Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EU : current status and potential for the collection of comparable data.
Date: 2014-10-28
Institutions: European Institute for Gender Equality
Subjects: EU Member State, crime, data collection, domestic violence, gender equality, help for victims, position of women, report, sexual violence, women's rights

Administrative data sources on gender-
based violence against women in the EU

Current status and potential for the  
collection of comparable data

Report

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Administrative data sources on 
gender-based violence against 
women in the EU 

Current status and potential for the 

collection of comparable data

Foreword

Gender-based  violence  is  one  of  the  most  persistent  human 
rights violations of modern times. It affects women dispropor-
tionally as it is directly connected with the unequal distribution 
of  power  between  women  and  men  perpetuating  the  deval-
uation  and  subordination  of  women,  and  violating  women’s 
fundamental rights and freedoms. It also represents a major ob-
stacle in overcoming inequality between women and men. The 
eradication of gender-based violence is a proclaimed goal of the 
EU for which the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) 
recognises its important role. In particular, it notes that evidence 
in the form of collecting comparable and harmonised data on 
gender-based violence is crucial for informed decision-making 
in the area. 

This study, therefore, aims to extend knowledge about the situ-
ation and the potential of administrative data on gender-based 
violence in the EU-28 in order to harmonise and collect compa-
rable  data  on  this  phenomenon.  It  has  been  divided  into  two 
publications. The current report provides a comprehensive over-
view of the legal and policy framework underpinning adminis-
trative  data  on  gender-based  violence.  A  second  report,  to  be 
published by the end of 2014, is focused on a technical analysis 
of the main administrative data sources and the related statistical products identified at national level. Both reports provide 
guidelines to improve the relevance, quality and statistical potential of the administrative data and list recommendations 
for the collection of relevant, reliable and comparable administrative data across the EU. 

It must be remembered that gender-based violence knows no geographical boundaries, no ethnic differences, class dis-
tinction or age limits. There is an urgent need across the EU to develop a comprehensive strategy to prevent and combat 
gender-based violence building upon evidence on the prevalence, nature and consequences of gender-based violence 
for women and secondary victims. The harmonisation of methodologies and the collection of comparable date will greatly 
assist in supporting prevention strategies across EU Member States.  

The findings of this report show that there is yet to be established a supranational regulation on gender-based violence 
data collection. The directive establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime 
(2012/29/EU) is a first step in this direction. The development of gender-sensitive language and unified legal definitions are 
also needed. Furthermore, this process would be speeded up if guided by efforts at the national level such as the establish-
ment of mechanisms or institutions with the specific task of collecting the necessary data and the adoption of regulations 
on administrative data collection.

With these challenges in mind, it is important to note that, if quality and comparability can be improved, administrative 
data have the potential to play an important role in future data collection on gender-based violence. Only when we act 
together, can we stop gender-based violence.  

Virginija Langbakk,
Director
The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)

Acknowledgements

This report is the result of a three-year project. 

It is based on a background study financed by and prepared for the use of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). 
The study was initially coordinated by Santiago Moran, and later on, Zulema Altamirano took it over. The background study 
was prepared by Optimity Matrix, with a core team formed by Mirja Gutheil, Aurelie Heetman, Stephan Kreutzer, Jacque 
Mallender, together Chiara Crepaldi and Flavia Pesce from the Istituto per la Ricerca Sociale (IRS). The preliminary analysis of 
the project was supported by other researches from EIGE: Priya Alvarez,  Ligia Nobrega and Jurgita Peciuriene.

A particular thank you goes to many colleagues at EIGE for their intellectual contributions, administrative support and en-
couragement. The work on this report was coordinated by Zulema Altamirano. Research quality assurance was carried out 
by the EIGE research team: Ioana Borza, An Cuypers, Anne Humbert, Anna Rita Manca, Irene Riobo, and Olga Toth. 

This report is accompanied by two databases: legal definitions on gender-based violence across the  EU-28 and literature 
and legislation on gender-based violence administrative data, and also by a mapping tool for administrative data sources 
on gender-based violence.

Neither EIGE nor any person acting on its behalf can be held responsible for the use made of the information contained 
in this report.

Contents

Contents

1.  Introduction ............................................................................................................................11

2.   Gender-based violence and data collection .....................................................................15

3.   International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based  

violence data collection ........................................................................................................23

4.   National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related  

to gender-based violence ....................................................................................................45

5.   Conclusions and recommendations ...................................................................................67

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................75

5

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data Country abbreviations

Country abbreviations

Frequently used abbreviations

BPfA

CSO

EIGE

EPSCO

EU

Eurostat

FRA

GBV

IPV

Istanbul Convention

MS

UN

UNECE

UNODC

UNSD

VAW

WHO

Beijing Platform for Action

Civil society organisation

European Institute for 
Gender Equality

Employment, Social Policy, 
Health and Consumer 
Affairs Council

European Union

The statistical office of the 
European Union

European Union Agency 
for Fundamental Rights

Gender-based Violence 

Intimate Partner Violence

Council of Europe Con-
vention on Preventing 
and Combating Violence 
against Women and Do-
mestic Violence

Member State

United Nations

United Nations Economic 
Commission for Europe

United Nations Office on 
Drugs and Crime

United Nations Statistical 
Division

Violence against Women

World Health Organisation

Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Germany
Denmark
Estonia
Greece
Spain
Finland
France
Croatia
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Latvia
Malta
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Sweden
Slovenia
Slovakia
United Kingdom
28 EU Member States

AT 
BE 
BG 
CY 
CZ 
DE 
DK 
EE 
EL 
ES 
FI 
FR 
HR 
HU 
IE 
IT 
LT 
LU 
LV 
MT 
NL 
PL 
PT 
RO 
SE 
SI 
SK 
UK 
EU-28 

6

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable dataGlossary of terms and definitions

Glossary of terms and definitions

Accuracy

Administrative  
data 

Administrative  
data source

Court injunction

Data compilers

For the purpose of this report, the accuracy of statistical products is defined as ‘closeness of 
computations or estimates to the exact or true values that the statistics were intended to 
measure’ (1). 

Administrative data are produced as a result of the administrative processes of organisa-
tions. This information is primarily collected for administrative purposes, such as registration, 
record-keeping or transaction, usually during the delivery of a service, but not for research or 
statistical purposes (as opposed to survey data). They are considered as primary or raw data.

Administrative data sources refer to the administrative organisations (non-statistical) that 
collect administrative data, or to the database or collecting system used by that organisation 
to record administrative data, since in some cases the same administrative unit is respon- 
sible for more than one administrative data source.
The sources of administrative data can be broken down into distinct administrative systems 
or sectors:

 ● Health (e.g. medical centres and emergency services)
 ● Justice (e.g. courts, prosecution offices, criminal and civil justice, prisons)
 ● Police (e.g. municipal, regional and national police)
 ● Social services:

o  Support and assistance (e.g. victim-support centres, shelters, legal and psychological 

counselling and helplines)

o  Social welfare (e.g. subsidised housing, employment aid and welfare benefits)

 ● Others

o  Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and privately owned organisations providing assist- 

ance to victims (e.g. women’s shelters)

Political organisations that do not fall under either of the other categories, e.g. Ministry of 
Labour

An order issued by a court to a party by which an individual is required to perform, or is 
restrained from performing, a particular act.

Data compilers are organisations that compile data from one or more administrative data 
sources for statistical purposes.
For the purpose of this study, three main data compilers have been considered:

 ● National Statistical Office
 ● Public body or administration
 ● Civil Society Organisations

Data producers/ 
Administrative 
organisations

Agencies that interact with victims and/or perpetrators of gender-based violence and that 
collect relevant data. They are the units responsible for producing and maintaining one or 
more administrative data source.

(1) 

European Statistical System. EURO-SDMX Metadata Structure, release 3, March 2009.

7

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data Glossary of terms and definitions

Forms or types 
of gender-based 
violence

This report focuses on five forms of gender-based violence:

1. 

Intimate partner violence (IPV)
All acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the fam-
ily or domestic unit, or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the 
perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim (2). These include, but 
are not restricted to, domestic violence.

2.  Sexual violence (outside intimate relationships)

a. Sexual assault (excluding rape):
These acts refer to any sexual act committed against non-consenting women, even if they 
do not show signs of resistance, with the exception of rape/penetration (3).

b. Rape:
Any act of sexual penetration, of whatever kind and by whatever means, of a woman’s 
body by the use of violence and threats or by trickery or artifice or by taking advantage of 
a woman who is not in a position to give free consent or to offer resistance and regardless 
of whether that person shows signs of resistance (4).

c. Sexual harassment
Unwanted physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature, violating the victim’s 
dignity and creating a hostile environment. Acts are inclusive of, but not limited to, vulgar 
actions, requesting sexual favours, threatening or forcing with the purpose of gaining sex-
ual satisfaction, forcibly imposed sexual intimacy. Sexual harassment is an action which 
the offender knows, or ought to know, will constitute harassment (5).

3.  Stalking

Seeking the proximity of the victim with serious detriment to the person’s lifestyle and 
arousing, indirectly, directly or virtually, distress, fear or harm in the targeted person. This 
can be done in particular by trying to establish contact by any means, misusing the vic-
tim’s personal data for the purpose of ordering goods or services or causing third persons 
to make contact, threatening the victim or someone close to the victim (6).

Council of Europe (2011) Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Explanatory report, p. 8.
European Commission (2010) Feasibility report to assess the possibilities, opportunities and needs to standardise national legislation on violence 
against women, violence against children and sexual orientation violence.
Council of Europe, Directorate General of Human Rights (2006) Combating violence against women: Stocktaking report on the measures and 
actions taken in Council of Europe Member States; and European Commission (2010) Feasibility report to assess the possibilities, opportunities and 
needs to standardise national legislation on violence against women, violence against children and sexual orientation violence.
European Commission (2010) Feasibility report to assess the possibilities, opportunities and needs to standardise national legislation on violence 
against women, violence against children and sexual orientation violence.
Based on: European Commission (2010) Feasibility report to assess the possibilities, opportunities and needs to standardise national legislation on 
violence against women, violence against children and sexual orientation violence; and Human European Consultancy — Carol Hagemann-White, 
Thomas Meysen, with Barbara Kavemann, Gila Schindler, Nina Trunk (2010) Feasibility report national legislation on gender violence and violence 
against children — Report on Germany.

(2) 
(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

8

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable dataGlossary of terms and definitions

Gender-based 
violence against 
women

Official statistics/
statistical products

Protection order

Reliability

Timeliness

Triangulation of 
data

Violence against 
women

Violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women 
disproportionately. It includes acts that inflict physical, mental or sexual harm or suffering, 
threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty (7).

Data published by public bodies, government departments and agencies or international 
organisations, used to provide information on the social and economic issues related to 
the citizens it represents. They are secondary or processed data. They can be based on 
administrative data or survey data. Only official statistics from administrative data are 
considered as part of this report.

In the context of incidents of gender-based violence, a protection order represents a legal 
injunction that requires an offender to refrain from doing certain acts and to stay away from 
the victim. An offender that refuses to comply with the order faces criminal or civil penalties, 
depending on the specific case and the legal context in the country.

Overall consistency of a measure. Reliability is established if there is reasonable confidence 
that a value would remain consistent should it be measured repeatedly.

The length of time between data availability and the event or phenomenon they 
describe (8).

Data validation though cross-verification from two or more sources using different 
methodologies in order to study the same phenomenon.

Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual 
or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or 
arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.

(7) 

(8) 

United Nations (1992): General Recommendation No 19 on Violence against Women, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against 
Women (CEDAW) 11th session, 1992, New York.
European Statistical System (2009) EURO-SDMX Metadata Structure, release 3, March 2009.

9

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data  
1. Introduction

Executive Summary1. Introduction

1.  Introduction

Gender-based violence remains one of the most pervasive 
human  rights  violations  of  our  time  and  affects  women 
disproportionately  because  of  gendered  power  relations 
and structures, depriving women of enjoying fundamental 
freedoms.  It  is  rooted  in  gender  inequalities  and  reinfor- 
ces them. In fact, gender-based violence cannot be under-
stood outside the social structures, gender norms and roles 
that support and justify gender-based violence as normal 
or  tolerable.  Furthermore,  gender-based  violence  against 
women represents a major obstacle to overcome inequal- 
ity between women and men.

Combating gender-based violence is a declared goal of the 
EU  institutions  and  all  EU  Member  States  (9).  Committed 
to supporting the ongoing work across the EU to address 
and combat gender-based violence, the European Institute 
for Gender Equality (EIGE) recognises its important role in 
this fight. In particular, it notes that evidence in the form of 
collecting comparable data and harmonised data on gen-
der-based violence is crucial for informed decision-making 
in the area. However, a systematic comparison of the preva- 
lence of gender-based violence in the EU-28 is rarely possi-
ble. It is therefore necessary to focus on the development 
of  common  definitions,  classification  systems  and  meth-
odologies  to  determine  future  needs  and  to  improve  the 
quality and availability of data on gender-based violence.

To address this need, the current report maps out the sta-
tus and potential of administrative data relating to gender- 
based  violence  against  women,  collected  by  the  main 
agencies linked to gender-based violence, in the European 
Union (EU) 28 Member States in 2013. The study has been 

(9) 

See European Parliament and Council (2012) Directive 2012/29/EU 
of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, 
support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council 
Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA.

developed under the EIGE’s Mid-term Work programme for 
2010–12 and its 2012 Annual Work programme, in line with 
European  Union  priorities  in  the  field  of  gender  equality 
and the Work programme of the European Commission.

The results and main findings of the study have been pro-
cessed and divided into two different publications. The first 
report (current report) focused on the legal framework and 
regulations  underpinning  administrative  data  collection 
on gender-based violence. The second report assesses the 
current situation and potential of administrative data sour-
ces and related statistical products. The overall objective is 
to extend knowledge about the status and possibilities of ad-
ministrative  data  collection  on  gender-based  violence  in  the 
EU-28 Member States,  and  to  gain  a  comparable  overview 
of  the  extent,  nature  and  consequences  of  gender-based 
violence against women across the EU-28.

Both reports seek to support policy-makers across Europe in 
the fight against gender-based violence by providing guide-
lines and suggesting methodological tools and indicators to 
improve and make comparable the administrative data that 
is collected on gender-based violence in the European Union.

1.1  Gender-based violence

When referring to gender-based violence against women, it 
is important to agree on a common understanding of the 
terms and definitions used, as well as the legal framework 
and theories underpinning the use of these terms. The dif-
ferent  concepts  used  in  the  international  texts  to  refer  to 
the phenomenon reflect not only advances in the research, 
but  also  progress  in  recognising  violence  against  women 
as a social problem that violates fundamental human rights 
and reinforces gender inequalities to be tackled in all the 
spheres of the society (see Section 2.1).

11

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 1. Introduction

Within the scope of the EIGE’s work, the term gender-based 
violence  is  adopted  to  refer  to  violence  that  is  directed 
against  a  person  on  the  basis  of  gender.  It  constitutes  a 
breach  of  the  fundamental  right  to  life,  liberty,  security, 
dignity, equality between women and men, non-discrimin- 
ation and physical and mental integrity.

Acknowledging the existence of a wide variety of forms of 
gender-based violence, this report focuses on five forms of 
gender-based  violence:  intimate  partner  violence;  sexual 
violence  (outside  intimate  relationships),  including  rape, 
sexual assault and sexual harassment; and stalking (for def- 
initions see Section 2.2).

1.2  EU’s commitment 
towards data on gender-
based violence

The EU is committed to combating violence against women, 
as  affirmed  in  the  European  Commission’s  Women’s  Char-
ter (2010), the European Pact for Gender Equality 2011–20, 
the  European  Commission’s  Strategy  for  Equality  between 
Women and Men 2010–15, and the Stockholm programme 
for 2010–14. In order to develop the right policies and meas-
ures  to prevent  and combat violence against women, and 
to monitor their effectiveness, this commitment needs to be 
based on data and supported by evidence on the prevalence 
and incidence of gender-based violence across the EU.

With this purpose, the Council in the framework of the Bei-
jing Platform for Action (BPfA) — a global agreement pro-
moting  and  protecting  the  human  rights  of  women  and 
girls  —  adopted  conclusions  on  some  forms  of  gender- 
based violence (domestic violence and sexual harassment) 
in  2002  and  2004  and  has  developed  a  set  of  indicators 
concerning these forms of gender-based violence. The Eu-
ropean Commission, in a communication in 2006, declared 
its objective to collect national data and to assess its quality 
in order to develop, in close collaboration with Eurostat, a 
harmonised methodology on which the collection of EU-
wide  statistics  should  be  based,  allowing  comparisons  of 
the structure and trends of crimes between Member States 
(10). Disaggregation of data by the age and sex of victim and 
perpetrator  and  the  type  of  relationship  between  them 
would  allow  identification  of  crimes  related  to  violence 
against women, and EIGE is currently working closely with 
Eurostat to support that.

1.3  Types of data on gender-
based violence

There  are  two  main  methods  of  data  collection  on  gen-
der-based violence: population surveys, which can be used 
to measure the prevalence of gender-based violence, and 
administrative  data,  which  is  information  and  statistics 
gathered from organisations that come into contact with 
victims  and/or  perpetrators  of  gender-based  violence,  for 
their own purposes. These sources can provide very useful 
information  on  reported  incidents  of  gender-based  vio-
lence. Both population survey data and administrative data 
can be used for the production and dissemination of offi-
cial statistics (i.e. statistical products).

1.4  Administrative data

The focus of the report is on data collected by administra-
tive sources. They are recorded by the institutions dealing 
with  gender-based  violence  incidents  as  part  of  their  ac-
tivities. Administrative data are collected by organisations 
for their own use, mainly to implement the relevant regula-
tions, and are not originally or primarily collected for statis-
tical purposes. These sources of data provide detailed and 
very valuable information on how judicial, police, health or 
social services providers and other institutions respond to 
the prevention, protection and prosecution of incidents of 
gender-based violence. They reflect only what is recorded 
by an agency interacting with a victim and/or a perpetrator.

Administrative data are used for producing official statistics. 
The Statistical products collected by this study rely on the data 
initially collected by administrative institutions for their own 
purposes and then used by other authorities (public bodies, 
government  departments,  national  statistical  offices  and  
other agencies) with the aim of producing statistics that pro-
vide an overview of the extent of gender-based violence in 
the Member States. In some cases, statistical products com-
pile  information  from  population-based  surveys  analysing 
both  types  of  data.  Some  statistical  products  are  publicly 
available (for instance, when elaborated by National Statis-
tical Offices) as they are the end product, but in some cas-
es these secondary data are kept within the institution and 
shared to third parties for further analysis of trends and data.

1.5  Key sectors or systems 
linked to gender-based violence

(10) 

European  Commission  (2006)  Developing  a  comprehensive  and 
coherent EU strategy to measure crime and criminal justice: an EU 
action plan 2006-10, COM(2006) 437 final.

Administrative  data  on  incidents  of  gender-based  vio-
lence  is  collected  by  different  types  of  organisations. 

12

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable dataThis report considers the following five main sectors or 
systems:

 ● Police (e.g. municipal, regional and national police)

 ● Justice  (e.g.  courts,  prosecution  offices,  criminal  and 

civil justice, prisons)

 ● Health (e.g. medical centres and emergency services)

 ● Social services:

 9 Social  services  of  protection,  support  and  assist- 
ance  (e.g.  victim  support  centres,  shelters,  legal 
and psychological counselling, helplines)

 9 Social welfare institutions (e.g. subsidised housing, 

employment aids and welfare benefits)

 ● Others: a fifth category named ‘other’ includes institu-
tions such as Civil Society Organisations (CSO), adminis-
trative bodies, (i.e. ministries of labour or gender equal-
ity)  or  independent  institutions  (i.e.  ombudspersons) 
that do not fall under any of the previous categories.

However,  at  Member  State  level,  differences  in  legal  def- 
initions and legal provisions with respect to gender-based 
violence  and  its  forms  can  hamper  the  harmonisation  of 
data collection from administrative sources, as there is no 
common understanding of terms and definitions when re-
cording incidents. Furthermore, criminalisation of incidents 
of gender-based violence is very diverse among Member 
States, for instance, in some Member States intimate part-
ner  violence  is  considered  a  separate  crime  under  their 
criminal code, whereas other Member States prosecute the 
incident  indirectly  under  other  articles  of  their  penal  law. 
This makes the identification of related incidents more diffi-
cult, especially within the police and justice services. 

Identification of the challenges that exist, in terms of the co-
ordination and standardisation of methodologies for data 
collection,  for  administrative  sources  is  also  an  important 
task.  Knowledge  of  the  current  regulations  underpinning 
administrative  data  in  the  EU-28  and  the  mechanisms  of 
collecting this information can help in assessing the feasi- 
bility  of  using  administrative  data  on  gender-based  vio-
lence across the EU.

1.6  Background of the study

To  better  understand  the  challenges  regarding  adminis-
trative data collection on gender-based violence the study 
upon  which  this  report  is  based  builds  upon  an  in-depth 
review of existing information/publications on administrative 
data  collection  on  gender-based  violence  at  international 
and EU as well as national level (EU-28).

1. Introduction

Data was collected at national level through desk and field 
research in each EU Member State. (28 national reports will 
be available on the EIGE website in 2015).

This  was  complemented  by  more  than  150  in-depth  inter-
views with national stakeholders involved in, or knowledgeable 
of, administrative data collection with regard to gender-based 
violence across the EU, including representatives from gov-
ernment,  health  services,  law  enforcement  agencies,  court 
systems and social support services as well as academia.

In addition, an online discussion with all national researchers 
involved in the study was organised in June 2013 to discuss 
the similarities and differences between the countries in the 
collection of administrative data on gender-based violence.

In  July  2013,  an  expert  meeting  of  academics,  national 
stakeholders and representatives of international organisa-
tions working in the field of gender-equality policy and/or 
in  the  field  of  related  data  collection  was  organised  with 
the aim of exploring the feasibility of collecting up-to-date 
and comparable data from national administrative sources 
on gender-based violence at the EU level.

The report is divided into two main publications: the first (cur-
rent  one)  provides  a  comprehensive  overview  of  the  legal 
and  policy  framework  underpinning  administrative  data  on 
gender-based violence, while the second report consists of an 
in-depth analysis of the administrative data sources for differ-
ent forms of gender-based violence and sectors, the quality of 
their data and the extent to which these data are already used 
by Member States for official statistical products.

1.7  Structure of the report

Chapter  2  addresses  the  concept  of  gender-based  vio-
lence and the legal definitions in the EU and globally, and 
analyses  the  main  challenges  of  data  collection  on  gen-
der-based across the EU. 

Chapter 3 provides an overview of legislation, policies and 
actions on administrative data collection on gender-based 
violence at European and international levels.

Chapter 4 shows the regulatory framework on administra-
tive data collection related to gender-based violence in EU 
Member States.

Chapter 5 addresses the current and future developments 
in terms of coordinating and regulating administrative data 
collection on gender-based violence in EU Member States.

Chapter 6 presents the main findings and conclusions with 
respect to administrative data collection on gender-based 
violence  in  terms  of  legal  definitions,  regulations  and  co- 
ordination at international and national levels. 

13

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 2. Gender-based violence 
and data collection

Executive Summary2. Gender-based violence and data collection

2.   Gender-based violence and 

data collection

Before providing a comprehensive overview of the legal 
and  policy  framework  in  relation  to  data  collection  on 
gender-based  violence,  and  more  specifically,  on  ad-
ministrative data, this chapter outlines the definitions of 
the  terms ‘gender-based  violence’  and ‘violence  against 
women’ used in the main international texts. It also ad-
dresses  the  importance  and  challenges  of  data  collec-
tion  related  to  gender-based  violence,  focusing  on  ad-
ministrative data.

2.1  Definitions of gender-
based violence

The  terms  gender-based  violence  and  violence  against 
women  are  often  used  interchangeably  as  most  violence 
inflicted against women and girls is based on their gender. 
The terms employed by different institutions and at differ-
ent times show the progress in making visible the phenom-
enon of gender-based violence against women as a social 
issue that violates fundamental human rights (see Table 1).

Table 1: Definitions of gender-based violence by terminology used

Terminology used

Definitions

Source

Violence against women

‘(…) manifestation of historically unequal power rela-
tions  between  men  and  women,  which  have  led  to 
domination  over  and  discrimination  against  women 
by men and to the prevention of the full advancement 
of women, and that violence against women is one of 
the  crucial  social  mechanisms  by  which  women  are 
forced into subordinate positions compared to men.’ 

UN  Declaration  on  the  Elimination 
of Violence Against Women, General 
Assembly resolution 48/104 (1993)

15

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 2. Gender-based violence and data collection

Terminology used

Definitions

Source

Violence against women

Gender-based violence

‘(…)  any  act  of  gender-based  violence  that  results  in, 
or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological 
harm or suffering to women, including threats of such 
acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether 
occurring in public or private life (…) is a manifestation 
of  the  historically  unequal  power  relations  between 
men and women which have led to domination over 
and discrimination against women by men and to the 
prevention of women’s full advancement.’ (Article 1) 

United  Nations:  The  Beijing  Declar- 
ation  and  the  Platform 
for  Ac-
tion,  Fourth  World  Conference  on  
Women,  Beijing,  China  4–15  Sep-
tember 1995, New York 1996 (p. 73 f.)

