled a folder for school teaching and youth work ("No Fear"). This folder has been adopted by Finland and is being used during lessons in a primary school. Initial experience suggests that the Northern Ireland programme needs to be adapted to the specific circumstances pertaining in Finland.
Where the funding is concerned, a wide range of practices is common. Generally, the financial resources come from various quarters. In some cases activities in schools and youth organisations are classified as part of the women's organisations' information and training work and thus receive no separate funding. In many countries the schools and youth organisations themselves cover the funding. This is particularly true of EU Member States. The situation is different in the candidate countries. Here only very few activities receive state funding. Where financial resources are available, they come from public or private foundations.

Public relations and publicity campaigns
Above all when primary prevention is taken alone, this must rank as one of the most extensively developed fields. However, it must be remembered that many public awareness raising campaigns run only in specific regions and for a specific period of time. It is only relatively seldom that they constitute part of a comprehensive strategy for combating and eliminating violence in society. Campaigns are also among those prevention activities which are frequently instigated and carried out by the state. Nevertheless, the element of continuity is again missing here.
        Given the high costs of running publicity campaigns, which always make use of mass media as their platform, they are generally financed by supplementing state funding with private support and donations. The prohibitive costs involved must also be one reason why public awareness raising campaigns only rarely run for more than a limited period of time. The Zero Tolerance Campaign, which started in Edinburgh, showed that it is necessary to set up a special organisation to deal with its implementation - in this case a trust. Women's organisations are seldom in a position to put on a large-scale publicity campaign, and when they do, it places extreme strain in their financial and human resources.
        However, public awareness raising campaigns have the advantage that the basic ideas can be taken over and adapted by other organisations, even in other countries. The Scottish Zero Tolerance Campaign was not only continued but copied in outline by other cities and regions both in the UK and elsewhere. (For more on the Zero Tolerance Campaign, cf. Chapter 3.) The idea was also taken over by the European Parliament, and a campaign - partially financed by the EU Commission - was launched throughout Europe in 1999.
        Costly publicity campaigns are just one way to create and enhance public awareness of the issue. Another important aspect of the work done by women's organisations is always public relations and information services. In countries in which women's support organisations such as shelters and counselling centres have formed networks or umbrella organisations, there are co-ordination centres, information offices or other comparable facilities which carry out active and comprehensive public relations work. These activities focus on internal information services, relations with media, state authorities and other relevant bodies (both NGOs and public-sector organisations). Examples of networked organisations would be such WAVE members as ROKS (Riksorganisationen för kvinnojourer och tjejjourer i Sverige, Sweden), L.O.K.K. (Landsorganisation for Kvinde Krisecentre, Denmark), Women's Aid (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland), Fédération Nationale Solidarité Femmes (France), ZIF (Zentrale Informationsstelle für autonome Frauenhäuser, Germany), Frauenhaus Koordinierung - Der paritätische Gesamtverband e.V. (Germany), and the Austrian Women's Shelter Network (Austria).
        The examples from the new democracies of eastern and south-eastern Europe show that it is not necessary to wait for the emergence of network structures before carrying out public relations and awareness raising work. Established only ten or fewer years ago, the women's centres, shelters and counselling centres in these regions of Europe have from the start devoted part of their efforts to providing information services.

State preventive action

Initiatives to combat male violence against women in families and intimate relationships generally start at the grass roots level: with private individuals and NGOs. Whereas the first shelters were set up in the 1970s, in most European countries the legislative groundwork did not follow until many years later. Evidently it took this long for the taboo surrounding violence against women to be broken down to the extent that the state would act against violence. The lobbying carried out by the shelters has been crowned by success in some EU Member States.
        The involvement of national, regional and municipal institutions began when they started providing financial support for women's shelters and women's support projects. In some countries co-financing was also provided because large-scale public awareness work tends to be very costly. Sweden is an example of an EU country which attaches great importance to the state's responsibility to provide financing. In most EU countries women's support organisations receive financial support, although at varying levels. In the candidate countries, on the other hand, there is little or no funding for action to combat violence against women and children. Most of the prevention-related activities - generally carried out by women's organisations - are thus dependent on private foundations and donations, which in turn tend to raise their financing on a project basis. This infrastructure cannot be maintained in the long term.
        It is therefore essential that state bodies - most notably governments - embrace the goal of eliminating violence against women and children. One approach to raising awareness of the issue among the top levels of the state administration is to point to the obligations enshrined in international and European recommendations and conventions on violence against women. The most important of these documents is the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which as of November 16, 2000 had already been ratified by 166 countries. In addition, the Beijing Platform for Action calls on states to draw up national action plans "identifying steps to improve the promotion and protection of human rights, including the human rights of women, as recommended by the World Conference on Human Rights" (Article 230 d). All the EU countries and some candidate countries - such as Slovakia - have complied with this requirement. However, the publication of a national action plan does not necessarily mean that actual changes have occurred in that country (Slovakia, for instance, still does not have a single women's shelter). At least the state bodies are compelled to consider the issue, though.
        Only when national governments put action to halt violence against women at the very top of their agendas can the process of far-reaching changes in state structures commence. The United Kingdom and Ireland have drawn up the appropriate strategies encompassing the entire field of state administration. As one example: a specially created department in the Home Office will supervise the attainment of practical targets in violence prevention in England and Wales within a given period of time. The governments of Sweden, France, the Netherlands and Germany are also lending their support to endeavours to halt violence against women.
        Another area in which the state has a key function to perform is in enacting the necessary legislative provisions to protect its citizens against violence. This legislation will on the one hand define criminal offences and the accompanying penal sanctions for perpetrators of violence, on the other hand it will provide the victims of violence adequate protection under civil law. One noteworthy innovation which represents a whole new approach is the introduction in Sweden of the offence "gross violation of a woman's integrity". In Austria the police's powers of intervention in cases of domestic violence have been widened, so that a person perpetrating or threatening violence can be evicted from the dwelling and the vicinity of the victim for a term of ten days. This term can be extended by provisions under civil law. Austria's Protection from Violence Act, which aims primarily to protect victims of violence, is serving as a model for new legislation in other EU countries like Italy and Germany.

Secondary and Tertiary Prevention

Women's support services / Victim support services
As has been seen, the work of the independent women's support organisations frequently extends far beyond providing support for victims of violence. They have been and continue to be the foundation upon which prevention activities are founded. They generally combine victim support services with work in the fields of primary prevention (see above) and secondary and tertiary prevention (see below).
        In terms of the history and structure of women's support organisations, there are marked differences between the various countries and regions of Europe. In most of the countries of northern and western Europe and in the German-speaking countries the first shelters were established in the 1970s or early 1980s. The countries of southern Europe followed suit in the 1980s, whereas in the new democracies of eastern and south-eastern Europe women's shelters did not begin to emerge until the 1990s - if at all.
        In most cases it is the feminist women's movement which prompted initiatives to combat violence against women. Where state bodies concerned themselves with combating violence and protecting and supporting victims, generally speaking they did not do so until later. There is also a broad trend in countries in which women's support services came into being some twenty years ago for these organisations to have evolved a certain degree of specialisation. That is, women's shelters are supplemented by additional facilities like counselling centres for battered women, helplines, intervention centres and so on. Moreover, in these countries the women's support services are more or less adequately distributed around the country.
        The above facilities cannot work effectively without sufficient funding. A comparison of financing arrangements shows that it is only in a few countries (they include Germany, Austria, Sweden, the UK, Ireland, France and Belgium) that women's NGOs receive their basic funding from public funds. However, it should be pointed out that in many cases this funding is assured for the period of one year only and that no legally binding guarantees are given that the funding will continue. In a few countries (Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands are cases in point) women's organisations receive their funding from both public and private sources.
        Although the various regions of Europe might be said to have certain common factors in this regard, each country can be seen to have its own characteristic structures. A recommendation published by the Committee for Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities in 1986 defines the minimum standard as one shelter place per 10,000 of the population. At present only Sweden, Luxembourg, Denmark, the UK and Germany can claim to have a more or less adequate network of women's support organisations. In many other European countries there are only "isolated initiatives which in no way can guarantee care for affected women and children. These countries include Greece and Italy in particular" (from Rosa Logar: Prevention of violence against women: where there's a will, there's a way, unpublished manuscript, 1999). One problem in virtually every country is the unsatisfactory geographical distribution of women's support services. In many cases shelters exist only in the cities, while rural areas have no support facilities at all. "Experience has shown that excessive distances stop battered women from seeking help" (Logar, op. cit.). Women's shelters need to be supplemented by a network of emergency helplines and counselling centres.
        The candidate countries occupy a special position here. Facilities devoted exclusively to helping the victims of domestic violence only began coming into existence in the last few years. Most of them began life as women's centres or women's rights centres, and many are still incorporated in such organisations. In very few cases do they receive assured funding from the state; generally the public sector provides only a small part of the necessary financial resources. The women's organisations in the candidate countries tend to acquire their funding from international foundations or from programmes run by international agencies like the European Union and the UN (and its agencies).

