The government’s package includes, for example, an improvement in the exchange of data between the institutions and the screening of motives for crime. In addition, case conferences are to be strengthened and police inspections throughout Austria are to be equipped with specially trained prevention officers. The package was presented on Monday by Interior Minister Karl Nehammer, Minister for Women Susanne Raab (both ÖVP) and Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) before the summit.
Nehammer called on women affected by violence to contact the police. “The murders of women this year show one thing in particular: the police were only notified in one of a total of nine cases,” said Nehammer. In the future, better data comparison is to be achieved so that violence protection facilities can proactively contact victims after a stalking report.
The necessary legal adjustment should be implemented as quickly as possible, it said. The Ministry of Women wants the Federal Criminal Police Office to carry out a qualitative study of all homicides committed against women in the past ten years. The judiciary also wants to improve. For example, the public prosecutor’s offices should be better networked with the victim protection agencies.
“Working at the limit”
The reactions after the summit varied on Monday. The Vienna Intervention Center against Violence welcomed some of the planned measures. What is still missing, however, are financial resources for victim protection. 228 million euros more would be needed. In addition, 3,000 additional jobs are necessary to really help women and their children over a longer period of time. “We have done a great deal, but the violence has not decreased, and one reason is that we are deeply convinced that we are always working to the limit in our facility,” said Rosa Logar from the Association of Vienna Intervention Center against Domestic Violence in the ZIB1.
Protection against violence summit: The reactions
After the violence protection summit in the Ministry of the Interior, the reactions are mixed. The organizations welcome some of the government’s plans, but are demanding much more money for victim protection, the talk is of 230 million euros.
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“We look after over 6,000 victims, we have a counselor for 310 victims, so you can only give short-term help.” It is good that there should be more case conferences again in which the police, the judiciary and victim protection can exchange ideas. Logar demanded, however, that these conferences can not only be called by the police. “The facilities here must be able to work on an equal footing, and that means that any facility that deals with violence in the family can convene.”
Collect and share information
In an interview with ZIB2 on Monday, Kastner also focused on the case conferences. By means of this networking of the institutions involved, a risk assessment of potential perpetrators is possible. With such a prognosis, possible steps can be implemented efficiently in advance. These assessments should be made “as soon as the issue of domestic violence comes up,” says Kastner. However, this is only possible if existing information about a possible perpetrator is also collected and exchanged.
Psychiatrist Kastner on violence against women
Why are so many women murdered by their partners and ex-partners in Austria, and what can be done about it? In addition, the psychiatrist and court expert Adelheid Kastner was a guest of Armin Wolf.
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“The prognoses are only as good as the basis on which they are made.” If you do not collect all the information, a risk assessment can only be inadequate. Therefore, the case conferences are absolutely necessary. In addition, other witnesses, such as neighbors, should also be questioned.
“There are executions”
The murders of women are executions, according to Kastner, and not “relationship dramas”. A good deal of brutality comes together, the act is an “unbelievable self-empowerment” of one person over another. One has to ask “why this self-empowerment still has a sad tradition in Austria”, says Kastner.
Maria Rösslhumer from the Association of Autonomous Austrian Women’s Shelters had previously called for more measures to be taken to protect threatened victims. “Unfortunately we haven’t done everything, it’s not enough to just give a woman a phone number in the middle of the night and then leave her alone. Women need personal protection when they are in a risk situation and when the perpetrator is still walking around freely ”, says Rösslhumer.
Round table planned
Personal protection was not an issue at the summit in the Interior Ministry on Monday. That could be made up for. On the initiative of Zadic and Raab, a round table on the subject of protection against violence is to take place next week, to which – unlike on Monday – the victim protection facilities are also invited. It was not yet clear at the press conference whether these institutions would also have more resources available, as requested. Raab emphasized that the women’s budget has already been increased by 50 percent and that corresponding funds are also flowing into violence prevention. The women’s budget for 2021 amounts to a total of 14.65 million euros.
Violence protection summit in the Ministry of the Interior
Femicides are staggering in Austria. The government has now tried to put together a package that should help. More prevention and information, more networking among the authorities – these are the headlines.
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The FPÖ saw “empty phrases without concrete steps” at the summit on Monday, according to Secretary General Michael Schnedlitz. There was a lack of “effective measures”, and the problem was not recognized. One problem is “the imported image of women from Islam,” said Schnedlitz, who called for a ban on immigration and a reform of the criminal law.
Help for women
Advice for men
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