‘(…) violation of human rights and a form of discrim- 
ination  against  women  and  shall  mean  all  acts  of 
gender-based violence that result in, or are likely to 
result  in,  physical,  sexual,  psychological  or  econom-
ic harm or suffering to women, including threats of 
such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, 
whether occurring in public or in private life.’ 

Council  of  Europe  (2011):  Council 
of  Europe  Convention  on  prevent-
ing and combating violence against 
women  and  domestic  violence, 
Chapter  I  —  Purposes,  definitions, 
equality  and  non-discrimination, 
general obligations, Article 3, p. 8

‘(…)  violence  that  is  directed  against  a  woman  be-
cause she is a woman or that affects women dispro-
portionately. It includes acts that inflict physical, men-
tal  or  sexual  harm  or  suffering,  threats  of  such  acts, 
coercion and other deprivations of liberty.’

‘(…)  violence  that  is  directed  against  a  person  be-
cause of that person’s gender, gender identity or gen-
der expression or that affects persons of a particular 
gender  disproportionately.  It  may  result  in  physical, 
sexual, emotional or psychological harm, or econom-
ic loss, to the victim. It is a form of discrimination and 
a violation of the fundamental freedoms of the victim 
(…).’

United Nations (1992): General Rec-
ommendation  No  19  on  Violence 
against Women,  Committee  on  the 
Elimination of Discrimination against 
Women (CEDAW) 11th session, 1992, 
New York

Directive  2012/29/EU  establishing 
minimum  standards  on  the  rights, 
support and protection of victims of 
crime

Gender-based violence 
against women

‘(…)  violence  that  is  directed  against  a  woman  be-
cause she is a woman or that affects women dispro-
portionately.’

Council  of  Europe  (2011):  Council 
of  Europe  Convention  on  prevent-
ing  and  combating  violence  against 
women and domestic violence, Chap-
ter I — Purposes, definitions, equality 
and  non-discrimination,  general  obli-
gations, Article 3, p. 8

Evolution has been noted in the terminology used among 
EU institutions and other international organisations from the 
term ‘violence against women’, to the terms ‘gender-based vio- 
lence’ or ‘gender-based violence against women’.

One of the first occasions of the use of the concept as ‘vio- 
lence  against  women’  is  in  the  preamble  of  the  UN  Dec-
laration  on  the  Elimination  of  Violence  Against  Women, 

General  Assembly  Resolution  48/104  (1993).  In  the  Bei-
jing UN Declaration, produced at the outset of the Fourth 
World Conference on Women, the terminology is upheld. 
The women’s empowerment perspective embedded in the 
initial concept is highly intertwined with the historical and 
highly disproportionate imbalance of power between men 
and  women. The  concept  nests  firmly  within  the  respon-
sibility  of  the  structure  of  societies  and  institutions,  and 

16

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data2. Gender-based violence and data collection

ideas and values reinforced by cultures where women are 
oppressed because they are women.

‘Gender-based violence’ has been used in parallel in inter-
national texts, for instance, by the Committee on the Elim- 
ination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). By con-
sidering violence that affects women, either because they 
are women, or because they are disproportionately affect-
ed by such violence, it becomes synonymous with ‘violence 
against women’.

The move towards the terminology ‘gender-based violence’ 
happened at the same time as a greater emphasis on dis-
crimination, human and fundamental rights. For example, 
the  Council  conclusions  on  Combating  Violence  Against 
Women, and the Provision of Support Services for Victims 
of  Domestic Violence  (6  December  2012),  when  defining 
gender-based violence refers to ‘a breach of the fundamen-
tal  right  to  life,  liberty,  security,  dignity,  equality  between 
women  and  men,  non-discrimination  and  physical  and 
mental integrity’.

At the European Union level, the Council of the European 
Union refers to the definition used by the United Nations 
in  its  Declaration  on  the  Elimination  of  Violence  against  
Women (20 December 1993), in its Council conclusions on 
the Eradication of Violence Against Women in the Europe-
an Union, 8 March, 2010.

Nevertheless,  the  terminologies  adopted  are  still  largely 
used  interchangeably  due  to  the  closeness  in  their  def- 
initions, as in the example of the Council of Europe which 
states that ‘“violence against women” is understood as a vio-
lation of human rights and a form of discrimination against 
women  and  shall  mean  all  acts  of  gender-based  violence 
that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psy-
chological or economic harm or suffering to women, includ-
ing threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of 
liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.’ (11)

The  only  definition  at  the  EU  level  that  uses  the  termin- 
ology  ’gender-based  violence’  can  be  found  in  the  pre-
amble of Directive 2012/29/EU. It uses a broader definition of 
gender-based violence which includes gender identity and 
gender  expression,  going  beyond  the  (hetero)normative 
male-female dichotomy. Besides, it offers a gender-neutral 
perspective when it comes to gender, as it neither mentions 
women  as  victims  nor  men  as  perpetrators,  but  does  it 
indirectly  when  mentioning  that  it  disproportionately 
affects  a  particular  gender.  The  main  issue  with  gender-
neutrality in legislation is that disregards the power relations 
between women and men that reinforce gender-based vio- 
lence. Indeed, the use of concepts such as ‘men’s violence 
against  women’ 
international 
context  engender  both  the  perpetrators  and  the  victims 
to  avoid  gender  neutrality;  and  the  expression  ‘against 
women’  added  to’ ‘gender-based  violence’,  used  in  other 
international texts, aims to engender the victims.

in  some  national  and 

(11) 

Source: Council of Europe (2011): Council of Europe Convention on 
preventing and combating violence against women and domestic 
violence,  Chapter  I  —  Purposes,  definitions,  equality  and  non-
discrimination, general obligations, Article 3, p. 8).

Increasingly,  the  term 
‘gender-based  violence  against  
women’ is more used for accuracy of the concept behind, for 
example  as  in  the  Council  conclusions  on  Combating Vio-
lence Against Women, and the Provision of Support Services 
for  Victims  of  Domestic  Violence,  (6  December  2012). This 
definition highlights the relevance of violence against wom-
en being based on gender, aiming at making the historical 
imbalance  between  women  and  men  more  visible.  At  the 
same time, it stresses that the focus of policies and analysis 
must be on women as victims of gender-based violence.

2.2  Forms of gender-based 
violence

A  comprehensive  picture  of  the  different  forms  of  gen-
der-based  violence  against  women  is  presented  in  the 
Council Conclusions (5 and 6 June 2014) on ‘preventing and 
combating  all  forms  of  violence  against  women  and  girls, 
including female genital mutilation’. Gender-based violence 
against women and girls includes violence in close relation-
ships, sexual violence (including rape, sexual assault and har- 
assment in all public and private spheres of life), trafficking 
in human beings, slavery, sexual exploitation, and harmful 
practices such as child and forced marriages, female genital 
mutilation and crimes committed in the name of so-called 
‘honour’, as well as emerging forms of violations, such as on-
line harassment, various form of sexual abuse instigated or 
facilitated through the use of information and communica-
tion technologies, stalking and bullying.

Gender-based violence can take several forms and can take 
long time span. The private sphere, especially the domes-
tic environment, is the most common context of violence; 
where more than one form of violence can occur (i.e. phys-
ical and psychological, even sexual), they might be ongo-
ing, and even continue for decades.

17

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 2. Gender-based violence and data collection

Physical violence may include spitting, scratching, biting, 
grabbing, shaking, shoving, pushing, restraining, throwing, 
twisting, slapping (with an open or closed hand), punching, 
choking, burning, and/or use of weapons against the victim. 
Besides, the physical assaults may or may not cause injuries.

Sexual  violence  can  take  many  forms  and  different  cir-
cumstances, the perpetrator of a sexual assault is, in many 
cases,  someone  known  to  the  victim.  Sexual  violence  is 
also common in situations of war and armed conflict. Apart 
from the main forms of sexual violence referred to by the 
Council  (Council  Conclusions,  2014)  other  forms  include, 
but are not limited to: sexual slavery; trafficking for the pur-
pose of sexual exploitation; forced exposure to pornogra-
phy; forced pregnancy; forced sterilisation; forced abortion; 
virginity tests or incest.

Psychological  assault  can  vary  from  threats  of  violence 
and harm to emotional abuse. Emotional abuse is a tactic 
of control based on a wide variety of verbal attacks, humili- 
ations or neglects of affection that follow a pattern of coer-
cive behaviour towards the female victim. Isolation of the 
victim by the perpetrator and the use of children to control 
or  punish  the  victim  (i.e.  physical  or  sexual  attack  on  the 
children, or forcing them to witness the abuse towards their 
mother) are also examples of psychological violence.

Economic  violence  means  the  control  of  all  family  re- 
sources  by  the  perpetrator,  not  only  financial  resources  
but also time, transport, food and clothes, etc.; ensuring the 
dependence of the victim on the perpetrator for subsistence.

The  five  forms  of  gender-based  violence  against  women 
that  are  part  of  this  study  are:  intimate  partner  violence; 
sexual  violence  (outside  intimate  relationships),  including 
sexual  assault  (excluding  rape),  rape,  sexual  harassment; 
and stalking.

a)  Intimate partner violence: All acts of physical, sexual, 
psychological  or  economic  violence  that  occur  within 
the family or domestic unit or between former or cur-
rent spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetra-
tor  shares  or  has  shared  the  same  residence  with  the 
victim (12). These include, but are not restricted to, do-
mestic violence.

(12) 

Council of Europe (2011) Convention on preventing and combating 
violence  against  women  and  domestic  violence.  Explanatory 
report, p. 8.

18

b)  Sexual violence (outside intimate relationships)

1.  Sexual  assault  (excluding  rape):  These  acts  refer 
to any sexual act committed against non-consent-
ing women, even if they do not show signs of resist- 
ance, with the exception of rape/penetration (13).

2.  Rape:  Any  act  of  sexual  penetration,  of  whatever 
kind and by whatever means, of a woman’s body by 
the use of violence and threats or by trickery or arti-
fice or by taking advantage of a woman who is not 
in a position to give free consent or to offer resist- 
ance and regardless of whether that person shows 
signs of resistance (14).

3.  Sexual harassment: Unwanted physical, verbal or 
non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature, violating the 
victim’s dignity and creating a hostile environment. 
Acts  are  inclusive  of,  but  not  limited  to,  vulgar  ac-
tions, requesting sexual favours, threatening or for-
cing with the purpose of gaining sexual satisfaction 
and  forcibly  imposed  sexual  intimacy.  Sexual  har- 
assment is an action which the offender knows, or 
ought to know, will constitute harassment.

c)  Stalking: Seeking the proximity of the victim with ser-
ious detriment to the person’s lifestyle and arousing, in-
directly, directly or virtually, distress, fear of harm in the 
targeted person. This can be done in particular by trying 
to establish contact by any means, misusing the victim’s 
personal data for the purpose of ordering goods or ser-
vices or causing third persons to make contact, threat-
ening the victim or someone close to the victim (15).

(13) 

(14) 

(15) 

European  Commission  (2010)  Feasibility  report  to  assess  the 
possibilities,  opportunities  and  needs  to  standardise  national 
legislation  on  violence  against  women,  violence  against  children 
and sexual orientation violence.
Council  of  Europe,  Directorate  General  of  Human  Rights  (2006) 
Combating  violence  against  women:  Stocktaking  report  on  the 
measures and actions taken in Council of Europe Member States; 
and  European  Commission  (2010)  Feasibility  report  to  assess  the 
possibilities,  opportunities  and  needs  to  standardise  national 
legislation  on  violence  against  women,  violence  against  children 
and sexual orientation violence.
Based  on:  European  Commission  (2010)  Feasibility  report  to 
assess  the  possibilities,  opportunities  and  needs  to  standardise 
national  legislation  on  violence  against  women,  violence  against 
children  and  sexual  orientation  violence;  and  Human  European 
Consultancy  —  Carol  Hagemann-White,  Thomas  Meysen,  with 
Barbara  Kavemann,  Gila  Schindler,  Nina  Trunk  (2010)  Feasibility 
report national legislation on gender violence and violence against 
children — Report on Germany.

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data2. Gender-based violence and data collection

2.3  Challenges of data 
collection on gender-based 
violence at the EU level

Data on gender-based violence are crucial for a better under- 
standing  of  the  problem,  its  extension  and  nature,  they 
help in developing appropriate policies, legislation and ser-
vices and monitor their effectiveness.

There  are  two  main  methods  of  data  collection  on  gen-
der-based violence:

 ● Prevalence can be measured through  population-based 
surveys. The EU-wide survey on Violence against Women 
(16), recently launched by the Fundamental Right Agency 
(FRA), represents a major advance in terms of prevalence 
surveys at EU level. The survey provides data based on 
interviews with 42,000 women across the EU-28.

 ● Administrative data consists of statistics and information 
gathered  from  organisations  that  come  into  contact 
with either victims and/or perpetrators of gender-based 
violence.  These  institutions  may  be  from  the  police, 
justice,  health  and  social  services,  which  are  the  most 
important systems interacting with victims and/or per-
petrators. These data are however not originally or pri-
marily collected for statistical purposes.

The problem of establishing a coherent and systematic sys-
tem of data on gender-based violence in the EU has been 
increasingly  raised.  The  EU  institutions  have  noted  the 
strong need to further develop measuring tools to ensure 
that  data  measure  the  true  extent  of  gender-based  vio-
lence. For example, the Council conclusions on the Eradi-
cation of Violence Against Women in the European Union, 
adopted in 2010 under the Spanish presidency, underlined 
that: ‘Despite the progress achieved in recent years, there is 
still a lack of timely, reliable, accurate and comparable data, 
both at national and EU level, and there has still been no 
detailed  EU-level  study  on  violence  against  women.  This 
limits the understanding of the real extent of such violence 
and  impedes  the  further  development  of  national  strat-
egies and actions and an efficient response by the EU.’

In  2012,  Council  conclusions  on  Combating  Violence 
Against Women, and the Provision of Support Services for 

Victims  of  Domestic  Violence  (17);  adopted  in  December 
2012, under the Cypriot presidency, express concerns about 
the difficulties in acquiring information on the magnitude 
and consequences of violence against women which often 
remain hidden. This not only contributes to the persisting 
lack  of  available  and  comparable  data  at  both  Member 
State  and  EU  level,  but  also  limits  knowledge  on  the  real 
extent  of  violence  against  women  and  its  consequences. 
Consequently,  the  Council  underlines  the  importance  of 
identifying, using and further developing relevant sources 
of information on gender-based violence. The recent Sur-
vey  on  Violence  against  Women,  conducted  by  the  Fun-
damental Rights Agency and launched in March 2014, has 
allowed for significant progress in this regard.

In addition to the EU-level frameworks that call for data on 
gender-based violence at EU level, the focus has also been 
on  the  role  of  Member  States  within  this  process.  For  ex- 
ample, the EP Resolution of 5 April 2011, Report on priorities 
and outline of a new EU policy framework to fight violence 
against women, alludes to the shortcomings in the official 
statistics produced by the Member States, and calls for the 
joint collection of relevant and comparable data from the 
various Member States.

Efforts at both Member State and EU level are therefore in-
creasingly prominent, as can be seen in the European Pact 
for Gender Equality (2011–2020) (18), adopted at ministerial 
level by the Council of the EU in March 2011 (Council con-
clusions of 7 March 2011) and which calls for actions to re-
duce all forms of violence against women, encourages both 
the Member States and the Commission to further develop 
existing statistics and indicators disaggregated by sex.

The role of the European Institute for Gender Equality is fre-
quently mentioned as part of the legal framework on gen-
der-based violence data collection. In the EP Resolution of 
26 November 2009, On the elimination of violence against 
women, the European Parliament urges Member States to 
introduce a coherent system for collecting statistics on vio-
lence against women, with particular reference to violence 
against  minors,  and  including  murders  committed  in  the 
context of violence within the family or close relationships, 
in close cooperation with the EIGE in order to obtain com-
parable data concerning violence against women through-
out the EU.

(16) 

Available at: http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2014-vaw-
survey-main-results_en.pdf

(17) 
(18) 

http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/12/st16/st16382.en12.pdf
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:C:2011:155:0010:0013:EN:PDF

19

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 2. Gender-based violence and data collection

By 2013, no mechanisms existed to regulate or make the 
collection of relevant and regular data on gender-based 
violence mandatory across EU Member States. Directive 
2012/29/EU  of  25  October  2012  (19)  is  the  only  binding 
act to establish minimum standards on the rights, support 
and  protection  of  victims  of  crime,  making  specific  refer-
ence to victims of gender-based violence. In its preamble 
(paragraph 64) the Directive highlights the importance of 
systematic and adequate statistical data collection, stat-
ing it is an essential component of effective policy-mak-
ing in the field of victim’s rights, while Article 28 requires 
Member  States  to  communicate  data  to  the  European 
Commission on how victims have accessed the rights set 
out in the Directive, by 2017 and every three years there-
after.

The  Convention  on  Preventing  and  Combating  Violence 
Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Conven-
tion, 2011), which enters into force on 1 August 2014, also 
refers in Article 11 to the obligations for Member States of 
the  Council  of  Europe  to  conduct  data  collection  and  re-
search, however it is still in the process of being ratified by 
EU Member States.

Despite  a  strong  commitment  at  EU  level  and  also  inter- 
nationally,  the  EU  lacks  a  mandate  for  data  collection  on 
gender-based violence across the EU-28. Differences exist in 
the definitions of gender-based violence, its forms and oth-
er related terms (e.g. the types of violence — physical, psy-
chological, sexual, economical — shelters and support ser-
vices, etc.) and in data collection methodologies across EU 
Member States. Obtaining a comprehensive, accurate and 
comparable picture of the nature, extent and consequences 
of gender-based violence in the EU is a big challenge.

Qualitative  and  quantitative  data  and  information  on  the 
scope  of  gender-based  violence  against  women  and  its 
impact  on  victims,  their  families  and  societies  are  there-
fore  missing,  which  challenges  the  development  of  ap-
propriate  policies  and  measures  to  prevent  and  combat 
gender-based violence across the EU-28 and the ability to 
monitor their effectiveness.

(19) 

Available in: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:L:2012:315:0057:0073:EN:PDF

20

2.4  Administrative data on 
gender-based violence

Administrative data and statistics on gen-
der-based violence can be used effectively to:

1.  provide detailed data on the nature and extent of 
gender-based  violence  to  criminal  justice  practi-
tioners,  medical  practitioners,  service  providers, 
legislators and researchers;

2.  assist  governments  in  developing  specific  legisla-

tion and policies on gender-based violence;

3.  monitor  the  effectiveness  of  policies  in  reducing 

gender-based violence;

4. 

impact on public awareness of the extent, nature 
and dynamics of sexual, physical and psychological 
violence against women;

5.  enable a better understanding of the dynamics of 
violence and to design prevention programmes;

6.  measure the cost of violence for the victim and sec-

ondary victims, and society itself;

7.  support  the  services’  design  for  victims  and  per-
petrators in the case of medical and social service 
agencies;

8.  raise  awareness  and  improve  criminal  justice  re-
sponse  to  gender-based  violence  in  the  case  of 
judicial authorities;

9.  support trainers when providing training for those 
who work in contact with victims and offenders.

Administrative data provide detailed information on how ju-
dicial, police, health, social services providers and other insti-
tutions respond to the prevention, protection and prosecu-
tion of incidents of gender-based violence against women. 
In this sense, administrative data reflect only what is record-
ed by an agency interacting with a victim and/or a perpetra-
tor, and cannot reflect the prevalence of gender-based vio-
lence in a Member State, due to the high rate of unreported 
incidents. However, administrative data can provide rich in-
formation that is not available through surveys, such as data 
on  femicides  or  incidents  experienced  by  institutionalised 
female  victims  of  gender-based  violence  (i.e.  women  from 
shelters or women prisoners). Furthermore, as the data are al-
ready recorded by the administrative institution for their own 
purpose, they also do not incur any additional cost if asked to 
provide this information for statistical analysis.

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data2. Gender-based violence and data collection

Administrative data are also important for policy develop-
ment, for example to monitor, assess and evaluate:

o  the implementation of legislation and policies;

o  the effectiveness of prevention, protection and 

prosecution measures and policies;

o  the extent and victims’ use and demand of the 

services, their adequacy and quality;

o  societal responses to violence.

Another important use of administrative data is to provide 
a  basis  for  estimating  the  administrative  cost  of  violence 
against women, making it easier for the authorities and in-
stitutions to take budgetary and staffing decisions. Finally, 
data on gender-based violence collected in administrative 
sources can also be crucial in lobbying, for example, for ad-
equate numbers of shelters in each Member State.

The  diversity  in  policies, legal frameworks, approaches and 
definitions has the potential to greatly hamper the harmon-
isation  and  comparability  of  administrative  data  across  EU 
Member States. Furthermore, the interpretation of adminis-
trative data can create misunderstandings as, for instance, a 
high rate of gender-based violence reported cases  may  be  ei-

ther considered as a high prevalence, or as a result of higher 
awareness and willingness to report gender-based violence. 
Besides,  using  administrative  data  can  cause  an  overlap  of 
recorded  incidents  when,  for  instance,  the  victim  and/or 
the perpetrator are in contact with different institutions (for 
instance, the police, to report the case and later, the justice 
system, and sometimes also the health and/or social services 
to provide support to the victim). One last drawback of data 
in administrative agencies is that they are recorded to fulfil 
the internal purposes of the institutions, which means that 
the quality of the recording and processing of the data may 
not be suitable for statistical purposes or for monitoring, as-
sessing or evaluating policies. Nevertheless, the availability of 
this data in all Member States makes administrative data pro- 
viders a valuable source of information to be assessed.

Having  provided  an  overview  of  the  concepts  and  defin- 
itions employed in this study in relation to administrative 
data  on  gender-based  violence,  the  report  now  turns  to 
outline the legal and regulatory framework for the collec-
tion of data on gender-based violence in Europe (the Eu-
ropean Union and also the Council of Europe) and at inter- 
national level (mainly focusing on the United Nations).

21

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 3.  International legal and 

regulatory framework and 
actions on gender-based 
violence data collection

Executive Summary3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

3.   International legal and 

regulatory framework and 
actions on gender-based 
violence data collection

women’s exposure to gender-based violence remains per-
vasive,  as  outlined  in  the  Council  of  Europe’s  Convention 
on  Preventing  and  Combating  Violence  against  Women 
and Domestic Violence (20). While the primary responsibil-
ity for protecting women from violence and promoting a 
society that is safe for all lies with Member States, the EU 
plays a key role in developing legislative measures in the ar-
eas of criminal and civil justice as well as awareness-raising 
and the exchange of good practices. Since 2003 the Euro- 
pean  Commission  has  issued  several  important  declara-
tions on the imperative to end gender-based violence and 
has envisaged a comprehensive strategy towards that end. 
Different legal and policy measures have been initiated at 
EU level to prevent gender-based violence against women, 
as well as to protect and support women and to criminalise 
these acts of violence, for instance, in 2009 in the Women’s 
Charter (21), and in 2010 as part of the Strategy for Equality 
between Women and Men 2010–15. 

parable and reliable collection of data as this is a prerequis- 
ite for evidence-based policy-making, legal measures and 
to monitor any progress in the area.

3.1  Legal and regulatory 
framework on gender-based 
violence data collection

This section provides an overview of the legislation related 
to gender-based violence, and the regulations, policies and 
actions underpinning data collection and the compilation 
of statistics on gender-based violence in the EU Institutions, 
the Council of Europe and the United Nations.

3.1.1 The European Union

As  part  of  this  commitment,  the  EU  institutions  have 
launched several initiatives to overcome the lack of com- 
parable data, and foster progress in the field of data collection 
on gender-based violence, aiming at a more regular, com-

The  need  to  improve  data  on  gender-based  violence  has 
been  a  strong  focus  among  the  EU  institutions.  Conse-
quently, there have been many calls and recommendations 
to step up efforts.

(20) 

(21) 

Council of Europe (2011) Convention on Preventing and Combating 
(Istanbul 
Violence  against  Women  and  Domestic  Violence 
Convention), Council of Europe Treaty Series — No 210, Istanbul.
European  Commission,  A  Strengthened  Commitment  to  Equality 
between Women and Men: A Women’s Charter, COM(2010), 2010f.

In  2006,  the  European  Commission,  in  the  Roadmap  for 
equality between women and men (2006–10) (22) included, 

(22) 

Commission of the European Communities Annex to the Roadmap 

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

as a key action, the establishment of comparable statistics 
on  crime,  victims  and  criminal  justice,  although  it  noted 
that  it  would  prove  to  be  a  challenge  for  some  forms  of 
gender-based violence due to the variety of ways it is treat-
ed in the EU Member States’ legal systems.

of gender-based violence first appears: ‘in its general efforts 
to  eliminate  inequalities  between  women  and  men,  the 
Union will aim in its different policies to combat all kinds of 
domestic violence. The Member States should take all ne- 
cessary measures to prevent and punish these criminal acts 
and to support and protect the victims.’