Training of professionals
One of the most important aspects of secondary prevention is the training of professionals who come across victims of violence in the course of their duties. The main thrust of the training programmes is the recognition of violence, the optimisation of safety precautions, and learning to deal with victims in the right manner.
        Such training courses are a regular feature of training or further training in only a very few countries. One field in which training in dealing with domestic violence does feature fairly frequently in basic training curricula is the police force. Special training programmes for police officers are part of basic training in Ireland, Finland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and some other countries.
        The training courses are usually held by trainers from women's organisations working in the anti-violence field. Generally speaking, they or their organisations draw up their own training syllabus. It is perfectly customary to take over and adapt sections of training programmes which have been successfully used in other (mainly overseas) countries. Regrettably, there are no national training programmes to ensure the uniformity of the programmes within a single country. But at least the trainers co-operate among each other in some countries (such as Austria, Germany, Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Netherlands). There is no such co-operation in Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal and elsewhere. One reason for the absence of co-ordinated training programmes is that the courses are held not only by the staff of women's support organisations but also by public institutions. In Finland, for example, the training of professionals is organised very much on a local or regional basis. The Finnish National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES) is currently endeavouring to establish uniformity in the training programmes with the help of twelve regional multi-professional teams. At the same time a national training programme is being drawn up.
        Within the European Union the training programmes are funded primarily by the recipient bodies, although in some cases they amount to a virtually unpaid service provided by the women's support organisations and their staff. In Sweden, Finland, Austria and some other countries, the state gives grants for the purpose.
        In the Czech Republic no provision has been made for the violence-related training and further training of professionals in any field. Three institutions - the ROSA Foundation, the White Circle of Safety, and the Faculty of Social Work at Prague's Charles University - nevertheless run self-financing courses for police and medical professionals and social workers. These courses deal with the issue of violence, the correct treatment of victims, and experience gained in other countries.
        In neighbouring Slovakia no training courses have yet taken place, apart from a few seminars and workshops aimed at teachers, police officers and social workers. All the seminars and workshops had to be put on without financial support from the state. The NGOs Aspekt and Pro Familia have likewise run workshops for journalists. Together with Fenestra, they also monitor media coverage of gender issues and violence against women.
        NGOs do not have to cover the costs of their own training programmes in all of the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. In Slovenia, for instance, state bodies (ministries, municipal and local authorities) provide partial funding. The trainers are provided almost exclusively by NGOs, especially by the SOS Help Line for Women and Children Victims of Violence (Društvo SOS telefon za ženske in otroke - žrtve nasilja), the Association Against Violent Communication (Društvo za nenasilno komunikacijo), and the Women's Counselling Centre (Ženska svetovalnica). However, these courses for police officers, teachers and social workers only have the status of projects and are not permanently incorporated in the standard training and further training curricula of the professional groups concerned.

Health care initiatives
Health care facilities are frequently the first point of contact for abused and battered women. Many women who have been subjected to violence may go to a doctor's surgery or a first aid point but will not dare to call the police in cases of severe violence. Many of them are not aware of the available support services. It is not enough merely to provide these women with medical care, because they will generally not talk about the true causes of their injuries or symptoms. Training and sensitisation for medical professionals can help them to recognise the tell-tale signs of violence, to deal with the situation appropriately, and to halt the spiral of violence. Moreover, a professional understanding of the impact of domestic violence is a key factor in providing the correct therapy and treatment and for supplying a court of law with usable evidence at a later juncture.
        The UK, Sweden, Finland and Germany are running exemplary programmes and facilities: clinics and outpatients' departments specialised in dealing with battered women. This entails expert training for the hospital staff and a knowledge of where and how women and their children can be given the necessary protection and support. The pioneering work being carried out by the medical staff at these clinics is producing excellent research material on violence against women.

Multi-agency initiatives and intervention projects
Carrying out multi-agency initiatives and intervention projects requires a well-developed infrastructure of support services and determination on the part of the facilities and professional groups concerned to combat violence against women. This must be founded upon a comprehensive approach to prevention. The model for all such multi-agency intervention projects is the Duluth Model from Minnesota, USA. The Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP) in Duluth has succeeded in involving all the agencies involved in an intervention in cases of domestic violence. The prime goal is to protect the victims of domestic violence. DAIP has developed a whole range of prevention measures to supplement the networking of the agencies involved: training courses for professionals, support programmes for victims of violence, counselling for other municipalities planning to draw up their own prevention programmes, and perpetrator programmes integrated in court proceedings.
        Within the EU, it is only in the last few years that multi-agency initiatives have emerged in any significant numbers. The first to be launched was in England. Austria introduced intervention centres in the course of the amendments to the applicable laws in the 1990s. In Germany various model projects for multi-agency initiatives have been carried out. Because very many very different facilities and people are involved in such intervention projects, practical co-operation has to be confined to the local level - municipalities, towns and urban districts. The common goal is to co-ordinate and optimise intervention in cases of domestic violence to the extent that the woman and her children can be given the best possible protection and the perpetrator is made to bear the consequences for his actions. The co-ordinated participation of the various bodies - police, courts, women's support organisations, probation officers and perpetrator programmes - is designed to make the perpetrator realise that society condemns and sanctions his actions.

Programmes for perpetrators
In addition to those perpetrator programmes which are part of multi-agency initiatives (cf. Section 3.4), there are also individual initiatives devoted exclusively to exploring approaches to dealing with perpetrators. Where Europe is concerned, these initiatives are all very recent, most of them not having been launched until the mid-1990s. Only Britain began working on the perpetrator problem and developing related projects in the late 1980s (cf. Section 3.5). As in the field of multi-agency initiatives, so the work in this field tended to draw on North American models.
        Another indication that this field of prevention is relatively new is the fact that regular, institution-based programmes exist in only a few countries. The research carried out prior to writing the present publication suggests that there are no substantial initiatives in some countries. These would include all of the candidate countries. However, state bodies are taking an increasing interest in perpetrator programmes. So far as we could ascertain, all of these programmes are funded (wholly or partially) by the public sector. At the international level the EU Commission, for example, supports projects devoted to working with perpetrators under the auspices of its DAPHNE Initiative. One example would be the project "Training and materials for working with perpetrators of domestic violence and their (ex-)partners" carried out by the Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP) in England together with "Mannege" in Berlin / Germany and the "Cork Domestic Violence Project" in Ireland.

Sidebar: Prevention in the Candidate Countries

In the light of the EU's planned enlargement, the situation in the candidate countries needs to be reviewed separately. For the activists in these countries, accession to the European Union represents an opportunity to urge their governments to put combating violence against women and children at the top of their political agendas, notably in terms of the introduction of uniform standards. As has been shown above, it is non-governmental initiatives and projects which - virtually alone - have hitherto made a public stand against violence against women and sought to halt it. In only very few instances have the NGOs and groups concerned received (financial) support from the public sector. Moreover, almost all of these organisations - particularly those in the feminist field - are very young, having been founded since the fall of the Iron Curtain.
        It would thus be a substantial advance if a united Europe would formally uphold the individual's right to integrity of the person, especially in the private sphere, by introducing and enforcing generally valid standards.

¹The substance of this section derives primarily from information provided by the WAVE Focal Points. A detailed survey was carried out in questionnaire form, its results being supplemented by material from the Internet and from the secondary literature.
²Eva Schliesselberger: Widersprüche in den Strategien gegen Gewalt gegen Frauen - Eine Aufarbeitung des Diskurses über sexuelle Gewalt als Grundlage für Präventionsarbeit mit Frauen, St. Andrä-Wördern 1994, p. 85

TO TOP OF PAGE

3. GOOD PRACTICE MODELS

3.1 CAMPAIGNS AND PUBLIC AWARENESS

In the last ten years the general public has become increasingly aware of the - hitherto taboo - issue of violence against women in their immediate social environment. One conspicuous upshot of this development has been a succession of outspoken publicity and awareness raising campaigns which have addressed the causes and manifestations of violence. Such campaigns have deliberately set out to challenge resistance and hence to spark off a public debate on the state of society. Resistance here first and foremost takes the form of resistance to change, while the campaigns' long-term goal is to bring about change. Clearly, this goal cannot be achieve by one single campaign.
        "Prevention strategies and publicity campaigns seeking to halt violence against women and domestic violence evidently work best if they are not isolated activities but are incorporated in the day-to-day work of institutions and organisations" (Rosa Logar: Österreichische und internationale Strategien zur Prävention von Gewalt, Vienna 1998, p. 105). Regrettably, many campaigns run for too short a time (just a few weeks or at best months), usually because of a shortage of money. Frequently the political decision-makers fail to provide substantive and financial support. Campaigns are often not part of a national action plan.
        At the international level, it has become increasingly apparent how much importance attaches to national and trans-national strategies involving all the institutions concerned. The Platform for Action formulated at the 1995 UN World Conference on Women called on states to draw up national action plans. European bodies - most notably the European Parliament and its Committee for Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities - have also spearheaded similar endeavours. Two programmes instigated by the European Parliament - STOP (combating trafficking in women) and the DAPHNE Initiative (combating violence against women, children and young people) - provide funding for NGOs.
        In 1997 the Committee called on the EU countries to declare 1999 the European Year Against Violence Against Women. The focus was a European-wide high-profile Zero Tolerance campaign which was to be supplied with its own "dedicated budget line" and "sufficient resources" and would involve "the Member States' governments, agencies, women's organisations and other NGOs". It was to be "based on 'best practice', and on the importance of women's organisations in the development of such campaigns".
The European campaign not only took over the name of but was also closely modelled on the Zero Tolerance campaign run by the Edinburgh District Council's Women's Committee. Given its inclusive approach, the Edinburgh campaign ranks as a landmark achievement. Although the Zero Tolerance Campaign is already widely known, we will outline it briefly here before going on to describe a campaign planned and carried out on similar lines.
        Most campaigns concentrate on illustrating the causes and effects of (male) violence in intimate relationships / in the family and thus tend to present negative images. In recent years, though, there has been a trend towards what might be termed "positive" campaigns. One of these is the White Ribbon Campaign, in which men declare their condemnation of male violence and seek to halt it. With its limited reach, it is a highly political campaign notable for the fact that it is easily organised and requires only modest funding.

TO TOP OF PAGE

MODEL PROJECTS

Zero Tolerance, Scotland

Title:
Zero Tolerance Campaign
Provider:
Zero Tolerance Charitable Trust (since 1994)
Inception:
1992
Preventive measures:
Public education initiative
awareness raising campaign
Initiated by:
Edinburgh District Council's Women's Committee
in co-operation with local women's organisations
Funded by:
Zero Tolerance Charitable Trust
Contact:
Zero Tolerance Charitable Trust
25 Rutland Street
Edinburgh EH1 2AE
Scotland
Phone: ++44-131-2219505
Fax: ++44-131-2282500
E-mail: zerotolerance@dial.pipex.com
Website: http://www.zerotolerance.org.uk

Origins
The Zero Tolerance Campaign ranks as the "mother" of all European public awareness raising campaigns devoted to the issue of male violence against women and children and seeking to reach a broad section of the general public through the mass media.
The first Zero Tolerance campaign was launched by Edinburgh Council's Women's Committee in November 1992. The campaign set out to highlight the prevalence and nature of male violence. The idea for a high-profile campaign in Edinburgh was prompted by a local Council survey that showed that violence against women was a priority issue for women in the city. This led to a local research study in three high schools with young people aged 12-16 years old. The research looked at young people's knowledge of and attitudes to violence against women. Findings showed high levels of tolerance of violence, particularly when the perpetrator was married to the victim. The majority of young people interviewed expressed some likelihood of using violence in their future relationships. (http://www.zerotolerance.org.uk/splash.htm)

Aims and methods
The ultimate and long-term goal of the campaign is to shift the balance of power between men and women to bring about complete equality. This entails far-reaching social changes. While the campaign is directed primarily at men, violence is a social problem which concerns everybody.
The Zero Tolerance Campaign's short and medium-term targets are (as summarised by Rosa Logar, op. cit., pp. 79-80):

To provide information about the manifestations, effects and extent of violence against women and children
To unmask preconceptions and myths relating to violence against women and children
To show such acts of violence to be criminal offences and the abuse of power which must be subject to judicial sanctions
To inform victims about their rights and the support that is available
To demonstrate the need for effective legislation.

One important strategic principle now widely used by experts and activists also derives from the Zero Tolerance Campaign: the Three P's, which denote the key areas relating to violence against women and children:

Prevention: Active prevention of crimes of violence against women and children.
Provision: Adequate provision of quality support services for women and children.
Protection: Appropriate legal protection for women and children.

Implementation
The Zero Tolerance Campaign has established itself as an on-going undertaking giving rise to and realising new and innovative awareness raising campaigns. The original Zero Tolerance Campaign was limited to six months. "[It] used four posters to raise the general public's awareness of the reality of child sexual abuse, rape and sexual assault, [and] domestic violence. Based on research and rooted in the experiences of women and children, the posters used black and white photography and text to challenge existing attitudes" (see above). The posters were displayed on billboards and walls and in public buildings throughout Edinburgh. Other campaign elements were a folder with information about the campaign, a bookmark distributed in the Municipal Library, and postcards and information folders which were sent to anyone interested. A partnership arrangement with a local newspaper made it possible to keep the people of Edinburgh up-to-date with developments.

Evaluation of the first Zero Tolerance Campaign
Jenny Kitzinger and Kate Hunt evaluated the first phase of the campaign. Their study was based on a representative street survey and on group discussions with seventeen different groups. The majority of the general public - and above all women - voiced a positive assessment of the campaign and, more notably, said they thought it was necessary. Only a minority felt provoked and insulted by it.
The implementation strategy has been rated extremely effective and can serve as a model for other cities and countries. The principal points of the public relations strategy are:

Posters are challenging / provocative
Posters are displayed at central locations in the city
Extensive media coverage
Local organisations are involved in the activities.

One point that was criticised in the study was the absence of background information about violence. The study recommended first testing the effectiveness of the posters in order to ensure that they got their message across intelligibly. They also suggested including more background in the compilation of information material (individual experiences of violence, legal information etc.).

Continuation of the campaign
The Zero Tolerance Trust
The idea behind the Zero Tolerance Campaign quickly caught on, and within the space of a year similar campaigns had been launched in several other British cities and in Australia. Such was the interest taken in the Edinburgh project that the Zero Tolerance trust was established in 1995. The Trust's functions are "to develop further campaign packages, to commission research, to lobby government, to establish an information database and to develop educational intervention and training programmes" (see above). Based in Edinburgh, the Trust serves as the national co-ordination office for zero tolerance campaigns.

The Zero Tolerance Justice Campaign
The Justice Campaign set out to spotlight the injustice which victims of violence suffer at the hands of the judicial system and to appeal for greater justice. Its starting-point was a study which showed that:

Whilst the number of rapes being recorded by the police increased by 60% between 1985 and 1994, the proportion of those being proceeded against (prosecuted) has halved
A comparison of 1988 and 1994 figures reveals that whilst recorded rapes increased by 40% in that period, the rate of conviction almost halved
In 1994 only 9% of recorded rapes resulted in a conviction, the lowest rate for the last decade (although the average conviction rate is only 13%).

Quoted from: www.zerotolerance.org.uk/
The campaign thus pursued three objectives:

To unmask the humiliating treatment of victims in court
To demand penalties under criminal law for acts of violence committed against women
To call on politicians, lawyers etc. to make a "Justice Pledge", i.e. to commit themselves to uphold justice.

        This campaign, like the original campaign, made use of posters, leaflets, billboards, bus advertising and public events. Its slogans included the following:

"Her boss raped her at knifepoint. In court, she was asked if she found him attractive."
"No witness, no crime, no action, no justice."
"Six kids. One rapist. Same old story. 'Insufficient evidence'."

        The evaluation showed that NGOs and the general public took a very positive view of the campaign, but the judicial community in Edinburgh - lawyers, judges and prosecutors - who made up one of the most important target groups barely responded to it.