The European Parliament has stated the need to improve data 
on gender-based violence in different resolutions. In 2009, in 
the EP Resolution of 26 November 2009 On the elimination 
of violence against women, the European Parliament urged 
Member States to introduce a coherent system for collecting 
statistics on violence against women. The Resolution of 5 April 
2011 On priorities and outline of a new EU policy framework 
to fight violence against women; the European Parliament re-
inforced the role of the European Commission in generating 
data. It called on the European Commission to develop and 
provide, using all available expertise, annual statistics on gen-
der-based violence, including figures on how many women 
are  killed  annually  by  their  partner  or  ex-partner,  based  on 
data  from  the  Member  States.  Subsequently,  the  European 
Parliament resolution of 25 February 2014 with Recommen-
dations to the Commission on combating Violence Against 
Women, called on the Commission to submit a proposal for 
a regulation on European statistics that would target violent 
crimes and include a coherent system for collecting statistics 
on gender-based violence in the Member States.

The Council of the European Union has also marked the im-
portance  of  comparable  data  to  reinforce  the  initiatives  and 
policies  preventing  and  fighting  gender-based  violence.  In 
2012,  Council  conclusions  on  Combating  Violence  Against 
Women, and the Provision of Support Services for Victims of 
Domestic Violence (23); adopted in December 2012, under the 
Cypriot  presidency,  express  their  concerns  about  the  lack  of 
knowledge about the real extension of gender-based violence.

Measures targeting gender-based violence, including data 
collection,  should  be  viewed  in  the  context  of  EU  gen-
der-equality  legislation  and  policies,  which  comprise  pri-
mary and secondary law (binding EU acts) and also reso-
lutions, conclusions and action programmes (non-binding 
EU acts). Gender equality has been a part of the Treaties of 
the EU since its earliest days and has been progressively re-
inforced over the years. However, it is not until the TFUE (24), 
in Declaration No 19, Article 8, that a reference to an aspect 

EU-binding acts

To realise the commitment of the EU institutions to prevent 
and  combat  gender-based  violence,  a  series  of  EU-level 
binding acts, such as regulations, directives and decisions 
have been developed.

Of these binding acts, only two specifically require Member 
States to collect data on gender-based violence:

 ● Directive 2012/29/EU of 25 October 2012 establishing min-
imum standards on the rights, support and protection of 
victims  of  crime  and  replacing  Council  Framework  Deci-
sion  2001/220/JHA  (25)  is  the  most  recent  adopted  by 
the EU, and is to date the most important with regard 
to data collection on gender-based violence. It includes 
an  EU-wide  definition  of  gender-based  violence  and 
violence committed in close relationships and its pre- 
amble (paragraph 64) reiterates the importance of sys-
tematic  and  adequate  statistical  data  collection,  stat-
ing that it is an essential component of effective poli-
cy-making in the field of victim rights. 

Article 28 requires Member States to communicate data 
on how victims (including victims of gender-based vio-
lence) have accessed the rights set out in the Directive 
from  2017  and  every  three  years  thereafter.  The  pre- 
amble  adds  to  this  that  this  statistical  data  should  at 
least  include  the  number  and  type  of  the  reported 
crimes and, as far as such data are known and are avail-
able, the number and age and sex of the victims. More-
over,  it  specifies  the  types  of  data  sources  that  record 
data  which  could  be  used  for  the  statistical  data  sent 
to the Commission; namely judicial authorities, law en-
forcement agencies, healthcare and social welfare ser-
vices and public and non-governmental victim support 
or  restorative  justice  services  and  other  organisations 
working with victims of crime.

 ● Directive  2011/99/EU  of  13  December  2011  on  the  Euro- 
pean  protection  order  (EPO  criminal)  (26)  which  aims  to 

for  equality  between  women  and  men  2006–10,  Impact  Assessment, 
SEC(2006) 275.
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/12/st16/st16382.en12.pdf
Available under ‘declarations’ at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/
LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:083:FULL:EN:PDF

(25) 

(26) 

Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:L:2012:315:0057:0073:EN:PDF
Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:L:2011:338:0002:0018:EN:PDF

(23) 
(24) 

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

protect victims, including victims of gender-based vio-
lence, establishes mutual recognition of protection or-
ders  within  the  EU.  Article  22  of  this  Directive  requires 
Member  States  to  communicate  data  on  protection 
orders,  including  the  number  of  European  protection 
orders requested, issued and/or recognised.

These two important directives build upon earlier directives 
which played a significant role in shaping the definitions of 
different  types  of  gender-based  violence  and  preventing 
gender-based violence in some of its forms:

 ● Directive  2004/113/EC  of  13  December  2004  on  imple-
menting  the  principle  of  equal  treatment  between  men 
and women in the access to and supply of goods and ser-
vices (27) provides a definition of sexual harassment and 
preventative actions in the context of access to and the 
supply  of  goods  and  services,  positioning  harassment 
as discrimination on the grounds of sex.

 ● Directive 2006/54/EC of 5 July 2006 on the implementation 
of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment 
of men and women in matters of employment and occu-
pation  (recast)  (28)  defines  harassment  and  sexual  har- 
assment  as  discriminations  on  the  grounds  of  sex  and 
prohibits this not only in the workplace, but also in the 
context  of  access  to  employment,  vocational  training 
and  formation.  It  also  acknowledges  the  importance 
of preventative actions in order to tackle the sources of 
sexual  harassment.  Through  this  Directive,  sexual  har- 
assment  is  the  only  form  of  violence  against  women 
where there is binding EU law. As it has been highlighted 
in an important study for the European Commission, the 
considerable harmonisation with respect to sexual har- 
assment in employment is undoubtedly due to this (29).

 ● Directive 2011/36/EU of 5 April 2011 on preventing and com-
bating  trafficking  in  human  beings  and  protecting  its  vic-
tims,  replacing  the  Council  Framework  Decision  2002/629/
JHA (30), establishes minimum rules concerning the def- 
inition of criminal offences and sanctions in the area of 
trafficking in human beings. It also introduces common 
provisions,  taking  into  account  the  gender  perspective, 

(27) 

(28) 

(29) 

(30) 

Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:L:2004:373:0037:0043:EN:PDF
Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:L:2006:204:0023:0036:EN:PDF
European  Commission  (2010)  Feasibility  report  to  assess  the 
possibilities,  opportunities  and  needs  to  standardise  national 
legislation  on  violence  against  women,  violence  against  children 
and sexual orientation violence.
Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:L:2011:101:0001:0011:EN:PDF

to strengthen the prevention of this crime and the pro-
tection of the victims thereof (Article 1).

EU non-binding acts

In addition to binding legal frameworks, including through 
the  Treaties  and  Directives  supporting  them,  several 
non-binding  EU  acts  exist  to  prevent  and  combat  gen-
der-based  violence  against  women.  These  include  reso- 
lutions,  conclusions  and  action  programmes,  adopted  by 
the different EU institutions (European Parliament, Council 
of the European  Union and European Commission) in re-
lation to gender-based violence and, also, directly or indi-
rectly, to data collection. A chronological synthesis of these 
regulations is described below.

In 2006, the European Parliament’s Resolution on the cur-
rent  situation  in  combating  violence  against  women  and 
any future action (31), acknowledged that only a few Mem-
ber States had gathered data and compiled statistics relat-
ing  to  the  prevalence  of  different  forms  of  gender-based 
violence, making it difficult to understand the real extent of 
such violence on the one hand and difficult to draw up an 
efficient response at EU level on the other (32). In this regard, 
the  European  Parliament  recommended  the  following  to 
the Commission and Member States:

 ● To establish a harmonised methodology, definitions and cri-
teria, in cooperation with Eurostat, the Fundamental Rights 
Agency and the future European Gender Institute in order to 
gather  comparable  and  compatible  data  throughout  the 
EU concerning men’s violence against women, in particular, 
comprehensive studies of prevalence.

 ● To  appoint  national  rapporteurs  in  order  to  gather,  ex-
change  and  process  information  and  statistics  on  men’s 
violence  against  women,  including  information  on  chil-
dren growing up in violent environments, and to promote 
the exchange of best practices among Member States, ac-
cession and candidate countries;

 ● To establish a single system by which instances of assault 
can be recorded by Member States’ competent authorities, 
such  as  the  judiciary,  the  police,  hospitals  and  social  ser-
vices, in order to ensure that the data are recorded jointly 
and that greater use is made of them.

(31) 

(32) 

European Parliament, Resolution on the current situation in combat-
ing violence against women and any future action, P6_TA(2006)0038, 
2006.
Idem, Paragraph ‘K’.

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

In 2008, the European Council adopted the EU Guidelines 
on  violence  against  women  and  girls  and  combating  all 
forms of discrimination against them (33), which are an im-
portant  tool  for  action. They  set  out  the  EU’s  operational 
objectives and intervention tools for its external action on 
combating  gender-based  violence,  including  all  forms  of 
discrimination directed at them, and mark the EU’s clear pol- 
itical will to treat the subject of women’s rights as a priority 
and  to  take  long-term  action  in  that  field. The  guidelines 
provide four operational objectives of which one is to:

 ● Gather  data  and  develop  indicators  on  violence  against 
women, to which end the EU will identify the appropriate 
tools and support EU countries’ data collection efforts.

In this regard, the EU has committed to try to identify insti-
tutional and other tools enabling data to be collected and 
to help boost national capacities to collect and disseminate 
reliable and accurate data.

This was followed in 2009 by the Stockholm programme, An 
Open  and  Secure  Europe  Serving  and  Protecting  Citizens 
(34),  adopted  by  the  European  Council,  which  underlined 
that  adequate,  reliable  and  comparable  statistics  (both 
over time and between Member States) are a precondition 
for evidence-based decisions. The European Commission’s 
Action Plan implementing the Stockholm programme put 
emphasis on the protection of victims of crime, including 
women victims of violence, however it made no direct ref-
erences to data collection efforts (35).

In  2010,  the  Council  Conclusions  on  the  Eradication  of 
Violence Against Women in the EU (36), set the bar for fur-
ther  measures  to  effectively  combat  VAW,  calling  for  an 
exchange  of  best  practices  and  for  the  establishment  of 
a  European  Observatory  for  better  data  collection  and 
exchange.  Moreover,  the  Council  called  on  the  European 
Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) to compile and publish 
reliable and comparable statistics on all grounds of discrim-

ination, including comparative data on gender-based vio-
lence in the European Union. Based on this request, the FRA 
published Violence Against Women: an EU-wide survey (37).

The Strategy for equality between women and men, adopt- 
ed  in  2010,  represents  the  European  Commission’s  work 
programme  on  gender  equality  for  the  period  2010–15 
(38). It is a comprehensive framework committing the Com-
mission to integrate five thematic priorities within gender 
equality policy into all its activities, of which one is dignity, 
integrity  and  ending  gender-based  violence  against  women. 
The  latest  report,  Progress  on  Equality  Between  Women 
and Men, includes a brief description of the efforts made 
by the European institutions in 2012 in the latter thematic 
area (including data collection) and reinforces the need to 
take action regarding this ‘persistent issue’, of gender-based 
violence against women (39). 

In  2011,  the  European  Parliament  adopted  a  resolution 
which introduced a new policy framework to fight violence 
against  women  (40). This  resolution  included  plans  to  de-
velop methodological guidelines and undertake new data 
collection efforts in order to obtain comparable statistical 
data  on  gender-based  violence.  Furthermore,  the  Parlia-
ment urged Member States to ensure that data are collect-
ed on gender-based violence (inter alia on the sex of the 
victims, the sex of the perpetrators, their relationship, age, 
crime scene and injuries) and to indicate the magnitude of 
gender-based violence in their national statistics.

The same year, the European Pact for Gender Equality (41), 
called  on  the  Member  States  to  combat  all  forms  of  vio-
lence against women and encouraged the Member States 
and the Commission, in particular through Eurostat, to fur-
ther develop existing statistics and indicators disaggregat-
ed by sex and to fully utilise the capacities of the EIGE.

Available at: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cmsUpload/ 
16173cor.en08.pdf
European Council, The Stockholm Programme: an open and secure 
Europe serving and protecting citizens, 2010/C 115/01, 4 May 2010, 
p.  1.  (Available  at:  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:C:2010:115:0001:0038:en:PDF)
European  Commission,  Delivering  an  area  of  freedom,  security 
and  justice  for  Europe’s  citizens:  Action  Plan  Implementing  the 
Stockholm programme, COM(2010) 171, Brussels, 20 April 2010.
Council  of  the  European  Union,  Conclusions  on  the  Eradication  of 
Violence Against Women in the European Union, 3000th Employment 
and  Social  Policy  Council  meeting,  8  March  2010,  www.consilium.
europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/lsa/113226.pdf

(37) 

(38) 

(39) 

(40) 

(41) 

Available at: http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2014/vaw-survey-
main-results
European  Commission,  Strategy  for  equality  between  women 
and men 2010–15, drawn up on the basis of COM(2010) 491 final, 
SEC(2010) 1079 and SEC(2010) 1080.
Commission  Staff  Working  Document,  Report  on  progress  on 
equality  between  women  and  men  in  2012,  Accompanying  the 
document  2012  Report  on  the  Application  of  the  EU  Charter  of 
Fundamental Rights, SWD(2013)171.
European  Parliament,  Resolution  on  priorities  and  outline  of  a 
new  EU  policy  framework  to  fight  violence  against  women,  (P7_
TA(2011)012), 5 April 2011.
Council of the European Union, Conclusions on the European Pact 
for Gender Equality (2011-2020), 2011/C 155/02, 7 March 2011.

(33) 

(34) 

(35) 

(36) 

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

In 2012, on the basis of the findings of a report published by 
EIGE, the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer 
Affairs  Council  (EPSCO)  adopted  conclusions  on  Combat-
ing Violence against Women and the Provision of Support 
Services for Victims of Domestic Violence (42). In these con-
clusions, the Council called on the European Commission 
as well as the Member States to improve the collection and 
dissemination of comparable, reliable, up-to-date adminis-
trative and statistical data on all forms of violence against 
women, disaggregated by sex, age and victim-perpetrator 
relationship, at both national and EU level. Furthermore, the 
Council urged the Commission and the Member States to 
work in cooperation with European and National Statistical 
Offices and to make full use of the work of the EIGE.

In  2014,  the  European  Parliament  resolution  of  25  February 
2014  with  Recommendations  to  the  Commission  on  com-
bating  Violence  Against  Women,  reinforced  the  role  of  the 
European Commission in the collection of reliable and com-
parable data on gender-based violence in the Member States.

In parallel, the European Commission has made significant 
efforts in the area of crime statistics, mainly through the fol-
lowing action plans:

 ● EU  Action  Plan  to  measure  crime  and  criminal  justice 

2006–10

Based  on  political  commitments  such  as  the  European 
Union Millennium Strategy for the Prevention and Control 
of Organised Crime (1999) (43) and the Hague programme 
of 2005 (44), the European Commission launched an EU Ac-
tion Plan to measure crime and criminal justice 2006–10 (45) 
including the measurement of gender-based and domestic 
violence (46).

(42) 

(43) 

(44) 

(45) 

(46) 

Council  of  the  European  Union,  Conclusions  on  Combating 
Violence Against Women, and the Provision of Support Services for 
Victims  of  Domestic  Violence,  3206th  Employment,  Social  Policy, 
Health and Consumer Affairs Council meeting, 6 December 2012.
(Available at: http://www.consilium.europa.eu//uedocs/cms_data/
docs/pressdata/en/lsa/134081.pdf )
Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:C:2000:124:0001:0033:EN:PDF
Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:C:2005:053:0001:0014:EN:PDF
Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=COM:2006:0437:FIN:EN:PDF
European Commission, Communication on Developing a 
comprehensive and coherent EU strategy to measure crime and 
criminal justice: An EU Action Plan 2006–10, COM(2006) 437 final, 
Brussels, 7 August 2006. (Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/
LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2006:0437:FIN:EN:PDF)

The objective of the European Commission is on the basis 
of harmonised data collection methodologies to produce 
EU-level statistics, which enables the Commission to make 
comparisons between the structures and trends of crime in 
Member States.

The Action Plan includes detailed provisions on:

1.  Developing  a  common  methodology  for  regular  data 

collection to populate common crime indicators;

2.  Establishing  an  expert  group  on  the  policy  needs  for 
data on crime and criminal justice to advise the Euro-
pean Commission Directorate for Justice, Freedom and 
Security (DG-JLS).

In general, some progress has been made with respect to 
harmonised  crime  definitions,  the  development  of  a  pre-
liminary set of specific definitions of indicators for traffick-
ing in persons and the collection of data for a limited set of 
crime and criminal justice indicators.

 ● Measuring Crime in the EU: Statistics Action Plan for the 

period 2011–15 (47)

Based on the reflections and priorities from the Stockholm 
programme (48), adopted by the European Council in 2009, 
in January 2012 the Commission put forward a Communi-
cation on European Crime Statistics, including a new Action 
Plan for the period 2011–15.

The  current  Statistics  Action  Plan  for  the  period  2011–15 
focuses on the exchange of information and the collection 
of  statistics  in  specific  areas,  such  as  trafficking  in  human 
beings. It aims to introduce the variable ‘sex’ in the publica-
tion, Statistics in focus: Crime and Criminal Justice (49) of the 
European  Commission’s  statistical  office,  Eurostat,  and  to 
extend the publication to other types of crimes. It also pro-
poses actions to follow up and continue the development 
of  an  International  Crime  Classification  system  for  stat- 
istical purposes in collaboration with the Task Force of the 
UN Office of Drugs and Crime and UN Economic and Com-
mission  for  Europe  (UNODC-UNECE Task  Force)  on  Crime 
Classification (which is described in detail in the section on 
the United Nations).

(47) 

(48) 

(49) 

European  Commission  Communication,  Measuring  Crime  in  the 
EU: Statistics Action Plan 2011–15, COM(2011) 713 final. (Available 
at:  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:20
11:0713:FIN:EN:PDF)
Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:C:2010:115:0001:0038:en:PDF
Available  at:  http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/
KS-SF-13-018/EN/KS-SF-13-018-EN.PDF

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

Other  EU  laws  and  regulations  related  to  data  collec-
tion

It  is  important  to  consider  EU  legislation  related  to  data 
collection,  both  in  terms  of  data  protection/confidentiality 
and of the quality of data and statistics, as these regulations 
impact and/or limit the process of collecting data on gen-
der-based violence at both national and EU level.

Data collection on gender-based violence cannot be exam- 
ined  independently  of  other  frameworks  on  data  protec-
tion  and  confidentiality.  Data  protection  provisions  are  in 
place  within  the  EU  legal  framework,  not  only  ensuring 
that individual data is protected, but that the rules govern-
ing  the  use  of  this  data  are  overseen  by  an  independent 
authority. This is reflected in the TFEU in Article 16 which 
states that the, ‘European Parliament and the Council, act-
ing in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, 
shall lay down the rules relating to the protection of indi-
viduals with regard to the processing of personal data by 
Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies.’ The TEU, in 
Article 39, also states, ‘In accordance with Article 16 of the 
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and by 
way  of  derogation  from  paragraph  2  thereof,  the  Council 
shall adopt a decision laying down the rules relating to the 
protection of individuals with regard to the processing of 
personal  data  by  the  Member  States  when  carrying  out 
activities  which  fall  within  the  scope  of  this  Chapter,  and 
the rules relating to the free movement of such data. Com-
pliance with these rules shall be subject to the control of 
independent authorities.’

Furthermore,  the  Charter  of  Fundamental  Rights  of  the 
EU  (50)  specifies  in  Article  8  that, ‘Everyone  has  the  right 
to the protection of personal data concerning him or her. 
Such data must be processed fairly for specified purposes 
and on the basis of the consent of the person concerned 
or some other legitimate basis laid down by law. Everyone 
has  the  right  of  access  to  data  which  has  been  collected 
concerning  him  or  her,  and  the  right  to  have  it  rectified. 
Compliance with these rules shall be subject to control by 
an independent authority.’

These provisions in the primary law have been reinforced 
by a number of legislative acts regarding the processing of 
personal  data.  Main  directives,  regulations  and  decisions 
are named below:

(50) 

Available at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/pdf/text_en.pdf

The reference text at EU level, on the protection of personal 
data is Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and 
of  the  Council  of  24  October  1995  On  the  protection  of 
individuals with regard to the processing of personal data 
and  on  the  free  movement  of  such  data  (51).  It  sets  up  a 
regulatory framework, which seeks to strike a balance be-
tween a high level of protection for the privacy of individ-
uals  and  the  free  movement  of  personal  data  within  the 
EU. The Directive sets strict limits on the collection and use 
of  personal  data  and  demands  that  each  Member  State 
set  up  an  independent  national  body  responsible  for  the 
protection of these data. This Directive applies to data pro-
cessed by automated means (e.g. a computer database of 
customers)  and  data  contained  in  or  intended  to  be  part 
of non-automated filing systems (traditional paper files). It 
aims  to  protect  the  rights  and  freedoms  of  persons  with 
respect to the processing of personal data by laying down 
guidelines determining when this processing is lawful.

Regulation  (EC)  45/2001  of  the  European  Parliament  and 
of the Council of 18 December 2000 On the protection of 
individuals with regard to the processing of personal data 
by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free 
movement of such data (52) aims at ensuring the protection 
of personal data within the institutions and bodies of the 
European  Union.  It  includes  provisions  which  guarantee 
a  high  level  of  protection  of  personal  data  processed  by 
the Community institutions and bodies; and it provides for 
the establishment of an independent supervisory body to 
monitor the application of these provisions.

Finally,  Council  Framework  Decision  2008/977/JHA  of  
27 November 2008 On the protection of personal data pro-
cessed in the framework of police and judicial cooperation 
in  criminal  matters  (53)  aims  to  protect  the  fundamental 
rights and freedoms of natural persons when their personal 
data are processed for the purposes of preventing, inves-
tigating, detecting or prosecuting a criminal offence or of 
executing a criminal penalty. It concerns personal data that 
are  processed  in  part  or  entirely  by  automatic  means,  as 
well as personal data forming part of a filing system that is 
processed by non-automatic means.

(51) 

(52) 

(53) 

Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:L:1995:281:0031:0050:EN:PDF
Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:L:2001:008:0001:0022:en:PDF
Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:L:2008:350:0060:0071:EN:PDF

28

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

Data collection on gender-based violence must therefore 
take place within the frame of the regulation on data pro-
tection  and  confidentiality.  Given  the  sensitive  nature  of 
data on this topic, these safeguards take on even more rele- 
vance in this context. The tension between the need to col-
lect data on gender-based violence and that of data pro-
tection and confidentiality at EU and MS level must there-
fore be carefully negotiated.

The  collection  of  data  on  gender-based  violence  must 
also  keep  to  the  high-quality  standards  set  for  any  data 
and statistics at EU level. The quality of data and statistics 
is inscribed in Article 338 TFEU which states that ‘1. (…) the 
European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance 
with the ordinary legislative procedure, shall adopt meas- 
ures  for  the  production  of  statistics  where  necessary  for 
the performance of the activities of the Union; and 2. The 
production  of  Union  statistics  shall  conform  to  impartial-
ity,  reliability,  objectivity,  scientific  independence,  cost  ef-
fectiveness and statistical confidentiality; it shall not entail 
excessive burdens on economic operators.’

The  main  legal  development  on  the  basis  of  this  provi-
sion, is the new regulation on European statistics, Regula-
tion (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics (54), 
known as the ‘statistical law’. It consists of a regulation that 
serves  as  the  framework  which  provides  the  basic  prin-
ciples and rules for how the European  Statistical  System 
(ESS) should function. Its purpose is to ensure the coher-
ence  and  comparability  of  European  statistics  produced 
in  accordance  with  the  principles  laid  down  in  Article 
338(2) of the Treaty, and to support the cooperation and 
coordination  between  the  authorities  that  contribute  to 
the development, production and dissemination of Euro-
pean statistics.

This Regulation is also important to consolidate the activ- 
ities of the European Statistical System (ESS) and to improve 
its governance, in particular with a view to further clarify-
ing the respective roles of the national statistical institutes 
(NSIs) and other national authorities, and of the European 
statistical authority.

In essence, both the Treaty provision and the ‘statistical law’ 
regulation  provide  a  strong  framework  in  which  to  collect 
better data and statistics on gender-based violence, notably 
through  increasing  comparability  and  harmonisation;  co- 
operation  and  coordination  between  various  competent 
bodies; and the development of an appropriate and sustain-
able legal and operational framework to support the process 
of collection and analysis of data on gender-based violence.

3.1.2 Council of Europe

The Council of Europe (and its 47 Member States in geo-
graphical Europe and beyond) has been an active partici-
pant in the area of policy development and especially le- 
gislation targeting gender-based violence.

The  first  legal  instrument  at  European  level  proposing  an 
extensive  strategy  to  prevent  gender-based  violence  and 
to  protect  victims  was  the  Recommendation  on  the  Pro-
tection  of  Women  Against  Violence  (55),  adopted  by  the 
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2002. It 
expressed a consensus on general principles and describes 
the necessary measures in services, legislation, policy-mak-
ing intervention with perpetrators, awareness-raising, edu- 
cation  and  training  as  well  as  data  collection. The  imple-
mentation of the recommendation has been monitored on 
a regular basis (in 2007, 2008 and 2010) and the results are 
published (56). The fourth round of monitoring of the imple-
mentation is expected to be finalised by the end of 2014.