The Zero Tolerance Young Person's Campaign "Respect"
As its title suggests, this campaign set out primarily to reach young people. It was based on the work of several local authorities and initiatives. In May 1997, for instance, the Aberdeen Zero Tolerance Campaign had compiled and distributed innovative school packs.
        "The Zero Tolerance Respect Campaign was launched in Edinburgh on 25 November, 1998. It was developed from research carried out by the Zero Tolerance Charitable Trust, which established that boys and young men in particular tolerate violence against women. The research found that:

1 in 2 boys and 1 in 3 girls thought that there were some circumstances when it was acceptable to hit a woman or force her to have sex
over a third of the boys (36%) thought that they might personally force a woman to have sex
over half the young people interviewed knew someone who had been hit by their male partner and exactly half knew someone who had been sexually abused." (www.edinburgh.gov.uk/CEC/Corporate_Services/Strategic_Support/Respect.htm)

The study was carried out by staff of the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, University of North London, and the Media Research Unit, Department of Sociology, Glasgow University. The results derived from focus group discussions and from a survey of 2,039 young people aged between 14 and 21. The participants welcomed the opportunity to talk about sex, relationships and violence in the group discussions. They also stressed the need for support in this area of their lives.
However, the Respect Campaign addressed not only young people but (again) the public at large. "Respect [asked] adults to challenge the conditions and beliefs that allow male violence to flourish by:

Encouraging agencies, policy makers and politicians to put primary prevention at the heart of public policy and community strategies that aim to tackle male violence against women and children;
Providing training and resources on primary prevention for practitioners working with young people;
Raising public and political awareness about the need to challenge gender socialisation and rigid notions of masculinity and femininity."
Quoted from: www.zerotolerance.org.uk/n2.htm)

The campaign's publicity and its education and training programmes for adults and young people were supplemented by an educational CD ROM, an "interactive learning tool to give young people the chance to examine their own knowledge and attitudes to male violence and to explore alternative relationships based on equality, consent and respect." (www.zerotolerance.org.uk/n7.htm)

The CD ROM consists of five sections:

Relationships - A definition (of what makes a healthy and respectful relationship)
The Time Line (information on historical facts, events, laws and changes in the position of women from 1600 to 1999)
A Kiss Is Just a Kiss Quiz (two multiple choice quizzes for young women and young men respectively which aim to get young people thinking about what is respectful and healthy relationship behaviour)
ZT FM (a mock radio show with four callers phoning a radio agony aunt)
Myth and Reality (a game which poses true and false answers based on research facts and figures around the scale, causes, attitudes and impact of male violence against women).
(Quoted from: www.zerotolerance.org.uk/n7.htm)

Concluding Remarks
One important reason why the Zero Tolerance Campaigns were so effective and so influential is that they were based on hard-and-fast research results which were integrated in the campaigns' planning and development. Other factors are the involvement of all the agencies concerned, and the conception of the campaigns to address several target groups without neglecting the specific interests of any one group.
The idea, message and overall concept of the Zero Tolerance Campaigns have been adopted in several British cities and elsewhere in Europe. Examples are the Zero Tolerance Campaign in Bologna, Italy, and the "Aktiv gegen Männergewalt" campaign in Munich, Germany.

Aktiv gegen Männergewalt, Germany

Title:
Aktiv gegen Männergewalt (Active Against Male Violence)
Provider:
KOFRA (co-ordinator), about 200 organisations, associations and projects in Munich
Duration:
October 1, 1997 to October 1, 1998
Preventive measures:
Public awareness raising campaign
Initiated by:
Group of women from various organisations
Funded by:
Sponsorship, donations, public funding, volunteer work (by the institutions involved)
Contact:
KOFRA (Kommunikationszentrum für Frauen zur Arbeits- und Lebenssituation e.V.)
Baaderstrasse 30
D-80469 Munich
Germany Phone: ++49-89-2021636
Fax: ++49-89-2021665
E-mail: kofra@t-online.de
Website: http://www.kofra.de

Origins
"Aktiv gegen Männergewalt" was one of those campaigns which were modelled on the Edinburgh Zero Tolerance Campaign. At the invitation of the Munich Municipal Gender Equality Office, the campaign organisers from Edinburgh gave a presentation of Zero Tolerance in Munich in 1994. Planning began in the following year, during which the substantive priorities were defined. From the beginning of 1996 onwards the organisers met regularly. The campaign was eventually launched almost two years later, on October 1, 1997.

Aims and methods
The campaign aimed to reduce the public acceptance of violence by men and to promote the willingness and ability to act against, prevent and halt the abuse of power by men.

The long-term goals included:

Providing information on the causes, manifestations and consequences of violence
Exposing myths and refuting supposed justifications for violence
Changing the social climate which tolerates violence.

In practical terms, the issues at stake are:

To set clear boundaries for men and boys when they act in a discriminating or violent manner (verbally or physically) against women and girls, and to challenge anyone who supports this kind of behaviour;
To protect women and girls against violence and empower them to fight effectively against violence by men and boys (fathers, friends etc.)
To protect boys against abuse and assault by adult men, work against the violent images of masculinity in our society so that boys are prevented from becoming perpetrators, and encourage a form of masculinity without violence;
To extend, within institutions, the concepts for the prevention of violence, work with survivors of male violence, and ensure that the perpetrators take responsibility for their actions;
To ask men actively and publicly to support work towards halting male violence against women and girls.

Implementation The following measures were adopted with a view to achieving the above goals:

Involvement of all the governmental and non-governmental agencies, projects and initiatives concerned and of the media
Secondary campaigns in and for specific districts of the city
Supplementary broader-based public and PR events (e.g. discussions, posters, cultural events) in central locations
Measures and programmes addressing specific target groups (e.g. training courses for professionals dealing with violence)
Events addressing the public on a gender basis

Organisation
Given the large number of agencies involved, the organisational structure was a key factor.

The Full Board: Munich Plenary
From January 1996 onwards all the agencies and organisations involved met once a month to submit the requisite information and to develop the campaign jointly.
The Initiative Group
The Initiative group was responsible for preparing the plenary sessions and for planning the various steps in the development and implementation of the campaign. It was made up of representatives of KOFRA, the two shelters, the Gender Equality Office, the German Youth Institute, the Women's Rights School, "donna mobile" health counselling organisation for migrant women, and the women's helpline.
The Working Groups
These groups dealt with specific tasks like public relations, finance, work materials etc.
The Co-ordination Office
The entire project was co-ordinated by KOFRA, which acted as a contact and clearing centre and was responsible for producing, acquiring and processing materials for the campaign.
In addition there were Organisational Groups in the various city districts and - from the onset of the campaign itself onwards - a Public Forum whose purpose was to involve the public in the campaign.

Activities
To give some idea of what work a one-year campaign entails, here is a brief outline of the most important activities:

Discussions and lectures
Self-defence courses for girls
Training courses for boys to combat aggression, violence and prejudice against women
District festivities
Demonstrations
Monuments (in central locations)
District walking tours to assess safety for girls and women
Cultural events such as drama, films, concerts and readings.

Innovations
"Aktiv gegen Männergewalt" made use of the "Invisible Theatre", which was developed by Augusto Boal from Brazil. Based on lay productions, it portrays day-to-day communications. This dramatic technique was employed on several occasions to illustrate discrimination and violence in daily life.
The "Active Share" was issued to help cover the high costs of the poster campaign. By buying a share, the public sponsored the display of a certain poster for a certain number of days. The shares sold so well that the proceeds financed the first phase of the poster campaign.

Evaluation
Anita Heiliger supervised and carried out the evaluation of the project. Her findings are summarised below (from: Anita Heiliger: Männergewalt gegen Frauen beenden. Strategien und Handlungsansätze am Beispiel der Münchner Kampagne gegen Männergewalt an Frauen und Mädchen / Jungen, Opladen 2000, pp. 335-340):

The most important conclusion for the activists who took part in the campaign was "that the process of critical discussion on the issue of male violence against women, girls and boys has started".
The basic idea of forming a broad-based alliance against tolerance of male violence proved not only feasible but effective (approximately 250 agencies, administrative units and groups joined the alliance, while about 170 of them organised their own events and campaigns).
The poster campaign was the most effective way of addressing the general public, while media coverage left a lot to be desired.
Individual approaches like the "Round Table" (principal intervention-related approach), the "Invisible Theatre" and the schools activities turned into on-going activities. Where the schools were concerned, it proved essential to provide the teachers with support in implementing the projects. The "Invisible Theatre" was a daunting personal challenge to those involved and was felt to be strenuous but very rewarding.
The municipal administrative departments developed their own approaches to the issues and speeded up projects which had they had already considered implementing (e.g. support for refugee women). In connection with projects run by the church, dealing with the topic of male violence amount to the breaking of a taboo in that it questioned the traditional dogma of patriarchal structures in the church.
Among the less successful aspects of the campaign were the failure to mobilise whole urban districts and to reach migrant women of some countries of origin.
The most difficult task was enlisting men as campaign workers. A useful and effective approach turned out to be getting men to talk to other men about the issue.

White Ribbon Campaign, Canada / Europe

Title:
The White Ribbon Campaign
Men Working to End Men's Violence Against Women
Provider:
The White Ribbon Campaign
Inception:
1991
Preventive measures:
Public awareness raising
Education of young people
Media campaign
Initiated by:
Small group of individual men
Funded by:
Financial contributions from individuals and organisations / volunteer support
Contact:
International:
The White Ribbon Campaign
365 Bloor Street East
Suite 1600
Toronto, Ontario M4W 3L4
Canada
Phone: ++1-416-9206684
Fax: ++1-416-9201678
E-mail: whiterib(AT)idirect.com
Website: www.whiteribbon.ca
Europe:
City & Shelter
40, rue d'Espagne
B - 1060 Brussels
Belgium
Phone: ++32-2-5347735
Fax: ++32-2-5347735
E-mail: cityandshelter(AT)skynet.be
Websites: http://www.europrofem.org and http://www.eurowrc.org

Origins
It was a bloodbath which prompted the formation of an initiative which takes its name from its symbol: the white ribbon. "On December 6, 1989, a lone gunman sought out the engineering wing of L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal and ordered the female students segregated from the males. He then shot dead 14 of the young women, calling them 'feminists'. […..] Following the Montreal massacre, a small group of men got together to discuss forming the first organisation in the world to involve men working to end violence." (Allan McKeown: Breaking the Silence, www.whiteribbon.ca/slwrc.htm).

Aims and methods
By wearing the white ribbon, men display their commitment to taking action against violence against women. "From the start, the primary goal of the WRC has been to encourage men to look at our own attitudes and behaviour and to learn to challenge other men to stop all forms of violence against women." (Michael Kaufman, A Road Less More Travelled. The Past and Future of the White Ribbon Campaign, 1998, www.whiteribbon.ca/aroad.htm). The White Ribbon Campaign sees itself as an educational organisation: "[We] encourage reflection and discussion that leads to personal and collective action among men." (www.whiteribbon.ca/origin.htm) The primary target group is young people.

Implementation
The White Ribbon Campaign carries out educational activities in schools, in working environments and at municipal level, provides support for local women's organisations and collects funds for its educational programme.

White Ribbon Week(s)
The WRC's activities culminate in the period from November 25 (International Day for the Eradication of Violence Against Women) to December 6 (the anniversary of the Montreal massacre). During these two weeks men are called on to wear the White Ribbons. By and large the WRC does not run its own events or issue public statements, but it does so in response to requests by women's organisations. It puts on small-scale events on Father's Day and St. Valentine's Day.
        The focus of the WRC's work is compiling and distributing the Education Kit. This is addressed both to teachers and to pupils. It contains a treatment of the issue of male violence against women and girls for both target groups and a detailed manual for teachers which explains how to deal with the topic in class and which problems they might encounter, and suggests practical activities like role games and group discussions. The Education Kit can be downloaded from the Internet at: www.whiteribbon.ca/students.htm.
        In the public relations field, the main thrust is on securing media coverage of the issue of male violence against women and on lobbying the media to report on women's support services and programmes. For some years now the WRC has also carried out fund-raising to provide support for women's shelters and women's anti-violence programmes.

European White Ribbon Campaign
The White Ribbon Campaign is only just getting going in Europe. Under the auspices of the 1999/2000 DAPHNE Initiative, the EuroWRC Resource Centre in Brussels has begun systematically networking the individual groups in Europe. At the local level, small-scale events have been put on, while internationally the EuroWRC has participated in, for instance, the Women's World March.
        Like the parent organisation in Canada, its smaller European offshoot distributes information materials and high-visibility products (pins, posters, T-shirts). It has adapted the Canadian Education Kit and produced a CD ROM. This initial phase has been evaluated by the European Women's Lobby and the Canadian WRC. EuroWRC sets out to lobby national governments and the EU to step up their endeavours in combating violence against women.

Target Zero Campaign, Ireland

Title:
Target Zero Campaign: Republic of Ireland Election, 1997
Provider:
Women's Aid Ireland
Duration:
1997
Preventive measures:
Action campaign
Initiated by:
Women's Aid Ireland
Funded by:
Women's Aid Ireland
Contact:
Women's Aid
P.O. Box 791
Dublin 1
Ireland
Phone: ++353-1-8745302
Fax: ++353-1-8745525
E-mail: projects@womensaid.ie
Website: http://www.womensaid.ie

Origins
Following the publication of the report of the Taskforce on Violence Against Women (Office of the Tánaiste, Report of the Task Force on Violence Against Women, Dublin 1997) an election was called in Ireland. Women's Aid feared that if the government who had produced the document was not reinstated, the recommendations of the Taskforce document would not be implemented. (www.womensaid.ie)

Aims and methods
Women's Aid initiated a campaign to ensure that the recommendations of the Taskforce were implemented regardless of whether the Government which produced the document was re-elected.
The Target Zero Election pack included the Executive Summary of the Report of the Taskforce on Violence Against Women. It detailed the nature and extent of domestic violence in Ireland. It also contained a press release to be sent to local media, a letter to be sent to local candidates as well as a declaration which Women's Aid asked people to get their local candidate to sign. The Declaration stated that the candidate would implement the recommendation of the Taskforce if elected to office. The signed declaration was to be forwarded to Women's Aid.

Implementation
The pack was then circulated to voluntary and community groups and individuals throughout the country. It was used to great effect throughout the country, and hundreds of declarations signed by candidates were received by Women's Aid in the run-up to the election.

The questions to the candidates were:

Is domestic violence a priority issue for you? Why?
Can you outline how this could be tackled by the Government?
Are you aware of recommendations of the working reports on violence against women or Making the Links?
What local responses are in the area?
What will be the future response from your party on this issue?
Will you sign the declaration?

Plan of action

Demands to be presented to the candidates:

That any incoming Government commits itself to the implementation and resourcing of the findings of the report of the Taskforce on Violence Against Women.
The Government should also outline the strategy to fund, resource and timetable the implementation of the recommendations of the report.
The implementation of the 30 demands outlined by the Target Zero Campaign. Outline of actions to be taken by individuals and groups:
To contact all sitting and prospective T.Ds (members of the Irish Parliament) and ask them to sign the declaration on the elimination of violence against women.
To contact local councillors and ask them to sign the declaration letter from the Target Zero Campaign.
To use the questions and answers contained in the pack when election candidates canvas at one's door or in the community.
To ask those going for election in one's constituency to a meeting on violence against women and question them on their position on violence against women.
To send letters to local newspapers, contact local radio stations when the election is being discussed to highlight violence against women as an election issue.

The returned declarations were publicised at the launch of Target Zero on May 13, 1997. Several days prior to the election, the Director of Elections for each party gave a commitment to implement the demands of the campaign if elected into office.

Evaluation The Fine Gael/Labour coalition which had produced the Report of the Taskforce on Violence Against Women were not re-elected, but the Fianna Fail government which replaced them have been working to implement the recommendations, largely thanks to the Target Zero Election Campaign. (www.womensaid.ie)
        The Target Zero Campaign is one of the few campaigns directly to address politicians and demand practical action. It is also one of the least elaborate campaigns: it was launched after a relatively short preparation period and was carried out on a modest budget.
3.2 STATE ACTION TO COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
The present chapter examines prevention models to combat violence against women that have been initiated by the state - that is, by national parliaments and governments. State bodies have an exceptional degree of influence on which preventive measures are implemented in a given country - by enacting the laws and legislative provisions which form the basis for the protection of battered women and children and for the treatment of perpetrators, and by providing adequate funding for support organisations, publicity campaigns, intervention projects and so on.
       Those countries which have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) are furthermore committed to publishing their planned measures to combat violence against women in a National Action Plan. It may be that such Action Plans promise more than the country concerned actually carries out; but at least this commitment forces countries to consider the issue.
       Generally speaking, legislation aimed at protecting individuals from violence and state action designed specifically to establish an infrastructure for supporting victims of domestic violence and for penalising perpetrators tend to be the outcome of a protracted process. This process has been maintained by activists in the women's movement, by women's shelter workers, by women's networks, and by women and men seeking to uphold human (and more specifically women's) rights and repeatedly calling on state institutions to address the issue of violence against women.
       The present section details three very different instances of state action to combat domestic violence. With the Protection from Violence Act, Austria has enacted exemplary legislation on behalf of victims of domestic violence. The current debate on similar legislation in other European countries suggests that the Austrian example could be followed elsewhere. Sweden has introduced a new category of criminal offence which creates new scope for a violent man to be sentenced for repeated abuse of his wife or partner. Finally, the British government has defined combating violence against women as a priority in its agenda and has made comprehensive efforts at all levels to address the issue of domestic violence.