The Regulation highlights the need for a more systematic 
and organised cooperation and coordination of those au-
thorities with full respect to the national and Community 
powers and institutional arrangements and taking into ac-
count the need to revise the existing basic legal framework 
in order to adapt it to the current reality, to better respond 
to future challenges, and to ensure a better harmonisation 
of European statistics.

(55) 

(56) 

(54) 

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=OJ:L:2009:087:0164:0173:en:PDF

Council  of  Europe,  Recommendation  of  the  Committee  of 
Ministers  to  Member  States  on  the  protection  of  women  against 
violence,  Rec(2002)5.  (Available  at:  https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.
jsp?id=280915)
Council  of  Europe,  Combating  violence  against  women  — 
Stocktaking  study  on  measures  and  action  taken  in  Council  of 
Europe Member States, CDEG (2006), Strasbourg, 2006; Council of 
Europe, Protecting women against violence — Analytical study on 
the  effective  implementation  of  Recommendation  Rec  (2002)  5 
on the protection of women against violence in Council of Europe 
Member States, CDEG (2007)3, 2007; Council of Europe, Analytical 
Study  of  the  Second  Round  of  Monitoring  the  Implementation 
of  Recommendation  Rec  (2002)  5,  CDEG  (2008),  Strasbourg, 
2008;  Council  of  Europe,  Protecting  women  against  violence. 
Analytical study of the results of the third round of monitoring the 
implementation of Recommendation Rec(2002)5 on the protection 

29

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

In 2011, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Eur- 
ope adopted the Convention on Preventing and Combat-
ing Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istan-
bul Convention) (57). Article 11 of the Istanbul Convention 
includes obligations for Member States on data collection 
and  research  and  stipulates  measures  for  the  purpose  of 
the implementation of the Convention, namely to:

1.  Collect disaggregated relevant statistical data at regular 
intervals on cases of all forms of violence covered by the 
scope of the Convention;

2.  Support  research  in  the  field  of  all  forms  of  violence 
covered  by  the  scope  of  this  Convention  in  order  to 
study  its  root  causes  and  effects,  incidences  and  con-
viction rates, as well as the efficacy of measures taken to 
implement the Convention;

3.  Conduct population-based surveys at regular intervals 
to assess the prevalence of, and trends in, all forms of 
violence covered by the scope of the Convention;

4.  Provide the group of experts, as referred to in Article 66  
of  the  Convention,  with  the  information  collected 
pursuant  to  this  article  in  order  to  stimulate  inter- 
national  co–operation  and  enable 
international 
benchmarking;

5.  Ensure that the information collected pursuant to Art-

icle 11 is available to the public.

More specifically, the Task Force for the Campaign to Com-
bat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence, 
is a task force previously set up by the Council of Europe 
that  is  active  in  combating  violence  against  women  and 
urges Council of Europe Member States to (58):

a)  Ensure the systematic collection of statistical data dis-
aggregated  by  sex,  type  of  violence  and  relationship 
between victim and offender by National Statistical Of-
fices or other bodies such as national observatories;

b)  Use a methodology that allows for gender analysis and 

comparison with other Member States.

of  women  against  violence  in  Council  of  Europe  Member  States, 
CDEG  (2010),  Strasbourg,  2010,  (Available  at:  http://www.coe.
int/t/dghl/standardsetting/convention-violence/documentation_
studies_publications_en.asp)
Council  of  Europe,  Convention  on  Preventing  and  Combating 
Violence  against  Women  and  Domestic  Violence,  12  April 
(Available  at:  http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/
2011. 
convention-violence/about_en.asp)
Elina  Ruuskanen  and  Kauko  Aromaa/HEUNI,  Administrative  data 
collection on domestic violence in Council of Europe Member States, 
Study  commissioned  by  the  Gender  Equality  and  Anti-Trafficking 
Division,  Directorate-General  of  Human  Rights  and  Legal  Affairs, 
Council of Europe, EG-VAW-DC(2008) Study, Strasbourg, 2008.

(57) 

(58) 

30

As  of  May  2014,  Austria,  Denmark,  Italy,  Portugal,  France, 
Spain  and  six  non-EU  Member  States  have  ratified  the 
Convention, and 15 Member States have signed the Con-
vention and are in the process of ratification (59). The Con-
vention  will  enter  into  force  on  1  August  2014  in  the  11 
countries that have ratified it. Once entered into force, the 
Convention foresees the establishment of a body monitor-
ing its implementation. This could trigger the collection of 
‘disaggregated  and  public’  data  (phrasing  of  the  Conven-
tion) and could lead countries to better report on the re-
lationship  between  the  victims  and  offenders  of  violence 
against women.

3.1.3 United Nations

At  the  international  level  the  United  Nations  (UN)  is  the 
main player in the field of data collection on gender-based 
violence. A variety of UN bodies are relevant in this regard: 
the  United  Nations  Office  on  Drugs  and  Crime  (UNODC), 
the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), UN Stat- 
istical  Division  (UNSD),  the  UN  Entity  for  Gender  Equality 
and  the  Empowerment  of Women  (UN Women)  and  the 
World Health Organisation (WHO).

This section describes the two key international agreements 
of  the  UN  which  affect  data  collection  on  gender-based 
violence and continues with an overview of relevant UN reso- 
lutions.

Women’s  rights  are  safeguarded  by  an  international  legal 
framework (i.e. international agreements from the UN) and 
monitoring its implementation often requires collection of 
data and statistics.

The first major step for the UN in targeting gender-based vio- 
lence was the adoption of the Convention on the Elimin- 
ation  of  all  Forms  of  Discrimination  against  Women  (CE-
DAW) in 1979 (60). Since then, the UN has urged its Member 
States to work towards the eradication of gender-based vi-
olence  and  any  distinction,  exclusion  or  restriction  based 
on  gender.  In  terms  of  data  collection  on  gender-based 
violence,  the  main  monitoring  body  of  implementation 
of  the  CEDAW,  the  Committee  on  the  Elimination  of  Dis-

(59) 

(60) 

Status  as  of  2.0.2014,  see  http://www.conventions.coe.int/Treaty/
Commun/ChercheSig.asp?NT=210&CM=&DF=&CL=ENG
United  Nations,  Convention  on  the  Elimination  of  all  Forms  of 
Discrimination  against  Women  (CEDAW),  18  December  1979. 
(Available  at:  http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/
econvention.htm)

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

crimination  against Women,  has  recommended  the  State 
parties to include information about ‘statistical data on the 
incidence  of  violence  of  all  kinds  against  women  and  on 
women  who  are  the  victims  of  violence’  in  their  periodic 
reports  to  the  Committee  (61).  Moreover,  the  Committee 
has recommended State parties to encourage the compi-
lation of statistics and research on the extent, causes and 
effects  of  violence,  and  on  the  effectiveness  of  measures 
aiming to prevent and deal with violence (62). As of Septem-
ber 2013, all the EU-28 have signed and ratified the CEDAW 
Convention. For review purposes, the Member States must 
submit a progress report to the CEDAW Committee every 
four years.

The  second  important  step  made  by  the  UN  in  terms  of 
data  collection  on  gender-based  violence  was  the  adop-
tion  of  the  Beijing  Platform  for  Action  for  Equality,  Devel-
opment and Peace —BPfA (63) — a programme for action 
to promote and protect the human rights of women and 
girls, of which one of the critical areas of concern is violence 
against women (critical area D). The BPfA was adopted at 
the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China 
in September 1995. It outlines, as a specific strategic goal 
for  governments  to:  ‘collect  data  and  compile  statistics, 
especially  concerning  domestic  violence  relating  to  the 
prevalence  of  different  forms  of  violence  against  women, 
and  encourage  research  into  the  causes,  nature,  serious-
ness  and  consequences  of  violence  against  women  and 
the effectiveness of measures implemented to prevent and 
redress  violence  against  women’  (64).  In  December  1995, 
the Council of the European Union committed to monitor 
the  implementation  of  the  BPfA,  including  in  the  area  of 
violence  against  women,  and  since  1999  each  respective 
presidency of the Council reviews one of its critical areas..

urged State parties to ensure the systematic collection and 
analysis of data on violence against women, with the in-
volvement of National Statistical Offices and in partnership 
with  other  actors.  Since  then  subsequent  resolutions  on 
the  intensification  of  efforts  have  been  approved  almost 
on a yearly basis and countries are to provide information 
on  recent  follow-up  activities  to  implement  these  reso- 
lutions.

In  2011,  the  UN  adopted  a  Resolution  on  strengthening 
crime prevention and criminal justice responses to violence 
against women (66), in which the UN-GA adopted the guide-
lines in the updated Model Strategies and Practical Measures 
on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the Field of 
Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (67). The Model Strat-
egies is the most important policy that guides the work of 
the UNODC on data collection on violence against women. 
Section 9 of the Updated Model Strategies is devoted to re-
search and evaluation, and urges Member States to:

 ● set-up and strengthen mechanisms for systematic and 
coordinated data collection on violence against women;

 ● develop  both  modules  and  dedicated  popula-
tion-based surveys, including crime surveys, for assess-
ing the nature and extent of the issue;

 ● collect, analyse and publish data and information, disag-
gregated by gender, for the use of decision and policy- 
making  in  the  field  of  crime  prevention  and  criminal 
justice;

 ● be  guided  by  existing  ongoing  efforts  at  the  inter- 
national level to develop a set of indicators to measure 
violence against women and to ensure a multispectral, 
coordinated approach to the development, implemen-
tation,  monitoring  and  evaluation  of  data-collection 
initiatives.

In addition, the United Nations General Assembly (UN-GA) 
has  adopted  several  resolutions  on  combating  violence 
against women. Its first Resolution on the intensification of 
efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women (65) 

Moreover, the 57th session of the UN Commission on the 
Status of Women held in March 2013 was dedicated to ‘the 
elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against 
women and girls’. The conclusions of this meeting stressed 

(61) 

(62) 

(63) 
(64) 

(65) 

CEDAW-Committee,  General  Recommendation  No  12  of  the  CEDAW-
Committee  (eighth  Session),  1989,  point  4.  (Available  at:  http://www.
un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/recomm.htm)
CEDAW-Committee, General Recommendation No 19 of the CEDAW- 
Committee  (11th  Session),  1992,  specific  recommendation  24  (c). 
(Available  at:  http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/rec-
ommendations/recomm.htm)
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/BDPfA %20E.pdf
United Nations, Platform for Action, Strategic Objective D2. 
(Available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/
platform/violence.htm)
United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 65/228 on the Intensifi-
cation of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women [ad-
opted on the report of the Third Committee (A/65/457)]. (Available 

(66) 

(67) 

at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/
crimeprevention/Model_Strategies_and_Practical_Measures_on_
the_Elimination_of_Violence_against_Women_in_the_Field_of_
Crime_Prevention_and_Criminal_Justice.pdf )
United Nations General Assembly, Resolution on the Strengthening 
crime prevention and criminal justice responses to violence against 
women [adopted on the report of the Third Committee (A/65/457)], 
2010/15, 22 July 2010. (Available at: http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/
docs/2010/res %202010-15.pdf )
United Nations, Updated Model Strategies and Practical Measures 
on  the  Elimination  of  Violence  against  Women  in  the  Field  of 
Crime  Prevention  and  Criminal  Justice,  Annex,  A/RES/65/228,  31 
March  2011.  (Available  at:  http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/
ws.asp?m=A/RES/65/228)

31

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

the  importance  of  data  collection  on  the  prevention  and 
elimination  of  violence  against  women  and  recognised 
that  significant  gaps  and  challenges  still  remained  in  ful-
filling commitments also as regards collection of data, ana- 
lysis and research (68).

3.2  Current actions on 
gender-based violence data 
collection

3.2.1 The European Union

At EU level, both the Council of the European Union and 
the  European  Commission  have  taken  several  initiatives 
to achieve progress in the field of data collection on gen-
der-based violence. The EU has carried out many actions to 
support, coordinate or complement the action of Member 
States in this regard. The most important actions of the EU 
in the field of data collection are directed to:

 ● the  development  of  indicators  to  measure  the  imple-

mentation of the BPfA in Member States;

 ● developing  comparable  crime  statistics  and  a  crime 

classification system;

 ● collecting  data  related  to  gender-based  violence  (in-

cluding undertaking surveys).

EU-wide  indicators  in  relation  to  the  Beijing  Platform 
for Action

In December 1995, the Council of the European Union ac-
knowledged  the  European  Union’s  commitment  towards 
the Beijing Platform for Action for Equality, Development and 
Peace — BPfA (platform for action to promote and protect 
the  human  rights  of  women  and  girls,  adopted  at  the  4th 
World Conference on Women in 1995, of which one of the 
critical areas of concern (area D) is violence against women.

The Council of the European Union expressed its intent to 
review its implementation across the Member States on a 
yearly basis. As a result, the successive presidencies of the 
Council of the EU have, since 1999, developed quantitative 
and qualitative indicators in order to monitor progress to-

(68) 

United  Nations  Commission  on  the  Status  of  Women,  Agreed 
conclusions on the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence 
against  women  and  girls,  E/2013/27,  15  March  2013.  (Available  at: 
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/57sess.htm)

wards  achieving  the  BPfA  goals.  Since  2010,  the  EIGE  has 
played an instrumental role in providing technical expertise 
to the presidencies in such reviews.

In  relation  to  area  of  concern  D, 
‘Violence  against  
Women’, ten indicators have been developed, all supported 
by sub-indicators. The first seven, developed by the Danish 
Presidency, examine domestic violence against women, us-
ing the results of the Spanish Presidency mapping study on 
measures to combat violence against women in EU Mem-
ber States:

1.  profile of female victims of violence;

2.  profile of male perpetrators;

3.  victim support;

4.  measures addressing the male perpetrator to end the 

circle of violence;

5.  training of professionals;

6.  state measures to eliminate domestic violence against 

women;

7.  evaluation.

When the Council adopted these indicators and its Conclu-
sions on domestic violence in November 2002 (69) it noted 
that the theme of violence against women could be revisit-
ed to deal with other perspectives and other target groups.

A further three indicators concern sexual harassment in the 
workplace (70), and were adopted during the Dutch Presi-
dency by the Council in November 2004, on the basis of the 
survey carried out by the Irish Presidency amongst Member 
States

1.  number  of  employees  who  report  incidents  of  sexual 
harassment  in  the  workplace,  as  a  percentage  of  the  
total workforce;

2.  number of private and public enterprises which have a 
preventative policy regarding sexual harassment in the 
workplace, as a percentage of the total number of em-
ployers;

(69) 

(70) 

Council  of  the  European  UnionCouncil  of  the  European  Union, 
Conclusions  on  the  Review  of  the  implementation  of  the  Beijing 
Platform for Action by the Member States and the EU institutions of the 
Beijing Platform for Action, Doc.14578/02, 2002, Brussels, and Council 
of the European Union, Press release, 2470th Council meeting, Brussels, 
2 and 3 December 2002. (Available at: http://www.consilium.europa.
eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/lsa/73454.pdf )
Draft  Council  conclusions  on  sexual  harassment  at  the  workplace, 
Permanent Representatives Committee (Part I), 25 November 2004.
(Available at: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/04/st15/
st15202.en04.pdf )

32

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

3.  number  of  private  and  public  enterprises  which  have 
procedures  for  sanctions  in  place  for  perpetrators  of 
sexual harassment in the workplace, as a percentage of 
the total number of employers.

In 2009, the Swedish Presidency undertook a review of the 
availability and relevance of EU-wide indicators on violence 
against  women  as  part  of  the  Beijing  +15  wider  review, 
noting  that  availability  of  data  remained  problematic  but 
that the creation of strategies to develop indicators was a 
positive step (71).

In 2012, the Cypriot Presidency of the Council chose to as-
sess progress in the area of violence against women in the 
then 27 Member States and Croatia by reviewing the indi-
cators, with a particular emphasis on the sub-indicators for 
victim support. The Review of the Implementation of the 
Beijing  Platform  for  Action  in  the  EU  Member  States: Vio-
lence against Women, Victim Support (72), carried out by the 
EIGE, focuses on the range, number, extent and actual use 
of these support options and identifies recommendations 
for improving support services for women victims of intim- 
ate partner violence.

It concludes that to improve the objectivity, comparability 
and reliability of data at European level in the area of victim 
support, it is crucial to ensure that:

o  uniform definitions and a uniform way of recording 
selected variables for each agency or system collect-
ing data are introduced;

o  at a minimum, data collection should be disaggregat-
ed by the sex and age of both the victim and the per-
petrator, and should specify the type of violence and 
the relationship between victim and perpetrator.

European Commission work on crime statistics

Most of the efforts of the European Commission in relation 
to  collecting  data  on  gender-based  violence  have  been 
made in the field of crime statistics, to reinforce its commit-
ment to fighting against organised crime.

EU  Member  States  and  the  Commission  have  long  rec-
ognised  that  statistics  on  crime  and  criminal  justice  are 

(71) 

(72) 

Report from the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European 
Union, Beijing +15: The platform for Action and the European Union, 2009.
EIGE,  Review  of  the  Implementation  of  the  Beijing  Platform  for 
Action in the EU Member States: Violence against Women, Victim 
Support, 2012.

essential for developing evidence-based policy at EU level 
in this area. However, reliable and comparable statistical in-
formation is still missing, not only because national statis-
tics on crime are often based on different definitions, but 
also, because the recording and reporting procedures differ 
significantly between EU Member States. This also hampers 
statistics and data on crimes related to gender-based vio-
lence.

The commitment to measuring crime is rooted in the Euro- 
pean Commission’s EU Action Plan to measure crime and 
criminal justice 2006–10 and the Statistics Action Plan for 
the period 2011–15 (73). Under the 2006–10 EU action plan 
to develop an EU strategy to measure crime and criminal 
justice  (74),  the  European  Commission  has  undertaken  a 
study,  through  Eurostat  and  in  cooperation  with  the  UN-
ODC/UNECE Task force on crime classification, on the de-
velopment  of  an  EU-level  Offence  Classification  System 
(EULOCS).

EULOCS is a general EU-reference index with accompany-
ing working definitions to facilitate the exchange of com-
parable statistical information on offences throughout the 
EU (75). This system will be enhanced and extended as part 
of the implementation of the Stockholm programme, and 
it  is  expected  to  become  a  fundamental  tool  for  the  col-
lection  and  production  of  crime  statistics  at  EU  level  and 
ensure  convergence  across  different  areas  of  Justice  and 
Home Affairs (JHA).

The main actor with a key role in driving data collection on 
crime is Eurostat. Indirectly, the European Criminal Records 
Information System (ECRIS) is also an actor to consider as it 
records comparable administrative data from all EU Mem-
ber States, not for statistical purposes though, but to serve 
as a reference for the coordination of justice data sources 
between EU Member States.

(73) 

(74) 

European  Commission  Communication,  Measuring  Crime  in  the 
EU: Statistics Action Plan 2011–15, COM(2011) 713 final. (Available 
at:  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:20
11:0713:FIN:EN:PDF)
European Commission, Communication on Developing a compre-
hensive and coherent EU strategy to measure crime and criminal 
justice: An EU Action Plan 2006–10, COM(2006) 437 final, Brussels, 
7  August  2006.  (Available  at:  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/
LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2006:0437:FIN:EN:PDF)

(75)  Mennens, A., De Wever, W., Dalamanga, A., Kalamara, A., Kazlauskaité, 
G.,  Vermeulen,  G.,  De  Bondt,  W.  Developing  an  EU  level  offence 
classification system. EU study to implement the Action Plan to measure 
crime and criminal justice. Maklu: Antwerpen. 2009.

33

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

Eurostat

The mandate received by Eurostat under the 2004 Hague 
programme includes strengthening freedom, security and 
justice in the European Union to develop comparable stat- 
istics on crime and criminal justice. Based on this, Eurostat’s 
main  purpose  has  been  established  as  gathering  official 
quantitative data from several sectors of society, including 
criminal justice issues (e.g. police forces and prisons).

Data  collected  by  Eurostat  are  disseminated  on  an  an- 
nual basis in the publication Statistics in focus: Crime and 
Criminal Justice. Eurostat’s publication includes only a few 
types of crime, none of which are linked to gender-based 
violence. For the definitions and measurement of criminal 
offences, it draws upon the European Sourcebook of Crime 
and Criminal Justice Statistics (76) (Table 2).

Table 2: Eurostat classification of 
crime (77)

1  Total crime: These figures include offences against 
the penal code or criminal code. Less serious crimes 
(misdemeanours) are generally excluded.

2  Homicide (country and city): This is defined as the 
intentional  killing  of  a  person,  including  murder, 
manslaughter,  euthanasia  and  infanticide.  Caus-
ing death by dangerous driving is excluded, as are 
abortion  and  help  with  suicide.  Attempted  (un-
completed) homicide is also excluded. The count-
ing unit for homicide is normally the victim (rather 
than the case).

3  Violent  crime:  This  includes  violence  against  the 
person (such as physical assault), robbery (stealing 
by force or by threat of force) and sexual offences 
(including rape and sexual assault).

4  Robbery:  Robbery  is  a  sub-set  of  violent  crime 
(see above). It is defined as stealing from a person 
with  force  or  threat  of  force,  including  muggings 
(bag-snatching) and theft with violence. Pick-pock-
eting, extortion and blackmailing are generally not 
included.

(76) 

(77) 

Available  at:  http://www3.unil.ch/wpmu/europeansourcebook/
code-book/fourth-edition/
Idem.

5  Domestic burglary: Domestic burglary is defined as 
gaining access to a dwelling by the use of force to 
steal goods.

6  Theft of a motor vehicle: Motor vehicles include all 
land vehicles with an engine that run on the road 
which  are  used  to  carry  people  (including  cars,  
motorcycles,  buses,  lorries,  construction  and  agri-
cultural vehicles, etc.).

One category ‘violent crime’, includes violence against the 
person and sexual offences (including rape and sexual as-
sault)  (78).  So  far,  data  collected  on  violent  crime  are  not  
broken down by sex or by relationship to the perpetrator.

Whilst Eurostat provides a relatively detailed definition for each 
of the seven crime types collected, the publication reflects the 
limitation that the methods and definitions used in the Mem-
ber States differ considerably, as set out on Eurostat’s meth- 
odological notes for crime and criminal justice statistics (79).

Following the recommendations of the Hague programme, 
Eurostat has established a Working Group on Statistics on 
Crime and Criminal Justice to implement the findings and 
recommendations of the expert group.

ECRIS (European Criminal Records Information System)

The implementation of the European Criminal Records In-
formation System represents an important attempt to col-
lect and use data on crime in an harmonised way across the 
EU-28. Furthermore, it is a tool that could potentially serve 
as a reference for developing a common methodology for 
the collection of administrative data across EU-28.

ECRIS  is  a  computerised  system  established  in  2009  (80) 
and implemented by all EU Member States by April 2012 
to achieve an efficient exchange of information on criminal 
convictions between EU countries.

(78) 

(79) 

(80) 

Eurostat, Statistics on crime and the criminal justice system: Offence 
definitions and explanatory notes for countries unable to meet the 
standard  definition,  Annex  A.  (Available  at:  http://epp.eurostat.
ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/en/crim_esms.htm  //epp.eurostat.
ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/Annexes/crim_esms_an1.pdf )
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/!PORTAL.
wwpob_page.show?_docname=2630270.PDF
Council  Decisioin  2009/316/JHA  of  6  April  2009  on 
the 
establishment  of  the  European  Criminal  Records  Information 
System (ECRIS) in application of Article 11 of Framework Decision 
2009/315/JHA  http://www.ejtn.eu/PageFiles/7682/B_3_14_ECRIS.
pdfm

34

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

ECRIS was created to improve the exchange of information 
on  criminal  records  throughout  the  EU.  It  establishes  an 
electronic interconnection of criminal records databases to 
ensure  that  information  on  convictions  is  exchanged  be-
tween EU countries in a uniform, speedy and easily com-
puter-transferable way.

ECRIS is based on a decentralised IT architecture: criminal 
records data is stored solely in national databases and ex-
changed electronically between the central authorities of 
EU Member State upon request. The EU Member State au-
thorities must store and update all the information received 
and retransmit them when requested, being in a position 
to  provide  exhaustive,  up-to-date  information  on  its  na-
tionals’ criminal records, regardless of where those convic-
tions were handed down.

The transmission of information on convictions is made elec-
tronically,  through  a  standardised  European  format,  using 
two reference tables listing categories of offences and pen-
alties.  These  tables  facilitate  automatic  translation  and  en-
hance mutual understanding of the information transmitted.

When transmitting information on a conviction, EU Member 
State have to indicate the appropriate codes for the category 
of the offence and the penalty or sanction, which is automat-
ically translated into the language of the recipients, enabling 
them to react immediately upon receipt of the information.

The  existence  of  an  IT  system  shared  by  all  EU  Member 
States where data on crimes and offender are mandatori-
ly recorded and a common understanding on crimes def- 
initions is already in place is an important reference for fu-
ture working on harmonised and comparable data collec-
tion on gender-based violence at EU level. However, before 
being operational for this specific purpose, much work will 
need to be done in terms of harmonising definitions and 
classification systems.

Collection of data related to gender-based violence in 
the European Union

There are two important initiatives in the EU to collect and 
disseminate  comparable  data  on  women’s  experiences  of 
violence,  with  the  potential  to  provide  a  valuable  addition 
to  figures  from  administrative  sources. These  initiatives  are 
the proposal of a European Safety Survey (SASU) spearhead-
ed by Eurostat, and an EU-wide Survey on violence against 
women undertaken by the Fundamental Rights Agency.

The European Safety Survey (SASU)

The proposal of a European Safety Survey (SASU) is a victim-
isation survey on the prevalence of specific types of crime 
and  on  citizens’  feeling  of  safety. The  lack  of  comparable 
information  on  crime  at  EU  level  was  highlighted  as  part 
of the Hague programme in 2005 (81), prompting the Com-
mission to draw up an Action Plan 2006–10 on improving 
methods  to  measure  crime,  and  which  included  the  de-
velopment  of  a  household  survey  on  crime  victimisation. 
It  would  make  available  information  on  the  prevalence 
of  specific  types  of  crime  (victimisation  rates),  including 
crimes  linked  to  gender-based  violence  and  on  other  as-
pects relating to citizens’ feelings of security.

The  preparatory  work  on  this  SASU  has  been  carried  out 
by Eurostat and in most Member States pilots have been 
carried out with a draft questionnaire (82). Building on these 
experiences,  a  new,  slimmed-down  questionnaire  was 
drafted (83), which also included a set of questions designed 
to  monitor  the  new  EU  directive  on  victims’  rights  and  a 
separate  set  of  questions  on  violence  between  intimate 
partners (84). The conduct of such surveys required legisla-
tion and a proposal for implementation of the SASU in EU 
Member States was submitted to the European Parliament 
in  2011  (85).  In  September  2012,  the  European  Parliament 
rejected the proposal (86).

(81) 
(82) 

(83) 

(84) 

(85) 

(86) 

COM(2005) 184 final — Official Journal C 236 of 24.9.2005.
Aromaa, K., M. Heiskanen, S. Laaksonen, and M. Viuhko, Final Report for 
Action Entitled ’‘Crime and Victimisation Survey’. Helsinki: HEUNI, 2007.
Dijk,  J.J.M.  van,  P.  Mayhew,  J.  van  Kesteren,  M.  Aebi,  and  A.  Linde, 
Final Report on the Study on Crime Victimisation, Tilburg: Intervict 
report/Eurostat, 2010.
Van Dijk J, The International Crime Victims Survey 1988-2010; latest 
results  and  prospects,  12  April  2013  (based  on  the  Newsletter  of 
the European Society of Criminology, December 2012, 11/2, 24–33). 
(Available at: http://www3.unil.ch/wpmu/icvs/2013/04/445/)
European  Commission,  Proposal  for  a  Regulation  on  European 
Statistics on Safety from Crime, COM(2011)335, 2011/0146 [COD].
SASU’s  proposal  was  largely  turned  down  due  to  concerns  on  the 

35

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

Outside of the remit of SASU, Eurostat and the UNODC are 
undertaking a joint data collection effort in 2014, including 
data on the number of homicides and incidents of intimate 
partner violence. The UNODC Survey of Crime Trends and 
Operations of the Criminal Justice Systems which collects 
data from statistical offices and other national institutions 
globally  in  2012  already  included  information  on  homi-
cide  and  rape  broken  down  by  sex,  age  and  relationship 
between offender and victim, distinguishing between ’in-
timate  partners’  or  ’family  members’  and  ’spouses/current 
partners’ versus ’ex-partners’.

Eurostat is taking over data collection of the Crime Trends 
Survey  of  the  UNODC  in  the  region  of  the  EU  Member 
States (based on official crime statistics) (87), while UNODC 
continues to carry out the data collection outside the EU.

Violence against women: an EU-wide survey

In  2014,  the  European  Union  Agency  for  Fundamental 
Rights (FRA) published the first EU-wide survey on violence 
against women (88), carried out during the period 2011–12. 
The  survey  was  called  for  in  the  Council  Conclusions  of 
2010 and Resolution of 2011. The results are based on face 
to  face  interviews  with  42,000  women  in  all  28  EU  Mem-
ber States, with on average 1,500 interviews per Member 
State (women between 18 and 74 years  old  living in  EU). 
The  standardised  survey  collects  data  on  the  extent,  fre-
quency and severity of violence against women in the EU, 
including data on women’s access to and experience of po-
lice, healthcare and victim-support services. The objective 
of the survey is to contribute to the collection of data for 
the development of indicators that will be used to monitor 
violence against women and responses to it.

3.2.2 Council of Europe

The Council of Europe has undertaken different studies and 
published reports directly and indirectly related to data col-
lection on gender-based violence. In addition to monitor-
ing the compliance of the Member States in implementing 
the Council of Europe’s legal standards (referred before), the 
Council  of  Europe  has  published  widely  on  the  topics  of 
national legislation in its member countries (89), forced mar-
riage (90) and minimum standards for support services (91).

It  has  also  conducted  a  study  on  the  collection  on  gen-
der-based violence, Administrative Data Collection on Do-
mestic Violence in Council of Europe (92) published in 2008. 
This study sets out guidelines drawn up by the Council of 
Europe on how to collect administrative data and analyses 
current schemes to collect administrative data on domestic 
violence. The report first sets out existing measures to col-
lect data on domestic violence in Member States and sub-
sequently issues some conclusions and recommendations.

Based  mainly  on  Finland  as  a  case  study,  it  includes  a  
model  approach  to  the  collection  of  administrative  data 
(data disaggregated by the sex and age of both victim and 
perpetrator, type of violence and the relationship between 
the perpetrator and the victim) and sets out recommenda-
tions for the minimum data recorded by the police, public 
prosecutor, courts of first instance, cause of death investi-
gators, healthcare services and social services.

It also offers recommendations on the type of administra-
tive  data  that  should  be  collected  in  different  public  and 
private institutions that work with the issue of domestic vio- 
lence against women.

added value of the SASU project as results from national surveys were 
available from many Member States; plus doubts onthe extent to which 
the survey could be standardised, as some countries, notably France 
and  Ireland,  had  refused  to  include  questions  on  domestic  violence 
and/or sexual abuse. Therefore to ensure comparability across the EU, 
would remain unaddressed. This decision might be a major setback, 
especially  for  the  new  Member  States  in  which  no  victimisation 
surveys  have  ever  been  conducted  .  Moreover,  the  rejection  by  the 
parliament  is  at  odds  with  the  original  objectives  of  SASU,  beenthe 
first collaborative effort to assemble and harmonise existing national 
surveys, both to provide comparable data at EU level and to streamline 
work previously done in parallel so as to save on resources.
Eurostat,  Statistics  on  Crime  and  Criminal  Justice  Working  Group 
Meeting, Doc. CR/WG2018/8, 2013.
Available at: http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2014-vaw-
survey-main-results_en.pdf

(89) 

(90) 

(91) 

(92) 

Available at: http://www.coe.int/t/ dghl/standardsetting/convention-
violence/ documentation_studies_publications_en.asp
Available at: http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/convention-
violence/ documentation_studies_publications_en.asp
Available at: http://www.coe.int/t/ dghl/standardsetting/convention-
violence/ documentation_studies_publications_en.asp
Elina  Ruuskanen  and  Kauko  Aromaa/HEUNI,  Administrative  data 
collection on domestic violence in Council of Europe Member States, 
Study  commissioned  by  the  Gender  Equality  and  Anti-Trafficking 
Division,  Directorate  General  of  Human  Rights  and  Legal  Affairs, 
Council of Europe, EG-VAW-DC(2008) Study, Strasbourg, 2008.

(87) 

(88) 

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

3.2.3 United Nations

This  section  includes  a  description  of  the  activities  at  UN 
level regarding statistics on gender-based violence and the 
current plans by the UN to develop a classification of crime 
and a set of indicators on gender-based violence.

UN Statistics on gender-based violence

The  main  bodies  collecting  data  and  compiling  on  gen-
der-based violence within the UN are the UNECE, the UNSD 
and the UNODC.

The  UNECE  works  to  raise  awareness  and  encourages 
countries to mainstream gender into their economic pol-
icies.  With  respect  to  data  collection  on  gender-based 
violence,  the  UNECE  provides  a  statistical  database  on  its 
website, which provides sex-disaggregated data on sexual 
assault, including rape, attempted rape and indecent and 
sexual assault (93). The data are mainly from administrative 
data  sources  and  refer  to  the  number  of  victims  of  crime 
as reported by the police; that is crimes that are reported 
to, detected by, or otherwise drawn to the attention of the 
police. The  data  are  regularly  updated,  with  to  date  data 
up to 2011, and for 2008 for most EU-28 and the candidate 
countries  of Turkey  and  the  Former Yugoslav  Republic  of 
Macedonia. Due to different legal definitions, the indicators 
presented  are  hardly  comparable  between  the  countries. 
UNECE is currently developing a common framework and 
methodology for surveying violence against women in co-
operation with national statistical institutions in European 
countries in order to improve comparability.

The  UNECE  organises  the  Conference  of  European  Statis-
ticians  (CES),  which  provides  a  platform  for  the  coordin- 
ation of international statistical work in the UNECE region. 
In  2006,  the  Group  of  experts  on  Gender  Statistics  of  the 
CES published a paper considering the development of an 
international standard for data collection and statistics on 
violence against women (especially on indicators and sur-
vey methodology) (94).

(93) 

(94) 

European Commission EGGSI, Violence against women and the role 
of gender equality, social inclusion and health strategies, September 
2010.  (UNECE  database  available  at:  http://w3.unece.org/pxweb/
DATABASE/STAT/30-GE/07-CV/07-CV.asp)
UNECE  Statistical  Commission,  Towards International Standards for 
Data  Collection  and  Statistics  on  Violence  against  Women  (invited 
paper  submitted  by  Lancaster  University),  ECE/CES/GE.30/2006/7, 
United Kingdom.

An  important  body  within  the  UN  committed  to  the  ad-
vancement of the global statistical system is the UNSD. It 
compiles  and  disseminates  global  statistical  information, 
develops standards and norms for statistical activities, and 
supports countries’ efforts to strengthen their national stat- 
istical  systems.  In  September  2013,  the  UNSD  published 
Guidelines  for  Producing  Statistics  on  Violence  Against 
Women  with  regards  to  statistical  surveys,  providing  na-
tional  statistical  agencies  with  guidance  on  collecting, 
processing, disseminating and analysing data on VAW (95). 
It includes an analysis of the strengths and limits related to 
administrative  data.  Previous  guidance  from  the  UNSD  in 
this  regard  is  the  2003  Manual  for  the  Development  of  a 
System of Criminal Justice Statistics (96).

The UN has been working with National Statistical Offices 
and  other  organisations  to  develop  common  standards 
and improve how they collect official data. As an example, 
UN Women and the UNSD, in collaboration with the World 
Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and 
Development (OECD) are now working on a new initiative 
called  Evidence  and  Data  for  Gender  Equality  (EDGE)  to 
accelerate existing efforts to generate comparable gender 
indicators on health, education, employment and develop 
standards to measure entrepreneurship and assets from a 
gender perspective. These standards will be developed and 
tested  in  several  countries  over  the  course  of  three  years 
(97). Unfortunately, indicators related to gender-based vio-
lence are not considered as part of this project.

One of the most relevant bodies in the UN in connection 
with gender-based violence data collection is the UNODC. 
It collects data on crime and criminal justice from National 
Statistical  Offices  and  other  national  institutions,  through 
the United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations 
of  Criminal  Justice  Systems  (UN-CTS)  (98). The  statistics  in-
clude sexual violence and differentiate between the sex of 
the victim and the relationship between offender and vic-
tim (intimate partner violence) (99).

(95) 

(96) 

(97) 

(98) 

(99) 

Available at: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/docs/guidelines_
VAW.pdf
Available at: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/SeriesF/
SeriesF_89e.pdf
Available  at:  http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2013/6/
to-improve-data-collection-un-agrees-on-groundbreaking-
gender-indicators
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/United-
Nations-Surveys-on-Crime-Trends-and-the-Operations-of-
Criminal-Justice-Systems.html
Data on homicide is available from http://www.unodc.org/documents/
data-and-analysis/statistics/Homicide/Homicides_by_sex.xls 

37

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

This body aims to improve the cross-national comparability 
of data through the development of key indicators and data 
reporting tools. In addition, it works on the development of 
standards for national crime and criminal justice information 
systems and for the conduct of victimisation surveys.

Table 3: List of crimes related to gender-
based violence from the task force on 
international crime classification for 
statistical purposes

International Crime Classification

The Task Force of the United Nations Office on Drugs and 
Crime and the Economic Commission for Europe (UNODC/
UNECE Task Force) was established in 2009, under the aus-
pices  of  the  Conference  of  European  Statisticians,  to  look 
into  the  possibility  of  developing  a  crime  classification 
framework based on behavioural descriptions rather than 
legal  codes  (100). The  classification  would  serve  as  a  com-
mon  definitional  framework  both  for  the  initial  recording 
and/or  subsequent  reporting  of  data  and  would  had  the 
potential to solve definitional problems of the comparabil- 
ity of crime statistics (101).

1.  Acts leading to death

1.1  Murder/intentional homicide

1.2  Non-intentional homicide

1.3  Assisting suicide/euthanasia

2. 

Injuries causing harm to the person

2.1  Assault

2.2  Abduction, hijacking and kidnapping

2.3  Slavery and exploitation

2.4  Dangerous/negligent acts

2.5 

 Harassment/stalking: unwanted following, watching, 
communication with or harassment of a person.

The Task Force developed the first International Crime Clas-
sification Framework for statistical purposes (102), which was 
approved in June 2012 by the CES at its 60th plenary ses-
sion (103). 

2.6  Coercion

2.7  Defamation

3. 

Injurious acts that are sexually motivated

3.1  Rape: sexual intercourse.

The types of gender-based violence that have been select-
ed  for  this  study  would  be  covered  according  to  the  re-
ferred classification by the following list of crimes (Table 3).

A  statistics  report  Global  Study  on  Homicide.  Trends,  contents,  data 
including  a  Chapter,  Women  and 
intimate  partner/family-related 
homicide was published in 2011: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-
and-analysis/statistics/crime/global-study-on-homicide-2011.html.
(100)  Available  at:  http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/doc13/2013-11-

CrimeStats-E.pdf

(101)  UNECE Conference of European Statisticians, Principles and framework 
for an international classification of crimes for statistical purposes: Report 
prepared  by  the  UNODC/UNECE Task  Force  on  Crime  Classification, 
ECE/CES/BUR/2011/NOV/8/Add.1,  11  October  2011.  (Available  at: 
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/stats/documents/ece/ces/
bur/2011/8Add1-crime_classification_report.pdf )

(102)  UNODC/UNECE  Task  Force  on  Crime  Classification  to  the 
Conference  of  European  Statisticians,  Principles  and  Framework 
For  An 
International  Classification  Of  Crimes  For  Statistical 
(Available  at:  http://www.unodc.org/
Purposes,  June  2012. 
documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/crime/Report_crime_
classification_2012.pdf )

(103)  UNECE,  Report  of  the  60th  plenary  session  of  the  Conference  of 
European  Statisticians  (6-8  June  2012,  Paris,  France),  ECE/CES/83. 
(Available  at:  http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/2012.06.ces.
html)

3.2 

 Sexual Assault: physical contact or harassment 
of a sexual nature.

3.2.1.  Physical sexual assault: physical contact of a sex-
ual nature not amounting to sexual intercourse.

3.2.2.  Non-physical  sexual  assault:  following,  watch-
ing,  communication  with  or  harassment  of  a 
person for sexual purposes.

3.3  Sexual exploitation of children

The framework classifies sexual harassment under ’non-phys-
ical  sexual  assault’  and  also  uses  the  term ‘harassment’  for 
‘stalking’. The same differentiation in the use of the term ‘har- 
assment’  has  been  found  in  the  legal  definitions  of  some 
Member  States,  and  other  Member  States  use  a  different 
term,  making  a  common  understanding  more  difficult  in 
the classification system of crimes related to gender-based 
violence. Furthermore, the classification framework contains 
variables (tags) describing the sex of the victim and the of-
fender,  the  relation  of  the  victim  to  the  offender  (intimate 
partner  violence),  and  the  circumstances  of  the  violent  in-
cident. These variables can therefore be used for classifying 
both administrative data and victimisation survey data.

38

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

A  first  testing  of  the  framework  was  conducted  between 
July and September 2012. Later that year the UN Statistical 
Commission and the Commission on Crime Prevention and 
Criminal Justice requested UNODC and the National Insti-
tute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico (INEGI) to assess 
the feasibility of developing such a classification, building 
on the work of the task force (104). In 2015, the UNODC and 
INEGI will submit a proposal to the Statistical Commission 
for a consultation process and a plan for the finalisation of 
the full classification (105).

Table 4: Codes related to gender-
based violence, used by the 
International Classification  
of Diseases (ICD-10)

Assault (X85-Y09)

Y05 Sexual assault by bodily force

Incl.: rape (attempted); sodomy (attempted)

Other  relevant  UN  classifications  related  to  gender- 
based violence

Y06 Neglect and abandonment

Y06.0 By spouse or partner

The  UN’s  health  arm,  the  WHO,  has  established  an  Inter- 
national Classification of Diseases (ICD). The ICD is the stand-
ard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management 
and  clinical  purposes.  It  is  used  to  monitor  the  incidence 
and  prevalence  of  diseases  and  to  classify  diseases  and  
other health problems recorded on many types of health 
and  vital  records  including  death  certificates  and  health 
records.

In  addition  to  enabling  the  storage  and  retrieval  of  diag-
nostic information for clinical, epidemiological and quality 
purposes,  ICD  records  also  provide  basis  for  the  compil- 
ation of national mortality and morbidity statistics by WHO 
Member States. It is used for reimbursement and resource 
allocation decision-making by countries.

ICD-10 was endorsed by the 43rd World Health Assembly in 
May 1990 and came into use in WHO Member States from 
1994.  The  11th  revision  of  the  classification  has  already 
started and will continue until 2015 (106).

Although  this  is  not  a  classification  of  crimes,  but  rather 
of  diseases,  it  does  contain  several  codes  related  to  gen-
der-based violence. These could be used by, for example, 
hospitals  to  classify  patients  (including  victims  of  gen-
der-based violence). 

Y06.1 By parent

Y06.2 By acquaintance or friend

Y06.8 By other specified persons

 Y06.9 By unspecified person

Y07 Other maltreatment

 ● Incl.:  mental  cruelty;  physical  abuse;  sexual  abuse; 

torture

 ● Excluding: neglect and abandonment (Y06) sexual 

assault by bodily force (Y05)

Y07.0 By spouse or partner

Y07.1 By parent 

Y07.2 By acquaintance or friend

Y07.3 By official authorities

Y07.8 By other specified persons

Y07.9 By unspecified person

T74 Maltreatment syndromes

T74.0 Neglect or abandonment

T74.1 Physical abuse

 ● Incl.: Battered: baby or child syndrome NOS; spouse 

syndrome NOS

T74.2 Sexual abuse

T74.3 Psychological abuse

T74.8 Other maltreatment syndromes

T74.9 Maltreatment syndrome, unspecified

(104)  UN Economic and Social Council, Statistical Commission, International 
Statistical Classifications, E/CN.3/2013/28, 20 December 2012.
(105)  UNECE,  Gender  Statistics:  report  by  the  Secretary-General,  

E/CN.3/2013/10, 19 December 2012.

(106)  Available at: http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/

Source:  Council  of  Europe  (2011)  Convention  on  Preventing 
and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Vio-
lence (Istanbul Convention), Council of Europe Treaty Series — 
No 210, Istanbul.

39

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

Development of indicators on Violence against Women 
by the UN

Two  sets  of  indicators  on  violence  against  women  pro-
posed by the UN are important in this regard:

Across  UN  agencies,  there  have  been  a  number  of  pro-
posals  over  the  past  decade  to  develop  harmonised  in-
dicators  at  international  level  to  measure  the  scope,  the 
incidence and the prevalence of violence against women, 
and indicators to measure the effectiveness of measures 
undertaken  to  address  it  (107). This  is  also  one  of  the  five 
key outcomes of the Secretary-General’s campaign, UNiTE 
to End Violence against Women, launched in 2008, which 
states that ‘data collection and analysis of systems are in-
stitutionalised  and  periodic  surveys  are  undertaken  on 
prevalence  of  various  forms  of  violence  against  women 
and girls’.

Several  expert  group  meetings  have  been  organised  on 
this  topic  (108)  and  a  number  of  models,  good  practices, 
statistical standards and recommendations have been es-
tablished (109). The two most notable in this regard are the 
UN Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on Indicators to Measure 
Violence against Women, which was organised in 2007 by 
the Division for the Advancement of Women (UNDAW), the 
UNECE and the UNSD and the establishment of the Friends 
of the Chair group, in February 2008 by the Statistical Com-
mission  at  its  39th  session  to  develop  the  indicators  and 
other methodological standards for implementation in na-
tional statistical systems (110).

 ● Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women: indica-
tors for measuring violence against women and indica-
tors for State response to such violence (111);

 ● Statistical  Commission: 

the 
scope,  prevalence  and  incidence  of  violence  against  
women (112).

to  assess 

indicator 

Building on the work of the Special Rapporteur and the 
Statistical  Commission,  the  UNECE  developed  a  set  of 
indicators  in  2010  in  close  cooperation  with  the  Statis-
tical Commission, which include a new set of nine indi-
cators specifically designed to measure violence against  
women in all its aspects, including physical, sexual, psy-
chological and economic violence (core set) (113) as well 
as a separate minimum set of 52 gender indicators de-
veloped by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Gen-
der Statistics (114).

The  current  core  set  of  statistical  indicators  on  violence 
against women is as follows (115):

(107) 

(108) 

(109) 

For  a  list  of  these  efforts  see:  UN  Human  Rights  Council,  Report 
of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Its Causes 
and  Consequences,  Yakin  Ertürk:  Indicators  on  violence  against 
women and State response, A/HRC/7/6, 29 January 2008; UN Women, 
Indicators  on  violence  against  women.  (Available  at:  http://www.
un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/v-issues-focus.htm)
Expert  Group  Meeting  on  Violence  against  women:  a  statistical 
overview, challenges and gaps in data collection and methodology 
and approaches for overcoming them (Geneva, 11–14 April 2005); 
Expert  Group  Meeting on Indicators to Measure Violence Against 
Women (Geneva, 8–10 October 2007); or Meeting of the Friends of 
the Chair of the United Nations Statistical Commission on Statistical 
Indicators  on  Violence  against  Women  (Aguascalientes,  Mexico, 
9–11 December 2009).
See, for instance, the methodology developed by United Nations 
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on crime and criminal justice 
(Available  at:  http://www.unodc.org/
statistics,  Methodology. 
unodc/en/data-and-analysis/statistics/methodology.html)

(110)  UN Statistical Commission, Report on the thirty-ninth session (26 to 

29 February 2008), E/2008/24 (Decision 39/116).

(111)  UN  Human  Rights  Council,  Report  of  the  Special  Rapporteur  on 
Violence  against  Women,  Its  Causes  and  Consequences,  Yakin 
Ertürk: Indicators on violence against women and State response, 
A/HRC/7/6, 29 January 2008.

(112)  UN Economic and Social Council, Statistical Commission, Report of 
the Friends of the Chair of the United Nations Statistical Commission 
on  the  indicators  on  violence  against  women,  E/CN.3/2009/13,  11 
December  2008.  (Available  at:  http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/
UNDOC/GEN/N08/642/97/PDF/N0864297.pdf?OpenElement)
(113)  Available  at:  http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/doc11/2011-5-

FOC-GenderStats-E.pdf

(114)  Available  at:  http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/doc13/2013-10-

GenderStats-E.pdf

(115)  UN Women Expert Group Meeting Prevention of Violence against 
Women and Girls, Prevalence surveys on violence against women 
Challenges  around  indicators,  data  collection  and  use.  Expert 
Paper prepared by Henrica A.F.M. (Henriette) Jansen, EGM/PVAWG/
INF.9, September 2012. (Available at: http://www.unwomen.org/~/
media/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/CSW/57/EGM/EGM-
paper-Henriette-Jansen %20pdf.pdf )

40

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

Table 5: United Nation indicators 
on violence against women 
developed by UNECE and UN 
Statistical Commission

other organisations have also made efforts to regulate data 
collection on the topic. The most important organisations 
in this regard are the OECD and the WAVE network.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Develop-
ment (OECD)

1.  Total  and  age-specific  rate  of  women  subjected  to 
physical violence in the last 12 months by severity of 
violence, relationship to the perpetrator and frequency.

2.  Total  and  age-specific  rate  of  women  subjected  to 
physical violence during lifetime by severity of vio-
lence, relationship to the perpetrator and frequency.

3.  Total  and  age-specific  rate  of  women  subjected  to 
sexual violence in the last 12 months by severity of vi-
olence, relationship to the perpetrator and frequency.

4.  Total  and  age-specific  rate  of  women  subjected  to 
sexual  violence  during  lifetime  by  severity  of  vio-
lence, relationship to the perpetrator and frequency.

5.  Total and age-specific rate of ever partnered women 
subjected to sexual and/or physical violence by cur-
rent or former intimate partner in the last 12 months 
by frequency.