Protection from Violence Act, Austria

Title:
Protection from Violence Act
Introduced:
May 1, 1997
Preventive Measures:
Eviction and barring orders
Longer-term protection through temporary injunctions Establishing of Intervention Centres against domestic violence as back-up facilities
Contact:
Information Centre Against Violence
Bacherplatz 10/4
A-1050 Vienna
Austria
Phone: +43 1 5440820
Fax: +43 1 5440820-24
E-mail: aoef@xpoint.at
Website: http://www.xpoint.at/users/aoef

Austria's Protection from Violence Act was the upshot of years of lobbying and awareness-raising on the part of the women's shelters. Research projects, international conferences and a hearing on "Women and Law" in 1993 laid the foundations and established the necessary contacts for an inter-agency working group to be set up. Its mandate was to formulate legal reforms which would provide more effective protection from domestic violence. The members of the working group came from ministries and other state bodies but also from women's support organisations, who put forward proposals for improvements in protection from violence and - for the first time - a plan envisaging the establishing of intervention centres.
       In 1994 the cabinet passed a resolution which provided for the setting up of four working groups to draw up reform proposals relating to the fields of law enforcement, the criminal and civil judiciary, and the intervention centres. The goal was to formulate legislation designed to provide more effective protection for victims of violence in threatening situations and to ensure that they can go on living in their accustomed surroundings. At the same time the new law would assign greater responsibility to the perpetrators for bearing the consequences of their actions. The first draft, issued by the Federal Ministry of Justice in 1995, was supplemented in the course of the statutory review procedures by a further provision, the right of the police to bar a perpetrator from the home (cf. Logar, unpublished manuscript, Vienna 2000).
       The Protection from Violence Act came into force in Austria on May 1, 1997. Some aspects of this legislation have been amended and improved as of January 1, 2000.
       Responsibility for violence invariably lies with the person committing it. The consequences must therefore be born by the perpetrator, not by the victims of violence. People who are subjected to violence have a right to protection, security and support.

Eviction and barring orders as stipulated by § 38a Security Police Act (SPG)
If a person is posing a threat to others, the police are required to evict that person from the home and the immediate vicinity and to bar that person from re-entering it. The victims and their children have the right to continue living in their accustomed surroundings.¹
       If a punishable offence - such as bodily harm, coercion, threatened violence, rape or deprivation of liberty - has been committed, the police are obliged to bring charges.
       The Protection against Violence Act protects anybody residing in the house: the perpetrator's spouse, partner, children and relatives but also lodgers, other residents etc. It is irrelevant who owns the apartment or house. The police are empowered to evict anybody posing a threat to others, including the owner. The police must immediately take the keys to the dwelling away from the person posing a threat. On that person's eviction, he is required to supply the police with a new postal address to which the law court can send official correspondence.
       A barring order applies to the dwelling itself and to the immediate vicinity. The police must define the safety area and notify the evicted person thereof. This safety area "is defined by the victims' needs for effective protection" (SPG § 38a, para 1). If the perpetrator refuses to leave the dwelling, the police are entitled forcibly to remove him.
       Even if the perpetrator is arrested, the police are required to issue a barring order, because the perpetrator may be released from detention at any time. The State Prosecutor or the criminal court decide whether a perpetrator should be arrested and/or be kept in detention. A barring order is valid for 10 days. It is reviewed by the law enforcement authorities within 48 hours. If the barring order is revoked, the victim must be notified immediately, because in this case the perpetrator is given back his key to the dwelling and is permitted to return.
       Violating a barring order is an offence under administrative law and is punishable with a fine of up to ATS 5,000. In the event of repeated violations, the perpetrator can be placed under arrest. As long as a barring order is in effect, the evicted person may not return. Even if the victim allows the perpetrator into the dwelling voluntarily, the perpetrator is breaking the law. The police are obliged to check compliance with a barring order within the space of three days.

Information and documentation
In imposing a barring order, the police must give the victim and the perpetrator an information sheet. They must also keep detailed documentation of every case of domestic violence to which they are summoned and make their records available to the court on request. After a barring or safety order has been issued, the police must also notify the nearest Intervention Centre immediately.

The Intervention Centres' free counselling and support
In the event that a barring or safety order is issued, the victim will be contacted by the Intervention Centre in her federal province. The Intervention Centres provide free counselling on securing the victim's rights and free support during court proceedings (Information Centre Against Violence 2000).

Longer-term protection by means of a temporary injunction in accordance with § 382b of the Court Distraint Regulations
If the victim is a close relative of the perpetrator and she wants the protective measures prolonged beyond the initial ten-day term, she must apply for a temporary injunction against the perpetrator straight away (at all events within ten days). A temporary injunction can be issued even if the police did not intervene.
       Applications for a temporary injunction must be made at the local court ("Bezirksgericht"). The victim can make the application in writing or verbally. In urgent cases the court is obliged to accept the application even outside regular office hours.

Counselling before submitting an application; support in court
It is not absolutely necessary to consult a lawyer before submitting an application for a temporary injunction. It is important, though, that the victim receives legal counselling beforehand so that she has all the necessary papers with her for the court to reach a decision. The staff at Intervention Centres, women's shelters and women's counselling centres can help to submit the application. Moreover, when she is questioned by the court, she has the right to be accompanied by a person she trusts.
       A temporary injunction protects all the close relatives from violence by members of the family if they live in one household with the perpetrator or have done so in the last three months. Close relatives are, for instance, spouses, common-law partners, brothers or sisters, next of kin (such as children, grandchildren, grandparents) but also adoptive children and parents and their spouses and common-law partners. A temporary injunction can be applied for if physical abuse or threats make life with a violent person intolerable. A temporary injunction can also be issued in the event of psychological terror if this seriously impairs the victims' mental health and thus makes life with the perpetrator unendurable.
       The court requires evidence of acts of violence. Such evidence might include: the testimony of the person subjected to violence, the testimony of eye-witnesses, police reports, doctors' and hospital certificates, reports by therapists and support centres, photographs etc. The court applies for police reports directly. The court is required to reach a decision on an application for protection as fast as possible. Ideally, the court should reach a decision within 20 days of the issue of barring orders so that the victims can stay in the house or apartment. In cases of serious danger to the victim or her children, the court may issue a temporary injunction even without questioning the perpetrator - especially if the police have already issued barring orders.
       The new temporary injunction provides several forms of protection. Because this is a process under civil law, the applicant must specify precisely which protective measures are needed.
       The following protective measures can be applied for and granted by the court:
The perpetrator must leave the dwelling and its immediate vicinity (§ 382b, para 1)
The perpetrator may not return to the dwelling or its immediate vicinity (§ 382b, para 1)
The perpetrator must stay away from individual locations specified in the application, such as the kindergarten or the place of work (§ 382, para 2)
The perpetrator must avoid meeting or contacting the applicant (§ 382b, para 2)
The locations which the perpetrator is required to avoid must be exactly defined. One way is to mark them on a street map.
       When the court issues or withdraws a temporary injunction, it must notify the police and, if one of the persons concerned is a minor, also the child welfare authority.
       If the court decides to issue a temporary injunction, it must notify the applicant when the injunction will be enforced. The court bailiff is responsible for serving the injunction; although in urgent or dangerous cases, the court may ask the police to enforce it. In serving the injunction, the official concerned notifies the perpetrator of the injunction, hands over the court papers and instructs the perpetrator to leave the dwelling immediately. The official stays until the perpetrator has left the dwelling and is empowered to take the perpetrator's keys away from him. The keys are deposited with the court. If the perpetrator has already been barred from the dwelling by the police, the injunction order is delivered to the postal address given by the perpetrator. This counts as service of the injunction. The person evicted does, however, have the right to collect personal belongings from the dwelling within 48 hours and must arrange a time with the court bailiff for doing so. The applicant must be notified of this.
       If the perpetrator violates the temporary injunction by returning to the dwelling or the immediate vicinity, the victim should notify the police immediately. The police are obliged to remove the perpetrator from the dwelling and the immediate vicinity - forcibly if necessary. The police must also notify the court. The applicant should inform the court of the incident and request the imposition of a penalty for contempt of court. If the perpetrator continues to violate the injunction, the court can impose coercive detention.
       Initially the temporary injunction is valid for three months. The validity of a temporary injunction is prolonged if the victim is married and files for divorce by the end of the third month. If she has been living in a common-law marriage and she is either the owner or the tenant of the dwelling, she should apply for the eviction of the perpetrator within three months; whereas if the dwelling either belonged to both victim and perpetrator or they were joint tenants, she should apply for sole occupancy. The temporary injunction remains in force as long as the divorce proceedings or the consideration of the application last.

Costs, legal aid, interpreting
If the victim has a low income (up to approx. ATS 10,000 a month), she is entitled to apply for legal aid. Migrants can apply for the provision of an interpreter.