6.  Total  and  age-specific 

rate  of  ever-partnered  
women subjected to sexual and/or physical violence 
by current or former intimate partner during lifetime 
by frequency.

7.  Total  and  age-specific  rate  of  women  subjected  to 
psychological violence in the last 12 months by an 
intimate partner.

8.  Total  and  age-specific  rate  of  women  subjected  to 
economic violence in the last 12 months by an intim- 
ate partner.

9.  Total  and  age-specific  rate  of  women  subjected  to 

female genital mutilation.

3.3  Other organisations 
working in gender-based 
violence data collection

In  2009  the  Organisation  for  Economic  Co-operation  and 
Development (OECD) launched the Social Institutions and 
Gender Index (SIGI) as an innovative measure of the underly-
ing drivers of gender inequality, including violence against 
women,  for  over  100  countries  (116)  none  of  which  are  EU 
Member  States.  In  this  regard,  the  OECD  Development 
Centre released an Issues Paper in March 2013 on violence 
against  women  entitled  Transforming  Social  Institutions  to 
Prevent Violence against Women and Girls and Improve Devel-
opment Outcomes (117). The paper gives, among other things, 
an  overview  of  the  SIGI  data  on  violence  against  women 
including  regional  patterns,  changes  in  laws  and  the  rela-
tionship  between  attitudes  and  prevalence  of  violence. 
Moreover the paper explores how violence against women 
is related to development outcomes such as HIV and child 
mortality. The  final  section  provides  an  overview  of  policy 
recommendations  to  transform  discriminatory  social  insti-
tutions to prevent violence against women and girls.

Women against Violence in Europe (WAVE)

The Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE) is a network of 
European women’s NGOs working in the field of combating 
violence against women and children. WAVE has conducted 
and continues to conduct research in the area of mapping 
of women’s services, protecting high-risk victims and data 
collection as well as research on the effects of VAW.

Between 2011 and 2013, WAVE carried out the project PRO-
TECT  II,  which  follows-up  the  findings  and  the  results  of 
PROTECT  I  —  Best  Practice  Assessment  to  Prevent  Homi-
cide in High-Risk Cases, a project implemented from 2010–
11 with financial support from the EU Daphne programme. 
Protect II is a Capacity Building project in Risk Assessment 
and Safety Management to Protect High-Risk Victims.

Apart from the EU, the Council of Europe and UN’s work in 
the field of data collection on gender-based violence, many 

(116)  Available at: http://genderindex.org
(117)  Available at: http://www.wikigender.org/images//d/d0/OECD_

DEV_Policy_Brief_March_2013.pdf

41

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

The objectives are:

 ● to contribute to the reduction of femicides and repeated 
and severe violence against women and their children;

of women’s services in Europe for women survivors of vio- 
lence  and  their  children  and  on  statistics  available  in  the 
area of intimate partner violence in European countries.

 ● to  make  knowledge  and  experiences  on  risk  assess-
ment and safety management concerning the protec-
tion  of  high-risk  victims  available  to  a  wide  range  of 
practitioners in Europe;

WAVE is carrying out a project, Coordinated Efforts — To-
ward  New  European  Standards  in  Protection  of  Women 
from Gender-Based Violence (2012–14). in Croatia, Slovenia 
and three non-EU Member States (Macedonia, Serbia and 
Bosnia-Herzegovina).

 ● to transfer knowledge from theory to practice;

European Women’s Lobby

 ● to exchange experiences from 13 EU Member States;

 ● to facilitate capacity building in the area of risk assess-
ment, safety management and multi-agency work;

 ● to  contribute  to  generate  gender-specific  statistics  in 
the EU and to widen the knowledge base about the ex-
tent of the problem and possible trends.

The output of this project is the Protect II Guidance Report 
for  the  Improvement  of  Data  on  Gender-Based  Violence 
Against Women in the EU, which includes a gold standard 
for different administrative data on gender-based violence, 
including  police  recorded  data,  criminal  justice  data  and 
health services data (118). The report emphasises the need to 
provide  information  on  the  relationship  between  the  vic-
tim  and  the  perpetrator,  including  whether  the  perpetra-
tor is a current or former partner, parent, child, other family 
member, or someone known or unknown to the victim in 
order to gain a comprehensive view of who was involved in 
domestic violence.

The  European  Women’s  Lobby  (EWL)  is  the  largest  um- 
brella organisation of women’s associations in the EU, work-
ing to promote women’s rights and equality between wom-
en and men. EWL membership extends to organisations in 
all 28 Member States and the three candidate countries, as 
well as to 20 European-wide bodies, representing a total of 
more than 2 000 organisations (120).

The  EWL  manages  an  Observatory  on  Violence  against 
Women, drawing together experts from 33 countries. The 
EWL  Observatory’s  main  objectives  are  to  identify  critical 
and emerging issues in order to feed the policy work of the 
EWL to advocate for improved  policies  and  service provi-
sion for prevention and support of women victims of male 
violence.  It  raises  visibility  of  the  phenomenon  of  male 
violence  against  women  and  monitors  the  commitments 
at  local,  regional,  national  and  European  level  regarding 
violence  against  women,  highlighting  advances  and  set-
backs, as well as providing relevant data (121).

Moreover,  WAVE  publishes  annual  country  reports,  the 
most recent to date being the 2012 report, Reality Check 
on Data Collection and European Services for Women and 
Children Survivors of Violence — A Right for Protection and 
Support  (119). The  latter  focuses  largely  on  the  availability 

(118)  WAVE, Protect II Guidance report for the improvement of data on 
gender-based  violence  against  women  in  the  European  Union, 
Vienna,  2013.  (Available  at:  http://wavenetwork.org/sites/default/
files/PROTECT %20II_Guidance %20Report %202012.pdf )

(119)  WAVE, Country Report 2012: Reality Check on Data Collection and 
European  Services  for Women  and  Children  Survivors  of Violence 
—  A  Right  for  Protection  and  Support?,  Vienna,  2013.  (Available 
at:  http://www.wave-network.org/content/wave-country-report-

In  2013,  the  European Women’s  Lobby  presented  a  Bar- 
ometer on Rape in Europe. It analysed the level of com-
pliance of national legislation with the Council of Europe’s 
minimum standards as set out in the Istanbul Convention 
and the availability of data on women victims of rape in 
Europe.  It  provides  a  European  overview  of  national  ac-
tions on violence against women and compares EU coun-
tries with regard to their commitment to eradicate such 

(120) 
(121) 

2012-now-)
Source of information: http://www.womenlobby.org/?lang=en
Source  of 
ewl-observatory-on-violence/?lang=en

information:  http://www.womenlobby.org/about-us/

42

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data3.  International legal and regulatory framework and actions on gender-based violence data collection

violence.  In  the  report,  information  on  whether  national 
legislation  complies  or  fails  to  comply  with  the  Council 
of Europe Convention definition of rape, on whether the 
official data that is kept or not on women victims of rape 
in every country and information about the existence of 
support and treatment services for victims of rape can be 
found (122).

(122) 

Source of information: http://www.womenlobby.org/publications/
reports/?lang=en

43

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 4.  National legal frameworks 
on administrative data 
collection related to 
gender-based violence

Executive Summary4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

4.   National legal frameworks  
on administrative data 
collection related  
to gender-based violence

the  previous  section  focused  on  the  legal  and  regulato-
ry  framework  together  with  actions  in  the  area  of  gen-
der-based  violence  within  the  EU  and  globally.  This  sec-
tion turns to an overview in EU Member States of the legal 
framework and regulation related to administrative data on 
gender-based violence.

One of the main challenges when trying to collect not only 
administrative data but also survey data on gender-based 
violence across the EU-28 is to find a common understand-
ing in the terms and definitions used. In the case of admin-
istrative data, the legal definitions used and the way inci-
dents related to gender-based violence are criminalised in 
the Member State will impact directly on the type of data 
recorded  by  agencies  within  police  and  justice  services, 
making  it  more  difficult  or  even  impossible  to  collect  in-
formation on the number of incidents of different forms of 
gender-based violence against women.

In addition, the legal provisions and rules at Member State 
level related to gender-based violence data collection are 
crucial  for  the  work  on  a  common  understanding  and 
methodology  for  collecting  comparable  administrative 
data across the EU-28.

4.1  Legal definitions and 
criminalisation of gender-
based violence at national level

This  section  offers  an  overview  of  the  legal  provisions  on 
the forms of gender-based violence, including legal provi-
sions on protective orders, at Member State level.

None of the EU Member States have an official legal def- 
inition of gender-based violence. Most Member States dis-
tinguish between the different types of gender-based vio-
lence in their national law, mentioning each type of gen-
der-based violence separately in their codes or provisions. 
Wide variation exists across the EU-28 in the definition and 
legal treatment of the five forms of gender-based violence 
covered by this report, namely, intimate partner violence, 
sexual  assault  (excluding  rape),  rape,  sexual  harassment 
and stalking.

When defining forms of gender-based violence in their na-
tional laws, most Member States are gender-neutral in their 
legislation and criminalisation of gender-based violence. In 

45

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

most Member States national law and criminal code make 
no distinction between women and men as victims or as 
offenders. This  should  not  be  mixed  up  with  the  gender 
sensitivity of policies of governments, as in many Member 
States  there  is  a  strategy  or  action  plan  to  address  gen-
der-based  violence  against  women  as  they  are  affected 
disproportionately, except, for instance, in the Netherlands, 

where policies that tackle violence in general and domes-
tic  violence  in  particular  are  not  specifically  directed  to  
women, but gender-neutral.

The legal provisions of a few Member States in which the law 
is not (entirely) gender neutral and which include informa-
tion on the sex of the victim and/or the offender (Table 6).

Table 6: Member States whose national legal provisions include the sex of the 
victim and/or offender

IPV

Rape

Sexual assault

Sexual harassment

Stalking

Definition only 
includes women 
victims

Definition only 
includes men 
offenders 

Sweden, Spain

Bulgaria, Cyprus, 
Hungary, Ireland, 
Slovakia 

Cyprus

-

Ireland, United 
Kingdom

-

Source: Data collected in March–June 2013, reviewed in October 2013.

-

-

-

-

Rape is defined as an offence limited to women victims in five 
Member States (BG, CY, HU, IE and SK). This can have import-
ant consequences with regards to the type of prosecutions 
that  it  allows.  In  the  case  of  Sweden  for  example,  intimate 
partner violence can be prosecuted under the offence ‘Gross 
violation  of  women’s  integrity’,  for  which  perpetrators  can 
only be prosecuted if the victim was a woman (123). This is also 
the case in Cyprus, where the criminal law of Cyprus specifies 
that an indecent assault is considered a crime when carried 
out on women: ‘indecent assault on females’ (124).

The  following  sections  identify,  for  each  of  the  five  forms 
of  gender-based  violence,  their  legal  provision  in  the  EU 
Member  States  according  to  the  national  laws,  including 
the legal treatment or criminalisation applied to them, and 
the availability of protection orders for the victims.

(123)  Namely ‘Gross violation of women’s integrity’, Brottsbalken 4kap, 4a§ 

(law: 1999:845)
Indecent assault on females, Section 151 of the Criminal Code CAP. 154

(124) 

The information is based on the report, Feasibility study to 
assess the possibilities, opportunities and needs to stand-
ardise national legislation on violence against women, vi-
olence  against  children  and  sexual  orientation  violence, 
European Union, 2011, and was complemented and up-
dated with the data and information gathered for this re-
port.

4.1.1 Intimate partner violence 

The term used to refer to intimate partner violence varies 
across  Member  States,  as  does  the  definition  itself.  The 
definition  may  (or  may  not)  encompass  all  the  different 
types  of  violence  (i.e.  physical,  sexual,  psychological  and/
or economic violence). Moreover, the relationship required 
between the offender and the victim for the incident to be 
regarded as intimate partner violence may differ according 
to the legal definition across EU Member States, including 
in the same definition other types of relationships (e.g. par-
ents, children, relatives, family).

46

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

Table 7: Intimate partner violence in Member States: legal definitions, 
criminalisation and protection orders

Intimate partner violence (IPV)

IPV and criminal law

Specific law uses as a legal concept

Dedicated DV/
IPV law(1)

IPV as an 
aggravated 
circum-
stance

A specific 
criminal 
offence

Family 
violence

Domestic 
violence

IPV

Gender- 
based 
violence

Protection 
orders 
available

AT

BE

BG

CY

CZ

DE

DK

EE

EL

ES

FI

FR

HR

HU

IE

IT

LT

LU

LV

MT

NL

PL

PT

RO

SE

SI

SK

UK

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

 x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

 x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

 x

x

x 

x

x

 x

x

 x

x

x

x

x

Source: Feasibility study to assess the possibilities, opportunities and needs to standardise national legislation on violence against 
women, violence against children and sexual orientation violence. European Union, 2011. (Annex 1, Table 6). Information updated 
with data collected from March to June 2013, reviewed October 2013.
(1) Law that specifically defines acts of violence in a domestic context as the target of the law and encompasses more than mere 
administrative regulation

47

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

Only five Member States (BE, EL, FR, IE and SE) refer to intim- 
ate  partner  violence  when  describing  violence  between 
partners (Table 7). In many Member States, the terminology 
’domestic violence’ is used, (10 Member States — BG, CZ, EL, 
IE, LU, PT, RO, SE, SI and UK) and the term ’family violence’ or 
’violence in the family’ is used in another 12 Member States 
(BE, CY, EL, HU, IE, IT, LV, PL, RO, SE, SI and SK). However, these 
terms include intimate partner violence, but are problemat-
ic since they can also include other forms of violence such 
as child abuse. It is therefore very difficult to directly assess 
the  number  of  incidents  of  intimate  partner  violence  in 
the majority of Member States, since the distinction is not 
made at the conceptual level. Administrative data need to 
be disaggregated by sex of victim and perpetrator and type 
of relationship between them to detect to detect incidents 
related to intimate partner violence.

The type of violence most likely to be included in most Mem-
ber States’ definition of intimate partner violence is that of 
physical  violence.  Sexual  and  psychological  violence  are 
included  in  the  definition  of  intimate  partner  violence  in 
half of the Member States, while economic violence is only 
included in the definition of an offence covering intimate 
partner violence in three Member States (HR, HU and SI).

A reference to the relationship between the victim and of-
fender is a requirement for an offence to fall under intimate 
partner  violence.,  Within  the  majority  of  Member  States 
this relationship being that of marriage (under Spouse) or 
‘living together’. This restricts intimate partner violence to 
offences where the victim is a spouse or a cohabiting part-
ner  (under  Cohabitating  partner).  Definitions  of  intimate 
partner  violence  less  frequently  include  ‘former  intimate 
partner violence’ (a former spouse or ex-partner) than cur-
rent relationships, or ‘non-cohabiting partner’ than cohabit-
ing partner. Finally, very few definitions of intimate partner 
violence that include relationships between ‘partners’ also 
include same-sex partners (i.e. UK) while in others, homo-
sexual couples are not considered as partners and are thus 
specifically excluded from the scope of the offence intimate 
partner violence (e.g. in CY) (125).

Not only are there differences in the definition of intimate 
partner  violence  between  Member  States,  but  whether  
intimate  partner  violence  is  criminalised  as  such  under 
national law also varies (Table 7). Ten Member States treat  
intimate  partner  violence  (or  domestic  violence  or  family 

(125) 

The  examples  of  the  UK  and  Cyprus  are  anecdotal  evidence.  No 
further information on this issue was collected for this study.

violence, which include intimate partner violence) as a spe-
cific criminal offence under their national law (i.e. AT, CZ, DK, 
ES, IT, PL, PT, SE, SI and SK). This offence may have a different 
name depending on the Member State. In the countries that 
have not criminalised intimate partner violence as a specific 
offence in the criminal code, this form of gender-based vio-
lence can be prosecuted under a number of other offences 
(such as harassment, abuse, rape and murder).

In 12 Member States (BE, BG, CY, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, LU, MT, 
NL and RO) when a crime is committed in the frame of an 
intimate  relationship,  this  can  be  an  aggravating  feature 
under the national law of the country. Hungary and Croatia 
introduced  such  provisions  only  recently,  In  Croatia,  until 
January 2013, domestic violence was prosecuted under a 
separate article of the Criminal Code (Article 215(a)), how-
ever, due to numerous legal problems (a person cannot be 
prosecuted for the same offence under two different laws) 
the article was removed and this crime is prosecuted as an 
aggravating feature of other criminal offences. Similarly, in 
Austria, ‘persistent exercise of violence’ has been an offence 
since 2009, resulting in more severe punishment.

Protection  orders  for  crimes  related  to  intimate  partner 
violence  are  available  in  all  Member  States,  although  this 
masks the different forms that this can take across Member 
States. The EU-28 provide some sort of protection order for 
victims  of  intimate  partner  violence  in  the  various  forms 
under which it is defined across Member States (Table 7). 
For example, Estonian law provides for a general restraining 
order, which is available for victims of, for example, physical 
abuse and threatening behaviour (not specifically intimate 
partner  violence)  and  rapid  court  injunctions  that  can  be 
issued ex parte to expel the offender and ensure non-con-
tact, or interim Protection Orders issued by the prosecutor 
are possible in seven Member States (FR, EL, IE, LT, MT, PT 
and SE) and by fast-track domestic violence courts in Spain 
and the United Kingdom (126).

4.1.2 Sexual violence 

Table 8 shows the legal provision in the EU Member States 
for the three different forms of sexual violence included in 
this report: rape, sexual assault (excluding rape) and sexual 
harassment.

(126) 

EIGE  (2012)  Review  of  the  Implementation  of  the  Beijing  Platform  for 
Action  in  the  EU  Member  States:  Violence  against  Women  —  Victim  
Support. (Available at: http://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Violence- 
against-Women-Victim-Support-Report.pdf )

48

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

Table 8: Legal provision of sexual violence in EU Member States

Rape

Sexual assault  
(excluding rape)

Sexual  
harassment

Offence in criminal/
penal code

Offence in criminal/ 
penal code

Provision specifically prohibiting  
sexual harassment

in equality law in labour law in criminal law

AT

BE

BG

CY

CZ

DE

DK

EE

EL

ES

FI

FR

HR

HU

IE

IT

LT

LU

LV

MT

NL

PL

PT

RO

SE

SI

SK

UK

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x 

x

x

x

x

x

x

Source: Feasibility study to assess the possibilities, opportunities and needs to standardise national legislation on violence against 
women, violence against children and sexual orientation violence. European Union, 2011. (Annex 1, Tables 9 and 10). Information 
updated with data collected from March to June 2013, reviewed October 2013.

49

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

a) Rape and sexual assault

Both  rape  and  sexual  assault  are  classified  as  criminal  of-
fences in all Member States. In the case of Slovenia, sexual 
assault is criminalised not specifically as a separate offence, 
but under the scope of other crimes, such as ‘assault’ (Art-
icle 145 Criminal Code 2005) or ’Violation of sexual integrity 
through abuse of position’ (Article 174. Criminal Code 2008).

The legal definition of rape in some Member States is based 
on the use of ‘force’ (AT, CZ, EL, ES, FI, FR, HU and IE) or ‘ex-
tended  force’  (DE,  DK,  LT,  MT,  PL,  SE  and  SK),  although  in  
other Member States both use of force and lack of consent 
are  requirements  for  an  act  to  be  considered  a  rape  (BG, 
CY,  EE,  LT,  LU  and  RO).  Lack  of  consent  on  its  own  is  a  re-
quirement in three Member States (BE, IE and UK). Despite 
the wide consensus on classifying rape as criminal offence, 
largely as a standalone offence, there are nevertheless wide 
disparities  in  the  definitions  underpinning  rape  as  an  of-
fence, notably when it comes to the use of force and/or to 
lack of consent.

Sexual assault, refers to ‘any sexual act committed against 
non-consenting  women,  even  if  they  do  not  show  signs 
of resistance, with the exception of rape/penetration’ (127). 
However, other terminologies exist across Member States 
(EE, FI, IT, LT, LU, PT, SE and SK). ‘Sexual violence’ (IT, SE and 
SK) and ‘sexual abuse’ (FI, LI and PT) are the most commonly 
used variations, with for example both terminologies used 
in the case of Sweden. Other, less frequently used termin- 
ology include in the case of Estonia ‘satisfaction of sexual 
desire by violence’, ‘compelling a person to engage in sex-
ual intercourse’ or ‘compelling a person to satisfy sexual de-
sire’.  In  Croatia,  the  terms  used  include ‘sexual  intercourse 
without  consent’  and ‘serious  criminal  act  against  sexual 
freedom’.  Finally,  in  Luxembourg,  reference  is  made  to ‘in-
decent assault’.

Besides the lack of clarity in terminology, there are also in-
stances where the offences related to sexual violence can 
include  several  incidents  in  the  same  article  within  the 
criminal/  or  penal  code  of  some  Member  States,  For  ex- 
ample in Germany and Italy, rape and sexual assault are as-
sembled as one offence within the criminal code. However, 
in the case of Spain, the distinction is made between ‘sexual 

(127) 

European  Commission  (2010)  Feasibility  report  to  assess  the 
possibilities,  opportunities  and  needs  to  standardise  national 
legislation  on  violence  against  women,  violence  against  children 
and sexual orientation violence.

aggression’ to refer to any sexual act using force, including 
penetration;  and ‘sexual  abuse’,  which  refers  to  those  acts 
where force is not used but there is a lack of consent and 
penetration is excluded.

Protection of the victim is included through the provision 
of specific protection orders in the case of rape in six Mem-
ber States (DE, MT, NL, PT, SK and UK), and for sexual assault 
in four Member States (DE, MT, SK and UK).

b) Sexual harassment

Definitions of sexual harassment vary widely. It is a criminal 
offence in only twelve Member States (BG, CY, ES, FR, AT, LT, 
MT, PT, HR, RO, SI and UK) with, for instance, Croatia having 
only criminalised sexual harassment since January 2013.

Not only is sexual harassment rarely, and only recently, crim-
inalised but it is also often subject to strict limiting require-
ments. In Romania and Croatia, sexual harassment is a crim-
inal offence but requires the relationship between offender 
and victim to be of a subordinate nature. In Austria, the re-
spective provision in the Criminal Code, ‘sexual harassment 
and public sexual activities’ uses a narrow definition of sexu-
al harassment as ‘touching the victim’s sexual characteristics 
or committing a sexual act in front of the victim’ (Article 218  
Criminal  Code).  In  Portugal,  sexual  assault  is  not  crimi-
nalised  as  such;  but  exhibitionism  and  coercion  of  sexual 
contact are criminal offences (Penal Code Law 19/2013 of 
2 February, Article 170). Thus, in those countries where sex-
ual harassment outside of work is a separate offence under 
national criminal law, the scope and definitions vary widely.

An important feature of sexual harassment is that is often 
considered specifically within the context of employment, 
as opposed to a stand-alone offence. Indeed, in that sexual 
harassment in the context of employment is mentioned in 
almost all Member States (128) often requiring a subordinate 
position  of  the  victim,  (in  either  Criminal  and/or  Labour 
Law) (BE, DE, ES, LU, LV, NL, PL, PT and SI) or it is mentioned 
in anti-discrimination legislation (BG, CZ, RO, SE and SK) or 
in gender- equality legislation (AT, CY, EE, EL, FI, IE, LT, MT, RO 
and UK) (129).

(128)  No information was available for Denmark, France, Croatia Hungary 

(129) 

and Italy.
See European Commission (2012) European Network of legal experts 
in the field of gender equality, Harassment related to Sex and Sexual 
Harassment  Law  in  33  European  Countries:  Discrimination  versus 
Dignity.  (Available  at:  http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/
files/your_rights/final_harassement_en.pdf ).

50

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

Although the majority of Member States recognise sexual 
harassment as a stand-alone offence, in Italy sexual harass-
ment can be prosecuted under another offence, in this case 
under stalking rather than sexual harassment. The provision 
of  protection  orders  is  low  in  for  sexual  harassment  with 
provision in place in only four Member States (DE, EL, MT 
and UK).

4.1.3 Stalking

Stalking, is not considered as a separate crime in all mem-
ber States. Some Member States have a dedicated law but 
in others, this crime is prosecuted under other crimes exist-
ing in the criminal or penal code (Table 9).

Table 9: Legal provision of stalking in EU Member States

Stalking

Dedicated law in

Dedicated law 

criminal law

civil law

Dealt with under 
existing law

Protection orders 
available

AT

BE

BG

CY

CZ

DE

DK

EE

EL

ES

FI

FR

HR

HU

IE

IT

LT

LU

LV

MT

NL

PL

PT

RO

SE

SI

SK

UK

x

x

x

x

x

 x

x

x

x

x

x

x

 x

 x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x 

x

x

x

x

x

x

x 

x 

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Source: Feasibility study to assess the possibilities, opportunities and needs to standardise national legislation on violence against 
women, violence against children and sexual orientation violence. European Union, 2011. (Annex 1, Table 7). Information updated 
with data collected from March to June 2013, reviewed October 2013.

51

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

More  than  half  of  the  Member  States  do  not  criminalise 
stalking under their national law. Instead, in some Member 
States, stalking is sometimes prosecuted under a different 
offence, such as harassment (BG, IE and MT), family/domes-
tic violence (FR and PT) or (serious) threat (EL, LT and PT).

There  are  14  Member  States  where  stalking  is  a  criminal 
offence  (BE,  CZ,  DE,  DK,  IT,  LU,  NL,  AT,  PL,  HR,  HU,  SK,  SE 
and  UK).  Between  2006  and  2011,  Germany,  Italy,  Austria, 
Poland, Slovakia and Sweden, and more recently Denmark 
(2012) and the UK (2012), as well as Croatia and the Czech 
Republic (2013), have introduced the offence of stalking as 
an office into their national law. Finland, in 2014, is currently 
in the process of doing the same.

Stalking can sometimes be named differently, for example 
‘intrusive behaviour’ (AT) or ‘persistent persecution’ (HR). In 
Sweden, the situation is a bit different; similarly to Croatia, 
the  Swedish  law  includes  the  crime  of ‘persistent  perse-
cution’. However, it is made up of several crimes repeated 
by the same offender against the same victim. The crimes 
must aim at violating the integrity of the victim and must 
be one of the following: assault and battery causing actual 
body harm, illegal threat, illegal coercion, illegal encroach-
ment, sexual molestation, damage or intent to damage, or 
disregarding a Prohibition of Visits Act.

With  respect  to  protection  of  victims,  Protection  Orders 
are available for victims of stalking in many Member States 
even  though  stalking  is  not  a  separate  offence  in  these 
countries.  For  instance,  in  Denmark  and  Finland,  victims 
of stalking can apply for a general Restraining Order; in Es- 
tonia, victims of stalking can apply for a Restraining Order 
via  civil  proceedings;  in  Malta,  talking  can  be  prosecuted 
under harassment for which Protection Orders are available.

To end this sub-section, we would like to highlight some 
current and future developments in EU Member States re-
lated to the legal provision and criminalisation of the forms 
of gender-based violence included in this study.

The legal provision and criminalisation of gender-based vio- 
lence across Member States is not static. These changes can 
have positive implications for administrative data collection 
on gender-based violence in the Member States, and there-
fore,  across  the  EU.  In  about  one-third  of  Member  States 
there are plans, or have been recent developments in terms 
of the legal definition of criminal offences related to the 

five  incidents  covered  by  this  report,  or  the  possibility  to 
request a Protection Order.

Examples  of  these  current  and  future  changes  in  the  na-
tional criminal offences of Member States include:

 ● In  Bulgaria,  there  are  plans  for  making  domestic  vio-
lence/ intimate partner violence and marital rape crim-
inal offences rather than only aggravating features.

 ● Denmark,  Hungary,  Spain  and  Romania  are  planning 
a revision/ or reform of areas of their criminal code re-
sponsible for gender-based violence against women.

 ● In  Denmark,  several  amendments,  including  some  on 
sexual  crimes  have  been  proposed  in  a  report  pub-
lished  in  November  2012  by  the  Danish  Council,  and 
which will take place within the current legislative peri-
od. This includes an increase in the penalty for exploit-
ing a victim sexually.

 ● In Spain, there are plans to align the legal definition of 
domestic  violence  to  the  definition  of  gender-based 
violence under the Act on Integrated Protection Meas-
ures against Gender Violence.

 ● Major changes in Romanian reform include  the descrip-
tion of sexual assault as an individual criminal offence.

 ● In Hungary, the penal code has introduced (July 2013) 
more serious punishments for violence within the fam-
ily, i.e. intimate partner violence /DV as an aggravating 
feature.

Even though the trend has been positive generally among 
Member States, in contrast, Croatia recently removed ‘vio-
lent conduct within a family’ (which includes intimate part-
ner violence) as a single criminal offence, and this can now 
only be prosecuted under other criminal offences.

There  is  also  some  movement  in  the  framework  of  legal 
protection of victims, especially regarding intimate partner 
violence. Slovakia and Portugal (2009) and Lithuania (2012) 
established a legal framework regarding domestic violence 
on  prevention,  protection  and  assistance  to  victims  (130). 
Protection  Orders  for  intimate  partner  violence  have  re-
cently  been  introduced  in  Belgium,  the  Netherlands,  Pol- 
and  and  Lithuania,  and  the  legal  acts  providing  for  such 
protection have recently been amended in Germany and 
Romania. In the Czech Republic, protection orders will be 
introduced in the country’s civil code from 2014, which is 
said to be inspired by German, Austrian and Slovakian law.

(130) 

Source: The Law on Protection against Domestic Violence was adopted 
by the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania on 26 May 2011.

52

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

4.2  Regulatory framework 
underpinning administrative 
data collection on gender-
based violence

This  section  describes  the  main  rules  and  descriptions  of 
institutions tasked with the regulation and coordination of 
administrative  data  collection  on  gender-based  violence. 
For  a  better  understanding  of  how  administrative  data 
collection is regulated, collected and provided at national 
level in the Member States, it is important to recognise the 
differences in the structure and organisation of the whole 
administrative systems in each country.

By  having  a  centralised  or  decentralised  administration 
system in place, the type of institution regulating data col-
lection will be affected in the Member State and also the 
level at which the rules provided will apply (for instance, to 
the whole state or only to a certain region).

The majority of Member States (BG, CY, CZ, DK, EE, EL, FI, HR, 
HU, IE, LU, LV, MT, NL, PT, SE, SI and SK) can be described as 
having  a  centralised  administrative  system,  with  a  central 
government prescribing national laws and policies. In ten 
Member States (AT, BE, DE, ES, FR, IT, LT, PL, RO and UK) their 

administrative structure can be considered as totally or par-
tially decentralised, which means that laws and policies can 
also come, or mostly come, from regional authorities. While 
a  decentralised  system  can  effectively  multiply  the  num-
ber  of  administrative  organisations  focused  or  specialised 
in  dealing  with  gender-based  violence,  it  also  makes  the 
regulation  and  collection  of  comparable  data  across  the 
different levels of the administrations more complex.

Therefore, even if some systems are centralised in a given 
Member State, it remains possible that one or more of the 
administrative  systems  (police,  justice,  health  and/or  in 
many  cases  social  support)  are  decentralised.  This  is  the 
case in some Member States with a centralised administra-
tive system where a decentralised approach is in place with 
respect to gender-based violence policies, especially within 
the health and social services systems (for example, BG, CZ, 
IT, NL, SE or SK).

In  the  case  of  social  services,  due  to  the  diversity  in  their 
organisation across Member States, the below table (Table 
10) provides an overview of the organisation of social ser-
vices  in  the  EU-28,  including  information  on  funding,  the 
authority coordinating it, NGO involvement and their pro-
vision in law. The complex organisation of social services in 
some Member States could make it more difficult to collect 
comparable administrative data at a national level.

Table 10: Organisation of social services in Member States

Social services  
provided for in 
law? (131)

Social services or-
ganised by (local) 
government (132)?

Social services  
funded by 
government?

Social services  
organised by 
CSOs (133)?

BE

BG

CZ

DK

DE

EE

IE

X

X*

X*

local authority 

central and local  
authorities

local authority

X

X

X

(131)  No information available for BE, EL, FI, FR, IE, IT, L, MT, PL and SK.
(132)  No information available for CY, EE, FR and LU.
(133)  No information available for CY, EE and FR.

X

X

X

X

X

53

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

Social services  
provided for in 
law? (131)

Social services or-
ganised by (local) 
government (132)?

Social services  
funded by 
government?

Social services  
organised by 
CSOs (133)?

local authority

X

local authority

X*

X

X (136)

local authority (137)

X(planned) (134)

X(planned) (135)

X

X

 X*

X

X

X

X*

local authority

central authority

central authority *

local authority

local authority

local authority

local authority *

X

local authority

X

X*

X

X

X

X

X

X*

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

EL

ES

FR

IT

CY

LV

LT

LU

HU

MT

NL

AT

PL

PT

HR

RO

SI

SK

FI

SE

UK

*Mainly or solely for victims of domestic violence, family violence or intimate partner violence
Source: Data collected in March–June 2013, reviewed in October 2013.

The government has allocated EUR 18 million within the framework of the measures laid down in the first National Plan against Gender-based 
Violence and Stalking, including proposals aimed at granting funds to anti-violence centres, shelters and other public and private services providing 
support and assistance for women victims of violence (13 million), see National Report Italy pp. 12–13.
State funding is only allocated for child rehabilitation services. There are no State-funded shelters for women. However there are developments in 
this regard: On 7 May 2009 the Parliament accepted the changes in Social Services and Social Assistance Law and initially planned to start State-
funded rehabilitation services for adults from 1 January 2011 Two target groups were planned — victims of violence and offenders (violent parents 
or violent partner). Due to lack of state funding the date was postponed to 1 January 2015. See National Report Latvia, p. 4.
Legal aid services only (Law on State-guaranteed Legal Aid).
Legal aid services only.

(134) 

(135) 

(136) 
(137) 

54

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

Social  services  regarding  gender-based  violence  are  pro-
vided for by law in 15 of the Member States (Table 10) for 
which  this  information  was  available  (no  information  was 
available  for  BE,  EL,  FI,  FR,  IE,  IT,  LU,  MT,  PL,  SK  and  UK.).  In 
half  of  the  Member  States,  the  governments  are  in  some 
way organising social services for victims of gender-based 
violence. Moreover, in most of the Member States in which 
governments  are  responsible  for  organising  such  services, 
this  is  done  at  local  level,  showing  the  decentralisation  of 
the  social  services  system  in  Member  States. This  fact  will 
impact  on  the  collection  of  comparable  data  at  nation-
al  level,  as  it  will  require  a  common  methodology  among  
local  authorities  and  coordinating  mechanisms  to  collect 
the information. In addition, half of the Member States pro-
vide funding to organisations to provide social services to 
victims of gender-based violence. As a matter of fact, in the 
majority of Member States, in addition to government-or-
ganised social services or instead of government-organised 
social services, CSOs run social services, such as shelters. This 
form of organising social services will also affect the way in 
which data on gender-based violence are collected in this 
sector, as it will require extra efforts to coordinate and guar-
antee the quality, reliability and comparability of data.

4.2.1 Institutions regulating 
administrative data collection on 
gender-based violence
At national level, there is a diversity of administrative organisa-
tions rather than one main national institution to regulate ad-
ministrative data collection related to gender-based violence.

These institutions can be grouped into five categories:

(1) Governmental bodies implementing the national gen-

der-based violence policy or strategy;

(2) Governmental bodies responsible for one administrative 
system (i.e. health, police, justice or social services), for 
instance a Ministry or a body within that Ministry;

(3)  Administrative  institutions  specifically  related  to  one 
system (i.e. health, police, justice or social services);

(4) National Statistical Offices;

(5) Data Protection Agencies. 

Table  11  provides  information  on  the  distribution  of  the 
administrative organisations responsible for the regulation 
of  administrative  data  collection  (including  data  on  gen-
der-based violence) per Member State.

Table 11: Main institutions regulating administrative data collection in 
EU Member States

Body implementing 
national gender-based 
violence strategy / 
action plan

Govern-
ment / 
relevant 
ministry

Police / 
prosecutor 
office

Statistical 
office

Data 
protection 
agency

Main institutions regulating administrative 
data collection

BE

BG

CZ

X

X

X

X

X

X

 ● Federal government (gender-based  

violence),

 ● Police, Judiciary, Public Prosecution (for 
each type of gender-based violence)
 ● Ministry of Labour and Social Policy
 ● Ministry of the Interior (sexual assault 

and rape)

 ● Supreme Prosecution of Cassation 

(sexual assault)

 ● Commission for Protection against 
Discrimination, sexual harassment)
 ● Chief Directorate National Police (IPV 

only)

 ● National Statistical Institute
 ● Parliament/Chamber of Deputies
 ● Ministry of Justice
 ● Ministry of Interior/Police Presidium,
 ● Czech Statistical Office

55

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

Body implementing 
national gender-based 
violence strategy / 
action plan

Govern-
ment / 
relevant 
ministry

Police / 
prosecutor 
office

Statistical 
office

Data 
protection 
agency

Main institutions regulating administrative 
data collection

DK

DE

EE

IE

EL

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

ES

X

X

FR

X

X

X

X

56

 ● Danish Data Protection Agency
 ● Ministry of Internal Affairs/Central 

Personal Registry Office

 ● National Police
 ● National Board of Social Service  

(IPV and rape only)

 ● Danish Health and Medicines Authority 

(IPV and rape only)

 ● Statistics Denmark (IPV and rape only)
 ● There is not a single institution 
regulating data collection
 ● Police (IPV and rape only)
 ● There is not a single institution 
regulating data collection

 ● Hellenic Police
 ● Prosecutor Magistrate
 ● General Secretariat Gender Equality 

(social services)

 ● Hellenic Data Protection Authority (all 

gender-based violence)

 ● Coordination Units Against Violence on 
Women in all Government Delegations 
(gender-based violence)

 ● General Council of the Judiciary 

Observatory Against Domestic and 
Gender-based violence (justice)
 ● Observatory on Women’s Health 

and the Interregional Health Council 
(health)

 ● Secretary of State for Security/Deputy 

of Statistics (police)

 ● General secretariat gender equality 

(social services)

 ● General Directorate on Social Cohesion
 ● Inter-ministerial Committee on  

women’s rights and equality between 
women and men
 ● Ministry of Interior
 ● Ministry of Justice
 ● Police and gendarmerie
 ● National Institute of Security 

Studies and Justice (INED)/National 
Observatory of crime and criminal 
justice responses

 ● National Institute for Statistics and 

Economic Studies (INSEE)

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

Body implementing 
national gender-based 
violence strategy / 
action plan

Govern-
ment / 
relevant 
ministry

Police / 
prosecutor 
office

Statistical 
office

Data 
protection 
agency

Main institutions regulating administrative 
data collection

X

X

IPV

IT

CY

LV

LT

LU

HU

MT

NL

AT

PL

PT

IPV

HR

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

 ● Presidency of Council ‘National plan 
against gender based violence and 
stalking’

 ● Ministry of Interior (police/crime data)
 ● Cyprus Police (crimes)
 ● Ministry of Internal Affairs/State Police
 ● Ministry of Welfare/ Social Services
 ● Ministry of Health/Disease Control and 

Prevention Centre

 ● Ministry of Justice/Court Administration 

(all data)

 ● Ministry of Interior/Department 
of Information Technology and 
Communications (all data)

 ● Ministry of Interior/Police Department
 ● Ministry of Social Security and Labour
 ● Ministry of Health Care
 ● National Courts’ Administration
 ● Ministry of Equal Opportunities 

(gender-based violence)

 ● Committee of Cooperation (gender-

based violence)

 ● Ministry of Interior (all data and stat- 

istics)

 ● Ministry for the Family and Social Soli- 
darity/Commission on Domestic 
Violence (IPV)

 ● Government (police and justice system)
 ● Federal Criminal Police Office
 ● Intervention Centres
 ● Ministry of Labour and Social Policy 

(IPV)

 ● Ministry of Justice (IPV)
 ● National Police (crime)
 ● Commission for Citizenship and Gender 

Equality (IPV)
 ● Republic Assembly
 ● Statistics Portugal
 ● Office for Gender Equality
 ● Ministry of Justice
 ● Ministry of Interior
 ● Ministry of Social Policy and Youth

57

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

Body implementing 
national gender-based 
violence strategy / 
action plan

Govern-
ment / 
relevant 
ministry

Police / 
prosecutor 
office

Statistical 
office

Data 
protection 
agency

Main institutions regulating administrative 
data collection

 ● Ministry of Labour, Family, Social 
services and the Elderly (IPV)

 ● Superior Magistrates Council (rape and 

sexual harassment)

 ● General Prosecutor’s Office (IPV, sexual 

assault and rape)

 ● Police (sexual assault and rape)
 ● National Institute for Statistics (all data)
 ● Ministry of labour, family, social affairs 
and equal opportunities (IPV only)
 ● Supreme Court/Centre for the inform- 

atics

 ● General Police Directorate/Applications 

Development Division

 ● Statistical Office
 ● Information Commissioner
 ● Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and 

Family/Department of Gender Equality 
and Equal Opportunities

 ● Ministry of Justice
 ● Ministry of Interior
 ● Ministry of Health
 ● Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic
 ● There are no specific rules on data 

collection on gender-based violence, 
and the guidelines regarding data 
collection on gender-based violence 
are not publicly available

 ● Parliament/Government of Sweden
 ● Statistics Sweden/Council of Official 

Statistics

 ● Board of Health and Welfare (health and 

social services)

 ● Board of Crime Prevention (crime)
 ● Home Office/Government Equalities 

Office (crime)

RO

IPV

X

X

X

SI

IPV

X

X

X

X

SK

X

X

X

X

X

X

FI

SE

UK

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

The situation across Member States in relation to the cen-
tralisation of the regulation of administrative data is very di-
verse. There are only five Member States (EE, CY, HU, AT and 
UK) for which a unique institution regulating administrative 
data  collection  connected  to  gender-based  violence  has 
been identified. In contrast, administrative data collection 
is very disparate in eight Member States, with five or more 
bodies responsible for regulating the collection of admin-
istrative data (BG, DK, ES, FR, LT, RO and SK). The disparate 
number of authorities with a role in the process of data col-
lection  makes  it  problematic  to  agree  on  common  terms 
and methodologies when it comes to gathering a picture 
of gender-based violence.

In the case of six Member States (ES, FR, HR, IT, SK and LU) 
one single government institution has been appointed to 
have a more central role in data collection on gender-based 
violence across all systems, as part of a National Action Plan 
or Strategy on gender-based violence. This is a positive fea-
ture in that it means that administrative data collection on 
gender-based  violence  is  more  likely  to  be  coordinated. 
For example in Italy, the Department of Gender-based Vio- 
lence, Equal Opportunities plays the role of coordinator for 
the implementation of the new National Plan against gen-
der-based  violence  and  stalking.  In  another  four  Member 
States  (MT,  PT,  RO  and  SI)  a  central  institution  regulating 
data collection also exists, although it is solely focused on 
intimate partner violence (or domestic violence).

The  responsibility  for  regulating  data  collection  on  gen-
der-based  violence  lies  with  the  government  ministries  in 
the  majority  of  Member  States  except  for  seven  Member 
States  (DE,  EE,  IE,  AT,  FI,  CY  and  LU).  In  this  sense,  the  regu- 
lation of data collection in the different administrative systems 
(police,  justice,  health  and  social  services)  will  be  under  the 
scope of the ministry (or unit within the specific ministry) direct-
ly related to a specific area. For example, the Ministry of Health 
for the health system or the Ministry of Interior for the police 
agencies. This approach ensures the coordination of adminis-
trative data collection within each area, however, it is weaker 
when it comes to making an overall assessment available.

Other  institutions  are  involved  in  administrative  data  col-
lection. The police and/or the public prosecution agencies 
play also an important role in regulating data collection in 
their own system in ten Member States (BG, DK, EE, FR, CY, 
LT, AT, PL, RO and SI), by issuing internal rules on data re-
cording  in  police  and/or  prosecution  administrative  sour- 
ces.  The  National  Statistical  Office  plays  a  central  role  in 

nine Member States (BG, CZ, DK, FR, PT, RO, SE, SI and SK), as 
they receive information from different administrative data 
sources. The role of data protection agencies is less wide-
spread across the Member States (only in DK, EL and SI). 

All these institutions are central to administrative data col-
lection, bringing added-value from a different perspective. 
It is therefore important and not surprising to see that they 
do  not  operate  on  their  own  in  the  majority  of  Member 
States. Instead, the most common set-up is a coordinating 
body,  with  or  without  a  mandate  for  gender-based  vio-
lence, in conjunction with a more specialised institution.

4.2.2 Regulation related to 
administrative data collection on 
gender-based violence

The situation related to the rules on gender-based violence 
data collection is similar to that of the institutions regulat-
ing  administrative  data  collection,  with  a  broad  range  of 
rules  coming  from  different  administrations  being  identi-
fied instead a specific set of rules from one source. Further-
more, there are rules in place regulating administrative data 
collection  and  associated  official  statistics,  however  they 
are not specifically for gender-based violence but adminis-
trative data collection and statistics in general.

Since  these  rules  emanate  from  different  institutions,  rele-
vant ministries or specific systems — for instance, the police, 
National Statistical Offices and data protection agencies — 
they can cover different scopes (local, regional and national) 
and/or sectors (police, justice, health and social services). 

Different institutions, and the associated differences in the 
regulation of administrative data leads to fragmented ap-
proaches which hinder the overall process of assessing the 
extent and consequences of gender-based violence. Where 
a body is in place to implement a national gender-based vio- 
lence strategy or action plan, there is less scope for these 
fragmented approaches to appear.

National Action Plans (NAPs) or Strategies targeting gender 
equality  in  general  or  specially  focused  on  gender-based 
violence (or narrowing to intimate partner violence or do-
mestic  violence),  represent  the  main  feature  to  regulate, 
support and empower the collection of administrative data 
on gender-based violence within Member States, together 

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

with  the  rules  provided  by  the  National  Statistics  Offices, 
even  though  Statistical  Office  rules  in  Member  States  are 
not specific for gender-based violence but for statistics pur-
poses in general.

Having  rules  that  are  specific  to  gender-based  violence 
data  collection  is  important  because  it  can  empower  ad-
ministrative data sources to report to the statistical office, 
as in the case, for example, of Cyprus or Sweden.

Rules from National Action Plans (NAPs)

Based on the information provided for this report, by 2011 26 
Member States had implemented individual National Action 
Plans  with  measures  intended  to  combat  violence  against 
women. In some cases these National Action Plans are gen-
eral actions to combat gender equality or social exclusion. In 
some others, they provide a set of specific actions to prevent 
and/or fight against gender-based violence, intimate partner 
violence or sexual violence.

By 2013, based on the data available from the UN database 
and European Crime Prevention Network, 18 Member States 
(BE, CZ, DE, EE, IE, EL, FR, HR, IT, CY, MT, PL, PT, SI, SK, FI, SE and 
UK) had a specific NAP to combat violence against women, 
and four Member States (BG, LT, LU and HU) had a general na-
tional action plan for gender equality, however there is no spe-
cific information on whether gender-based violence is includ-
ed or not. Denmark and the Netherlands had other strategic 
documents on gender equality that include violence against 
women; and Latvia and Romania have NAPs which combat 
specifically one area of violence (intimate partner violence).

Even among the National Action Plans that are more focused 
on gender-based violence, they do not all have a reference 
to data collection. In some cases is the need is mentioned 
to increase research, knowledge and/or improve data collec-
tion,  but  specific  requirements  or  min-imum  standards  on 
data collection to respond to this need have not yet been 
provided. Two examples in this respect are found below.

In  Croatia  the  general  measures  contained  in  its  National 
Policy  for  Gender  Equality  2011–15  prescribe  improve-
ments for the management of statistical data and system-
atic  analytical  monitoring  of  all  forms  of  gender-based 
violence. The  Croatian  National  Policy,  however,  does  not 
provide for (or provide the establishment of ) binding rules 

specifically relating to the collection of integrated data on 
gender-based  violence.  In  Slovenia,  the  National  Action 
Plan for the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against 
Women for the years 2009–12 while stipulating among its 
measures the improvement of data collection and statisti-
cal evidence does not specify the requirements.

Furthermore, the general and non-binding character of the 
National Action Plans imply that administrative bodies are 
not  compelled  to  register  administrative  data,  and  when 
doing so, they do not have to follow a specific and system-
atic  methodology,  not  only  in  the  collection  process  but 
also in the type of data that should be recorded.

Exceptions can be found in Spain or Ireland, where the Na-
tional Action Plans explicitly foresee the future establishment 
of a unified system of data collection amongst the relevant 
agencies related to gender-based violence, in order to pro-
vide comparable and reliable data on gender-based violence 
among all the government departments and services.

Rules from National Statistical Office

The  second  main  set  of  rules  affecting  data  collection  on 
gender-based violence in Member States is provided by the 
National Statistical Offices. All Member States have a National 
Statistical Office, which collates and compiles official statistics.

According to the information gathered for this study, in 19 
Member States (BG, CY, CZ, DE, DK, EL, ES, FI, FR, IE, LU, LV, 
LT, NL, PL, RO, SK, SE and UK) there are rules regulating the 
development  of  official  statistics,  however  these  rules  are 
not normally specific to gender-based violence incidents or 
data, but related to the compilation of statistics in general. 
No rules are in place in AT, BE, EE, HR, MT, PT and SI, and no 
information was available for HU and IT.

In  11  of  the  Member  States  for  which  rules  are  available 
(CZ,  EL,  FR,  IE,  LU,  LV,  LT,  NL,  PL,  RO,  SE)  rules  are  provided 
for  in  law,  therefore  the  rigour  and  quality  of  data  collec-
tion guaranteed by law must be also applied to the official 
statistics  produced  on  gender-based  violence.  In  another 
four  Member  States  (CY,  EE,  ES  and  PL),  they  comply  with 
the  European  Statistics  Code  of  Practice  —  a  Code  that 
sets  the  standard  for  developing,  producing  and  dissem- 
inating European statistics — which assures the quality of the 
statistics at EU-standards level and will enable comparison.