Children, child welfare
If children are subjected to violence, the mother - in her capacity as their legal guardian - can apply for a temporary injunction. If she is afraid to do so, she can ask the child welfare authority (Offices for Youth and Family, Municipal Administrative Offices) to submit the application on the children's behalf (Information Centre Against Violence 2000).

Intervention Centres
From the very start the Intervention Centres were envisaged by the Protection from Violence Act as back-up facilities. Austrian shelter workers planned these facilities on the lines of the American Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP). The Intervention Centres serve the purpose of protecting victims of violence with a view to preventing further violence. The approach they take to the task of prevention is comprehensive and integration-oriented: they provide support for victims and run perpetrator programmes as well as networking and co-ordinating the work of all the agencies involved in the issue of violence. In 2000 there were ten Intervention Centres throughout Austria.

Concluding remarks
The Federal Ministry of the Interior commissioned a study on the effectiveness of the Protection from Violence Act. It concludes that the law has proved effective. The study examined 1,074 cases of domestic violence in various geographical areas, interviewing both victims and perpetrators. Its findings on the effectiveness of the new law are summarised in the following passage:
       "In the majority of cases the Protection from Violence Act achieved what it set out to do: halting the spiral of violence by barring the perpetrator from the home and giving the victim assistance in the form of the counselling and support provided by the Intervention Centres. The new legislative provisions are an effective means of enhancing protection from domestic violence, and they convey an important social message." (Haller 1999, p. 34)
       The study emphasises the importance of the role played by the Intervention Centres. For the victims of domestic violence, it is difficult and dangerous to break out of the spiral of violence, and they need a great deal of support at this stage. The police notify the nearest Intervention Centre within 24 hours of issuing barring or eviction orders, so that help is available for the victim during the critical phase.
       Since the law came into force, the number of barring orders and evictions has risen steadily. In 1998 the annual total came to 2,673. By 1999 it had climbed to 3,076 (of which Vienna alone accounted for 723). The victims dealt with by the Vienna Intervention Centre were 96 per cent women, about 2 per cent men and the rest children and young people. The study showed that the incidence of interventions varies widely from region to region. The rural police ("Gendarmerie") tend to resort to pacification measures more frequently than the (urban) police.
       Rosa Logar, who runs the Vienna Intervention Centre, sees the Protection from Violence Act as an apt means of preventing violence except in cases of severe violence (Logar 2000). Although the Intervention Centres have submitted proposals for amendments, the Austrian law can serve as a good practice model throughout Europe. In Germany, for instance, draft legislation similar to the Austrian law is being debated at the parliamentary level, and other countries - principally EU member states - have taken a lively interest in it.

¹ 96 per cent of victims of domestic violence in Austria are women.

Gross Violation of a Woman's Integrity, Sweden

Title:
Gross Violation of a Woman's Integrity
Introduced:
July 1, 1998
Preventive Measures:
Legislation to counteract violence against women, in particular the introduction of a new category of criminal offence, "Gross violation of a woman's integrity"
Contact:
Jämställdhetsenheten
Kvinnofridsprojektet
Näringsdepartementet
S-103 33 Stockholm
Sweden
Phone: +46 8 4051225
Fax: +46 8 247152
Website: http://www.kvinnofrid.gov.se/english.htm

In connection with the issue of gender equality, Sweden and its legislation are widely considered as leading the field. It is a fact that many legislative measures to combat violence against women were enacted in Sweden much earlier than in other European countries. Marital rape, for example, was declared a punishable offence in Sweden as early as 1965.
The explanation is to be found in the existence of a strong women's shelter movement in Sweden. It has pursued the goal of affording women and children protection from male violence not only by establishing an extensive network of shelters but also by ensuring that the legislative and social situation was such that victims of violence could count on the greatest possible support while at the same time perpetrators were called to account.
The Swedish Government's legislation to combat violence against women can thus be ascribed to the work of the women's shelters, but the way was also paved for its introduction by the fact that Sweden attaches great importance to the international conventions on the elimination of violence against women which it has ratified. The new law, which came into force on July 1, 1998, deals with a number of issues and entails three essential points of departure (cf. Website):

Legislation is to be further improved and made more stringent

Further preventive measures are to be adopted

Women victims are to be supported in more effective ways than hitherto.

In 1998 the Swedish Government allocated SEK 41 million for use on a variety of related measures.
In the context of endeavours to prevent male domestic violence against women, one particularly significant aspect of the new legislation is the introduction of the punishable offence "Gross violation of a woman's integrity". This denotes repeated punishable acts inflicted by men on women having a close relationship with them. If a man commits certain criminal acts (assault, unlawful threat or coercion, sexual or other molestation, sexual exploitation etc.) against a woman to whom he is or has been married or with whom he is or has been cohabiting, he shall be sentenced for gross violation of the woman's integrity. A necessary condition for sentencing under the new offence is that the acts were part of a repeated violation of the woman's integrity and were of a nature that they might be expected seriously to damage her self-esteem.
        The law introduces a second offence, "Gross violation of integrity", which relates to domestic violence against children and other close relatives.
        The sentence envisaged for both offences ranges from a minimum of six months to a maximum of six years imprisonment. Sentencing for "Gross violation of a woman's integrity" does not mean that the perpetrator cannot also be sentenced for other related offences such as "Aggravated assault".
        The decisive innovation in this legislation is the fact that the court takes account of the specifics of the plight of women who have in many cases suffered attacks on their self-esteem for years on end.
        Under the auspices of an action programme against violence against women, the Swedish government and parliament introduced several other laws designed to protect women from violence.
        Thus, the legal definition of rape has been extended to include enforced sexual intercourse and what was preciously termed "sexual coercion".
The law which has attracted the most attention internationally is undoubtedly that banning the purchase of sexual services. Obtaining casual sexual services (prostitution) against payment is prohibited in Sweden. Offenders are liable to the payment of a fine or imprisonment of up to six months. This law applies equally to street prostitution and prostitution in brothels, massage parlours etc. The ban on the purchase of sexual services takes account of the perception that the weaker partner in the transaction is being exploited for the sake of satisfying the offender's sexual desires.

Concluding Remarks
In September 1998 the Uppsala District Court passed one of the first sentences on the basis of the new offence "Gross violation of a woman's integrity". Commissioner Nylén, head of the National Criminal Investigation Department in Stockholm, and Dr. Heimer, head of the National Center for Battered and Raped Women in Uppsala, wrote a joint article in which they describe the case: "On four occasions during a 6-week period in the summer of 1998, a man had battered his cohabitant, once bruising her entire face and, on another occasion, beating her severely and knocking out a tooth. The court sentenced the man to 10 months in prison." (Nylén/Heimer 1999, p. 20)
This sizeable prison term reflects Sweden's response to domestic violence. Legislative amendments and innovations and harsher sentences alone will not suffice to prevent domestic violence against women, but they do convey a clear message to abusive men that society will not turn a blind eye to such behaviour, let alone tolerate it. The experts agree that more still needs to be done. Nylén und Heimer (1999, p. 23) conclude: "Society's attitudes and outlooks must change; law enforcement must create new procedures; the judicial system must acquire knowledge and authority to intervene and take appropriate legal action; and medical and social services must look at victims in a holistic and comprehensive manner." Close co-operation among the state agencies concerned and the involvement of women's support organisations are key factors in eliminating male violence against women in families and intimate relationships.

Living Without Fear - An integrated approach to tackling violence against women, Great Britain

Title:
Living Without Fear - An integrated approach to tackling violence against women
Introduced:
1999
Preventive Measures:
Publication of a strategy framework based on an integrated approach to tackling violence against women
Contact:
Criminal Policy Strategy Unit
Home Office
50 Queen Anne's Gate
GB-London SW1H 9AT
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 72732993
Fax: +44 20 72733714
E-mail: public_enquiry.cpsu@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/violenceagainstwomen/index.htm

In 1994, responding to the alarming figures emerging from surveys and crime statistics (such as the British Crime Survey), the British government at the time established an Official Interdepartmental Working Party on Domestic Violence and a Ministerial Group whose mandate was to formulate a co-ordinated strategy on tackling domestic violence against women. In 1997 the British Government appointed for the first time two Ministers for Women, supported by a Women's Unit.
In June 1999 the British government published a document entitled Living without Fear - An integrated approach to tackling violence against women, in which it outlined its strategies for addressing violence against women. The Interdepartmental Group on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, headed by the Home Office, was entrusted with implementing the measures formulated in this document. The Group is responsible for "taking forward initiatives on domestic violence within the Home Office and for co-ordinating action on domestic violence and violence against women across Government as a whole" (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/cpd/cpsu/domviol98.htm, 19.04.2000).
The concept of Living without Fear is aimed at service providers, both in local government and in the voluntary sector, as well as women themselves in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have drawn up their own guidelines. In pursuing the long-term goal of preventing violence against women, the British government has adopted the following approach (Cabinet Office, Women's Unit 1999):

Protection and provision: Providing timely support and protection for the victims to help reduce the long-term consequences and improve women's chances of a decent life.

Justice: Bringing perpetrators to justice - the legal system must deter crimes of violence against women and provide support and protection for women pursuing cases through the courts.

Prevention: Preventing violence - like other crimes, violence against women is unacceptable.

The document Living without Fear outlines successful projects and facilities relating to the above topics and to the issue of "Guidance and training" from all parts of the United Kingdom. These serve as good practice models for further preventive measures but also provide a bridge to government plans, listed by topics under the heading "What the Government Is Adding". Adopting this approach, the government hopes to promote effective multi-agency partnerships in England and Wales within the space of five years.
In accordance with the government initiative, endeavours to combat violence against women have been integrated in every area of political life, most notably in the Crime Prevention Programme, in action to promote gender equality and equality of opportunity, and other policy areas such as health, housing and community safety. The British government has earmarked £6m for projects to reduce crime against women and a further £6.3m for Victim Support to assist victims through the legal process. Moreover, it has invited proposals for setting up a round-the-clock helpline for women. These are just a few of the government's measures to combat violence against women. Living without Fear lists a wide range of measures which are scheduled to take effect by 2002 at the latest.

Concluding Remarks
When such a quantity and diversity of local initiatives and projects are in place, it makes sense to use them as a basis and to network them. The British government has integrated these numerous outstanding projects, commending them as good practice models for individual preventive measures. It has also taken them as starting-points for a comprehensive approach to formulating a preventive strategy. It regards violence against women as a problem which needs to be tackled at several levels: in the field of crime prevention, in the provision of professional support for women in need of help (in terms of protection, counselling or support during court proceedings), in the judicial and law enforcement fields, in the health sector, in research, but also by taking action in the primary prevention field like carrying out public information campaigns and educational projects for children and young people. By putting preventive measures to combat violence against women at the top of its agenda, the British government is conveying an unequivocal and necessary message to perpetrators that society is not prepared to tolerate any degree of violence against women.

3.3 PREVENTION MEASURES IN THE HEALTH SERVICES
Violence causes illness. It impairs the physical and emotional health of women who are exposed to it. It often inflicts severe damage on women and their children. Public health facilities are in many cases the first points of contact for women who are being abused by their partners.
        For these reasons, the debate on violence against women is to an increasing extent being conducted within the context of public health. The reassignment of the European Union's DAPHNE programme to Article 152 "Public Health" is indicative of this tendency. The association of violence against women and public health has a number of advantages, but it also entails certain risks. Lori L. Heise, expert on women's health and gender-based abuse, points to the advantage of being able to draw on valuable insights gained through health research and on intervention strategies capable of effecting changes to behaviour and social norms. "A public health perspective (...) adds an important emphasis on the prevention of violence rather than focusing solely on its victims." (Heise 1996, p. 16). An added advantage is that public health facilities work at the grass roots level and are regularly visited by women.
        However, regarding violence against women as a health issue entails certain dangers, most notably that of "medicalisation" - that is, identifying such conditions as alcoholism, nervousness or fear as symptoms but failing to consider the socio-political perspective (ibid.). The health-oriented perspective tends to treat abused women primarily as patients requiring treatment.
        This is precisely where preventive measures come in. A woman contacting a health facility or doctor to have the medical consequences of abuse treated must develop enough trust in the institution and its staff to be able to talk about the violence she has suffered and to accept the help offered. This must also be the case when a victim of violence contacts the health services ostensibly for other reasons and an examination reveals evidence of earlier, regular or acute injury.
        One extremely important preventive measure in the field of the health services is thus the sensitisation and training of medical staff, who must learn not only how to identify evidence of violence but also to understand the specifics of an abused woman's predicament and how difficult it is to talk about the violence she has suffered and to leave an abusive relationship. Only if medical staff understand and empathise with the specific mechanisms of control and violence at work in partnerships can they provide the appropriate help for the woman concerned. Surveys conducted among nursing staff and doctors have shown that, even if they are aware of the probable causes of a woman's injuries, they generally do not ask any questions because there is neither time nor the facilities for an in-depth conversation with her. Health facilities are thus called upon to provide the requisite conditions and to give their staff the necessary support. Over and above the medical treatment indicated, health facilities should refer abused women to and co-operate closely with other facilities, both state-run and otherwise, which can give the woman adequate protection and help her to assert her rights.
MODEL PROJECTS

National Center for Battered and Raped Women, Sweden

Title:
Rikskvinnocentrum för kvinnor som misshandlats och våldtagits
(National Center for Battered and Raped Women)
Run by:
Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden
Launched:
1994
Type of preventive measure:
Medical and psycho-social treatment and advisory service for women subjected to sexualised violence
Training and sensitisation of medical staff and social workers
Instigation of inter-disciplinary research projects
Initiated by:
Swedish Government
County of Uppsala
Financed by:
Ministry of Health and Social Affairs
Uppsala University
County of Uppsala
Contact:
Rikskvinnoventrum för kvinnor som misshandlats och våldtagits
Department of Women's and Children's Health, Obstetrics and Gynaecology Section
Uppsala University Hospital
Barbro Posse (Information Officer)
S-751 85 Uppsala
Sweden
Phone: +46 (0)18 662793
Fax: +46 (0)18 507394
E-mail: Barbro.Posse@kk.uas.lul.se
Website: http://www.uas.se/lul/uas/kk/eng/rkc

The Rikskvinnocentrum at the Department of Women's and Children's Health at Uppsala University Hospital was established by the Swedish government and the County of Uppsala in 1994 as a joint venture. The Rikskvinnocentrum sets out to provide care on a feminist basis for women who have been subjected to physical and especially sexualised violence&1sup; and to implement preventive measures by running training programmes for professionals and carrying out research projects.
The Center was set up in response to a recommendation put forward by a commission established by the Swedish government. The commission had pointed to the need for a "national center of expertise and resources for women who have been battered and raped" (Posse / Heimer 1999, p. 134) within the health care system. The Center was officially inaugurated in October 1995. It owes its existence not least to the lasting endeavours of the Swedish Women's Shelter Movement, which had argued that women who sought help at health care facilities after being subjected to violence received treatment but not care. In many cases either their accounts of the abuse they had suffered were dismissed or they were referred to other institutions. This amounted to additional discrimination against women, and it effectively discouraged them from leaving abusive relationships.

Realisation of the Project

From the very start the Rikskvinnocentrum was planned as a permanent facility and was assigned the following tasks:

Patient Services
Appointments can be made during the daytime for advice and consultation. Specially trained gynaecologists, medical social workers and midwives are on hand. All the staff are female. Emergency calls are dealt with day and night. There is also a 24-hour telephone service. (cf. Web site, 11.10.2000).

Training Courses
The National Center's programme of training courses (cf. Posse / Heimer 1999, pp. 135f) primarily targets medical professionals. The participants are required to produce written consent from their superiors before they can attend and before they can apply the knowledge acquired during the courses in their daily work. Various courses are available: intensive courses of twelve two-hour lectures followe

GOOD PRACTICE MODELS

LAST UPDATED ON NOVEMBER 15, 2000

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

PREFACE

1. THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF A SYSTEMATIC PERSPECTIVE ON PREVENTION

2. EUROPEAN SURVEY

3. GOOD PRACTICE MODELS

4. WAVE TRAINING PROGRAMME

PREFACE

TO TOP OF PAGE

1. THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF A SYSTEMATIC PERSPECTIVE ON PREVENTION

TO TOP OF PAGE

Secondary and Tertiary Prevention

TO TOP OF PAGE

3.1 CAMPAIGNS AND PUBLIC AWARENESS

TO TOP OF PAGE

MODEL PROJECTS

Zero Tolerance, Scotland

Aktiv gegen Männergewalt, Germany

White Ribbon Campaign, Canada / Europe

Target Zero Campaign, Ireland

3.2 STATE ACTION TO COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Protection from Violence Act, Austria

¹ 96 per cent of victims of domestic violence in Austria are women.

Gross Violation of a Woman's Integrity, Sweden

Living Without Fear - An integrated approach to tackling violence against women, Great Britain

3.3 PREVENTION MEASURES IN THE HEALTH SERVICES

MODEL PROJECTS

National Center for Battered and Raped Women, Sweden