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

Two relevant examples in this sense are Sweden and Unit-
ed Kingdom. In Sweden, the Council of Official Statistics, 
which sets the general quality standards of the official stat- 
istics,  requires  the  administrative  data  sources  to  focus 
on the statistics usability, urging the authorities to iden-
tify the main users/usages of the data and communicate 
with them on the details. It leaves it to the respective au-
thorities to identify what data should be labelled as offi-
cial statistics. The Swedish Decree on Official Statistics re-
quires that all statistics should be gender disaggregated. 
The United Kingdom’s National Office for Statistics has a 
Code  of  Practice  for  Official  Statistics,  which  establishes 
common  statutory  standards  for  all  official  statistics  in 
the United Kingdom. Only those statistics deemed to be 
compliant with the Code of Practice will be designated as 
National Statistics.

Apart from the mentioned sources of rules on administrative 
data  collection  on  gender-based  violence,  (NAPs  and  rules 
on Official Statistics), the regulation can also include sets of 
rules applying to specific systems or sectors, to specific forms 
of gender-based violence (intimate partner violence mainly) 
or to the exchange of information or protection of data.

Rules applying to specific administrative systems

In all Member States there are laws or rules relating to data 
collection  adopted  by  the  government  applying  to  only 
one administrative system (i.e. health, police, justice or so-
cial services) and/or internal guidelines adopted by the ad-
ministrative data sources to apply specifically to their own 
administration. In both cases, the focus of the regulation is 
not normally on gender-based violence but is more general.

Police and justice services are the systems where these 
sets of rules or guidelines are more broadly implemented. 
There are, for instance, 15 Member States (AT, BE, BG, CY, CZ, 
DE, EL, ES, HU, LV, LT, RO, SI, SK and UK) with rules on data 
collection for police services. In the justice service, specific 
rules  regulating  administrative  data  collection  have  been 
identified in 12 Member States (BG, EL, ES, IT, LV, LT, NL, PL, 
RO, SE, SI and SK).

settled through regulations (HR and SI), orders (CZ, EE and 
LT) or internal guidelines (BE, CY, CZ, DE and ES) — includ-
ing police circulars (BE and CY), counting rules (CY), internal 
instructions (CZ and ES) — or codes (BE). It is important for 
these rules guaranteeing the standardisation and systemat-
ic collection of data to be mandatory.

As a reference, some examples where rules on data collec-
tion in police or justice system are mandatory follow.

In Lithuania rules are provided in national law. Courts have 
their own standards for collecting court data according to 
the articles of the Criminal Code (138) and data collection is 
managed by the National Courts’ Administration. And the 
national  standard  for  recording  the  administrative  crime 
data is prescribed in the Order of the Minister of the Interior 
on Regulations of Institutional Register of Criminal Acts and 
it applies only to the police. In Croatia, a regulation on crim-
inal records exists which prescribes the mandatory method 
of keeping criminal records and by whom (the Ministry of 
Justice). A regulation also exists on the implementation of 
Protection Orders, which prescribes record keeping by the 
police. In the Netherlands, the rules on registering informa-
tion included in Protection Orders is laid down in the law 
on  Protection  Orders  (Wet  tijdelijk  huisverbod)  (139),  which 
allows victims and the police to request Protection Orders 
which place offenders of intimate partner violence tempor- 
arily outside the home and regulates how such requests are 
recorded in the municipality registers.

Additionally, in some Member States rules on data collec-
tion  include  regulation  on  the  coordination  between  the 
police and justice sector to enable the harmonisation and 
comparison of data, and analysis and monitoring of trends 
and  policies.  In  the  Netherlands,  in  2009  two  laws  were 
passed,  which  introduced  a  criminal  justice  system  num-
ber  (a  personal  number  for  alleged  offenders).  Its  use  is 
compulsory  for  all  parties  involved  in  the  criminal  justice 
system,  including  the  police,  courts  and  the  public  pros-
ecutor  (Openbaar  Ministerie).  A  criminal  justice  database 
(strafrechtsketen-databank [SKDB]) was also set up, includ-
ing  rules  on  how  to  process  and  store  the  identity  data/

Rules on data collection for the police and justice can come 
in different  forms, which can affect their  implementation. 
In  some  cases  there  is  a  specific  provision  in  the  criminal 
code or other legislation (AT and HR), sometimes they are 

(138)  Articles  129,  135–140,  149,  145,  150  of  the  Criminal  Code 
(Available  at:  http://www3.lrs.lt/pls  /inter3/dokpaieska.showdoc_ 
l?p_id=366707)
Law  of  October  9,  2008,  containing  rules  seeking  to  impose  a 
temporary restraining order to individuals whose serious threat of 
domestic violence goes (Temporary Restraining Order Act)

(139) 

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

details in the database. A limitation to the rules applied to 
the  police  and  justice  systems  is  that  they  only  apply  to 
criminal offences, and therefore exclude data collection on 
incidents  that  are  not  considered  a  crime  under  criminal 
law. This can be cases of sexual harassment or stalking in 
some Member States.

In  the  case  of  health  services,  the  trend  is  the  opposite, 
as there are few Member States that have rules in place on 
administrative  data  collection.  This  can  be  explained  by 
the fact that recording gender-based violence incidents by 
practitioners  attending  victims  is  not  mandatory  in  most 
Member  States.  One  exception  to  this  is  Germany,  where 
there are guidelines on data collection of intimate partner 
violence incidents to support the recording of these cases 
in hospitals. In other countries some specific guidance or 
protocols have been implemented to follow when attend-
ing a victim of a gender-based violence incident (ES, LT, NL 
and SK), however guidelines for recording the cases are not 
usually included.

In Spain a Common Protocol for a healthcare response to 
gender  violence  is  available  and  some  form  of  coding  is 
done. In Lithuania, doctors in the hospitals, as well as gen-
eral practitioners, are obliged to follow the ‘Order on the Ex-
change of Information about Injured Persons whose Body 
Injuries  Could  be  Related  to  a  Crime’  (140),  which  requires 
them to inform the police in cases where the body injury 
appears to be the consequence of crime (141).

In  some  Member  States  (EE,  LT  and  UK)  rules  are  imple-
mented  to  record  illnesses,  diseases  and  injuries  suffered 
by hospital patients using the International Classification of 
Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), published by the World 
Health  Organisation  (WHO). This  classification  system  en-
ables the detection of the number of cases of physical and 
sexual injuries committed to female victims, and their se-
verity. This coding system is also in place in other Member 
States (AT, BG, EL, ES, LV, RO and SE), however it is not used 
systematically.

(140)  Order  of  the  Minister  of  Health  Care,  Minister  of  Interior  and 
Prosecutor  General  on  Exchange  of  Information  about  Injured 
Persons  whose  Body  Injuries  Could  be  Related  to  a  Crime  No 
55/42/16, 28 January 2002.
Source: Communication with the Ministry of Health Care and Insti-
tute of Hygiene.

(141) 

In the case of social services, not many Member States pro-
vide specific legislation or rules related to the regulation of 
data collection. One exception is Bulgaria where the Com-
mission on Protection against Discrimination collects data 
on  the  registered  claimants  for  sexual  harassment  on  the 
basis of legislation that regulates the types of registers that 
the Commission is obliged to maintain (142).

In Member States where some kind of regulation has been 
implemented,  it  is  possible  that  it  is  not  equally  applied 
to  all  administrative  data  sources  from  the  social  services 
system. For instance, in Latvia, only support services fund-
ed by the state have rules to follow, while CSOs providing 
social  services  do  not  have  to  follow  these  rules  which 
causes problems for standardisation of methodology and 
data comparison. In Austria, data collection by intervention  
centres is not regulated by national law but is provided on 
a contract basis between the centre and funding ministries.

Specific  rules  for  data  collection  on  intimate  partner  
violence

In some Member States (BE, DE, DK, EE, ES, NL, PL and RO) 
there are rules in place aimed at intimate partner violence, 
which are thus applicable for one or more organisations in 
different sectors registering data on that incident.

The efforts in specifically regulating data collection on in-
timate partner violence can be connected to the fact that, 
in many Member States, intimate partner violence is not a 
separate  offence  as  such.  However,  it  is  considered  as  an 
aggravating circumstance of a different offence (e.g. threat 
or bodily injury) or it is prosecuted indirectly through other 
crimes. In addition, it can be under the offence ‘Domestic 
violence’ or ‘Violence in the family’, where other types of re-
lationships  between  victim  and  perpetrator  are  included. 
This circumstance makes it difficult to record and produce 
accurate statistics on intimate partner violence, especially 
from police or justice sector. However, it is important to re-
member that the rules for intimate partner violence shows 
the importance that policy-makers attach to intimate part-
ner violence in particular.

In  Denmark  there  are  specific  rules  in  place  for  intimate 
partner violence for several institutions: the National Board 

(142)  Article 45, item 3 of the Rules for the Proceedings of the Commis-

sion for Protection against Discrimination.

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

of Social Service, the National Police, the Danish Health and 
Medicines  Authority,  Statistics  Denmark  and  the  Central 
Personal Registry. Croatia has extensive legislation in place 
which  includes  some  recommendations  and  obligations 
on data collection on intimate partner violence: pursuant 
to the Protocol on Conduct in Cases of Domestic Violence 
all competent authorities covered by the Protocol (police, 
social  welfare  centres,  health  institutions,  educational  in-
stitutions, judicial bodies) are required to keep records on 
cases  of  domestic  violence  and  according  to  the  Law  on 
Protection  from  Domestic  Violence,  the  Ministry  of  So-
cial Policy and Youth is authorised to collect, process and 
store statistical data in the area of domestic violence, and 
all  competent  authorities  and  institutions  are  required  to 
submit data to the Ministry in semi-annual and annual re-
ports. The  Netherlands  recently  introduced  an  obligatory 
reporting  code  on  domestic  violence  (including  intimate 
partner violence), or Meldcode, for professionals in the field 
of education, judiciary, social services and healthcare and 
provides these professionals with guidelines to identify do-
mestic violence and child abuse at an early stage and how 
to assess these cases (i.e. in their decision to report to the 
police or not). There are other more general guidelines in 
place prescribing police and prosecution to earmark all cas-
es of domestic violence (143). Poland has legislation in place, 
which  defines  domestic  violence  and  lays  out  the  pro- 
cedures  on  collecting  data  and  information  on  domestic 
violence in different administrations (144).

Rules related to the exchange of Information and data 
protection

Some of the rules or regulations in place in Member States 
require (obligation to report) or allow (clearance to report) 
the administrative data source to which the rules apply to 
send the information to another organisation, usually the 
relevant government body (often a ministry or the National 
Statistical Office).

However the ability of administrative data sources to pass 
on this information to other organisations is limited by data 
protection  law  requiring  confidentiality  of  the  data  pro-
duced  by  the  administrative  data  sources.  Almost  half  of 

Member States (BG, CY, CZ, DE, EL, ES, NL, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI 
and UK) have data protection legislation in place. Some of 
these laws were adopted as a result of the implementation 
of the EU Directive on Data Protection ( 145) (BG, CZ, NL, PL 
and    UK).  It  is  important,  when  regulating  and  collecting 
data for statistical purposes, to comply with these specific 
regulations at Member State level. Normally such rules re-
quire administrative data sources to only share aggregates 
on, for example, the services provided or the incidence of 
a certain type of violence, but do not allow the sharing of 
confidential  information  on  the  victim,  defendant  or  wit-
ness.

4.3  Current actions on 
administrative data related to 
gender-based violence

Several  developments  within  the  regulatory  frameworks 
underpinning  data  collection  on  gender-based  violence 
can be observed at national level.

In some Member States new plans or strategies related to 
the  collection  of  data  on  gender-based  violence  are  fo-
cused on improvement of the methodology. For instance, in 
Slovenia, two important plans have been implemented to 
create a comparable methodology to collect data on vic-
tims and perpetrators of gender-based violence, in cooper-
ation with several ministries.

Coordination within and between sectors is very important 
as part of improvements in methodology, therefore plans 
need  to  ensure  that  the  coordination  among  institutions 
located in the systems linked to gender-based violence is 
guaranteed when aiming at comparable data. Some Mem-
ber  States  have  overarching  plans  involving  different  ad-
ministrative organisations in the country. For instance, So-
cial Security Intervention Centres in Austria are combining 
efforts with other organisations to develop the same cat- 
egories within and between organisations so that regional 
data can be used on a national level. In Belgium, the judicial 
system plans to synchronise different databases of different 
organisations  in  the  future.  Germany  is  currently  working 

(143) 

(144) 

Source:  Aanwijzing  huiselijk  geweld  en  eergerelateerd  geweld 
(2010A010).
Source: The Counteracting Domestic Violence Act as 2005 amended 
in 2010.

(145)  Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to 
the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such 
data.

63

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

on establishing data processing systems that will facilitate 
information exchange in the justice sector, between public 
prosecutors and courts. In Latvia, a centralised register for 
social statistics purposes is under construction. In the Unit-
ed Kingdom, the Crime Statistics Advisory Committee was 
set up in 2012 and offers independent advice to organisa-
tions in the justice sector on the collection and presenta-
tion of crime data.

One important achievement in this sense is the creation of 
working groups or committees in some Member States that 
are specifically focused on the improvement of data collec-
tion on gender-based violence.

In  Ireland,  for  instance,  there  is  a  national  and  cross-sec-
torial committee set up under the National Office for the 
Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence 
(COSC), which is working towards the improvement of ad-
ministrative  data  collection.  COSC  is  organising  bilateral 
talks with individual participants. After this phase has been 
finalised,  it  will  evaluate  these  consultations  to  reach  an 
agreement  on  specific  tasks,  including  the  collection  and 
disaggregation of sex and age specific data.

In  Austria  the  working  group  GenderSTAT  is  coordinated 
and overseen by the Viennese Intervention Centre against 
Domestic Violence. Its overall aim is to improve administra-
tive data collection in Austria regarding the topic of gen-
der-based violence.

Another  approach  to  improving  data  collection  from  ad-
ministrative sources is to focus mainly on addressing regu-
lation, methodology and the quality of data per sector, this is 
the case of Malta, Greece and Sweden, where administra-
tive data sources from different sectors are facing develop-
ments and improvements addressing several changes.

Less ambitious, but also important, initiatives are directed 
to adding new variables with the aim of collecting additional 
information from the administrative sources. This is the case 
in Italy where there is a pilot project to report gender-based 
violence in first aid/emergency units, including variables to 
gather  this  information.  From  2013,  in  France,  the  police 
and  justice  services  have  been  collecting  information  on 
additional variables when recording crimes; such as the sex 
of victims and perpetrators. In Belgium and Poland, revised 

guidelines  include provisions to break down  data on vio-
lence by gender in the production of official statistics.

A  different  approach  to  improving  data  collection  on 
gender-based  violence  is  to  focus  the  development  of 
regulations on a specific form of violence. This means that a 
comprehensive regulation covering data collection on for 
instance,  intimate  partner  violence,  is  implemented,  as  is 
currently happening in Malta.

A third type of action is connected to the establishment of 
comparable indicators. For instance, in the case of Slovenia, 
they are developing a national database on indicators, and 
almost  all  ministries  are  involved  in  the  implementation, 
meaning that the developed methodology for registration 
and the database will most likely be implemented across all 
administrative systems, resulting in comparable data across 
these systems.

International  developments  can  also  influence  changes 
in administrative data. This is the case, for instance, for the 
Eurostat Working Group on Crime and Criminal Justice (146) 
which encourages National Statistical Offices to use inter-
national crime classification systems. The coming into force 
of the Istanbul Convention (147) appears to have triggered 
improvements in several cases: the Austrian Judicial Crim-
inal Statistics are now being revised to meet the Conven-
tion’s minimum standards; in Slovakia, future changes are 
assumed.

Changes in data collection and statistics are also triggered 
by national legal changes, in terms of new or redefined of-
fences or penalties which then result in collection of add- 
itional  data  on  these  incidents,  mainly  impacting  police 
and justice sectors.

When focusing on crimes, in many countries, the National Sta-
tistical Office is the driving force behind the changes in reg-
ulation  to  improve  data collection and statistical products on 
crimes, which includes incidents on gender-based violence. 
For instance, in Hungary, the National Statistical Office seeks 
to incorporate data from outside the criminal justice system 
in order to get a more representative picture of gender-based 

(146) 

Source:  http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/en/crim_
esms.htm 

(147)  Council of Europe (2011), Convention on Preventing and Combating 
Violence  against  Women  and  Domestic  Violence  (Istanbul  Conven-
tion), Council of Europe Treaty Series — No 210, Istanbul.

64

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data4. National legal frameworks on administrative data collection related to gender-based violence

violence incidents beyond those which lead to a conviction. 
In Bulgaria, the national statistical institute is currently imple-
menting a system to automate the codification of incidents. 
In Greece, the statistical office regularly carries out user sat-
isfaction surveys and redesigns the statistical product based 
on that feedback while making sure not to compromise com-
parability over time. In the Netherlands, where the National 
Statistical Office now requests more victim data from the po-
lice, recent changes in statistics methodology had a negative 
impact on the data for a short transitional period.

This section has outlined the legal provisions of gender-based 
violence at national level. It has also provided an overview of 
the main institutions and regulations in place that are relat-
ed to gender-based violence data collection from adminis-
trative sources as well as current development in the field. 
The last section aims to focus on the main conclusions from 
the analysis done in previous sections to end up with recom-
mendations connected to the challenges identified for the 
collection of administrative data on gender-based violence 
at EU level.

65

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 5.  Conclusions and 

recommendations

Executive Summary5. Conclusions and recommendations

5.   Conclusions and 

recommendations

The EU is committed to preventing and combating gen-
der-based  violence  against  women.  This  commitment 
needs to be informed by data and supported in evidence 
on  the  prevalence  and  incidence  of  gender-based  vio-
lence across the EU in order to develop the right policies 
and  actions  to  prevent  and  combat  gender-based  vio-
lence against women and also to monitor their effective-
ness.  Evidence  in  the  form  of  comparable  data  and  har-
monised and systematic data collection on gender-based 
violence is crucial but is also a challenge due to the lack of 
a common understanding of terms and definitions, classi-
fication systems and standardised methodologies across 
the EU-28.

The study, Mapping Administrative Data Sources on Gen-
der-based Violence in the EU-28: Current Status and Poten-
tial for Collection of Comparable Data across the European 
Union,  aims  to  extend  knowledge  about  the  situation 
and the possibilities of administrative data collection 
in the EU 28 by identifying and deeply analysing the main 
sources of administrative data at national level, and the re-
lated  statistical  products. The  mapping  is  focused  on  five 
forms of gender-based violence: intimate partner violence, 
rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment and stalking. The re-
sults and main findings of this study are divided into two 
different  publications,  the  current  one,  focused  on  the  
legal and regulatory framework of data collection on gen-
der-based violence, at international and national level; and 
a second report that addresses the current status and feasi-

bility of using administrative sources for collecting compar- 
able data on incidents related to gender-based violence.

The  central  task  of  the  current  report  is  to  provide  a  co-
herent analysis of the need for, the possibilities of, and the 
challenges  of  collecting  harmonised  and  comparable  ad-
ministrative data on gender-based violence across the EU 
Member  States,  by  focusing  on  the  legal  and  regulatory 
framework underpinning administrative data collection on 
gender-based violence at international and national levels.

It provides an in-depth review of:

 ● the main definitions used, conceptually and legally, in 
the area of gender-based violence at international and 
national levels;

 ● the international commitments and current actions in 
relation to gender-based violence data collection;

 ● the  international  and  national  legal  framework  when 
it relates specifically to the collection of administrative 
data sources.

Preventing  and  combating  gender-based  violence  is  a 
strong EU priority, for which significant commitment exists, 
both in the EU institutions and at Member State-level. Data 
collection related to gender-based violence has been rec-
ognised as an important topic by the EU and the Council 
of Europe and, at international level, many attempts have 
been  made  to  improve  data  collection  on  gender-based 
violence at the EU, European and international levels. Im-
portant steps, including the development of a set of indi-

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 5. Conclusions and recommendations

cators to measure gender-based violence (e.g. United Na-
tions, 2009)and the work on an international and European 
classification  of  crime  (UNODC-Eurostat  task  force),  have 
been taken. In addition, the EU (and its Member States) is 
committed  to  several  international  agreements,  such  as 
the  Beijing  Platform  for  Action  (Area  D:  Violence  Against  
Women), and Member States are about to be committed to 
the Istanbul Convention, and from 2017 must adhere to the 
Victim Directive requests. However, gathering comparable 
and harmonised data in a systematic and standardised way 
across the EU-28 remains a challenge.

Sources  of  data  for  measuring  gender-based  violence 
come from two main sources. It is possible to extract data 
from  administrative  organisations  whose  activity  is  linked 
to gender-based violence (the focus of this report), as these 
data  provide  information  on  incidents;  or  to  rely  on  data 
collected through dedicated surveys, connected normally 
with prevalence figures. Both methods help to know more 
and  understand  better  gender-based  violence  against 
women,  and  they  provide  a  number  of  advantages  and 
shortcomings. In the case of administrative data, the main 
limitation is that it does not show the real picture of gen-
der-based violence due to the high number of unreported 
incidents related to gender-based violence against women.

Administrative data on gender-based violence exist within 
all Member States and are collected from different institu-
tions that deal with victims and/or perpetrators, and are lo-
cated in one of the following sectors or systems: police (e.g. 
municipal, regional and national police); justice, (e.g. courts, 
prosecution offices, criminal and civil justice, and prisons); 
health, (e.g. medical centres and emergency services); social 
services, including the social services of protection, support 
and  assistance  (e.g.  victim  support  centres,  shelters,  legal 
and  psychological  counselling,  and  helplines)  and  social 
welfare  institutions  (e.g.  subsidised  housing,  employment 
aid and welfare benefits); and a fifth sector named ‘Others’, 
where  Civil  Society  Organisations  (CSO),  administrative 
bodies,  (i.e.  ministries  of  labour  or  gender  equality)  or  in-
dependent institutions (i.e. an ombudsperson) that do not 
fall under any of the previous categories have been placed.

This report brings together the various legal and regulatory 
frameworks operating in Member States in relation to gen-
der-based violence administrative data collection across all 
the  mentioned  systems.  It  provides  valuable  information 
on the various practices in Member States. The aim of this 
information  is  to  support  policy-makers  across  Europe  by 
providing a map of the current legal and regulatory frame-

works  which  underpin  efforts  to  collect  harmonised  and 
comparable data on gender-based violence from adminis-
trative sources across the EU.

At  EU  level  the  collection  of  harmonised  and  compar- 
able data from administrative agencies connected to gen-
der-based violence enables:

 ● knowing more about gender-based violence, its exten-

sion and nature;

 ● monitoring, assessing and evaluating the implementa-
tion of legislation and policies; the effectiveness of pre-
vention, protection and prosecution measures; the ex-
tent of services and the use and demand from victims, 
their adequacy and quality; and the societal responses 
to violence against women;

 ● providing a basis for estimating the administrative cost 
of violence against women, making it easier for the au-
thorities and institutions to take budgetary and staffing 
decisions.

5.1  Conclusions

The  feasibility  of  harmonising  and  collecting  comparable 
administrative data across the EU-28 is directly a product of 
consistency in legal and regulatory frameworks, both at EU 
level and in the Member States.

A supranational regulation on gender-based violence 
data collection from administrative agencies does not 
yet  exist  although  the  Victims’  Directive  provides  a 
binding act to start this process

Despite  the  commitment  of  the  EU  in  combating  gen-
der-based violence, and repeated mentions by different EU 
bodies of the lack of comparable data on gender-based vio-
lence across the EU, there is still no regulation that makes 
the collection of administrative data on the different forms 
of gender-based violence mandatory and which guides the 
process and methodology to use to make comparison pos-
sible  across  the  EU-28.  Currently,  the  only  binding  act  for 
data collection on gender-based violence at the EU level is 
Directive 2012/29/EU of 25 October 2012 establishing min-
imum  standards  on  the  rights,  support  and  protection  of 
victims of crime.

Its  preamble  (paragraph  64)  reiterates  the  importance  of 
systematic and adequate statistical data collection, stating 
that it is an essential component of effective policy-making 

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data5. Conclusions and recommendations

in the field of victim rights, including at least the number 
and type of the reported crimes and, as far as such data are 
known and are available, the number, age and sex of the 
victims. It specifies the types of data sources to be used for 
the statistical data sent to the Commission, namely judicial 
authorities, law enforcement agencies, healthcare and so-
cial welfare services and public and non-governmental vic-
tim support or restorative justice services and other organ-
isations working with victims of crime. Moreover, Article 28 
of this Directive requires Member States to communicate 
data  on  how  victims  (including  victims  of  gender-based 
violence) have accessed the rights set out in the Directive, 
from 2017 and every three years thereafter. The Victims’ Dir- 
ective includes also an EU-wide definition of gender-based 
violence and violence committed in close relationships.

Substantial  differences  in  legal  definitions  of  forms 
of  gender-based  violence  prevent  measurement  in  a 
comparable way across the EU Member States

Member States do not each use the same terms, nor define 
different forms of gender-based violence in the same way 
in their national law. These substantial differences in legal 
categorisation and definition make the compilation of data 
and statistics based on legal definitions challenging.

Terminology itself is problematic across Member States. Def- 
initions of related terms such as specialised support services, 
shelters,  or  concrete  behaviours  that  define,  for  instance 
physical violence, vary broadly across Member States.

Legal  definitions  of  different  forms  of  gender-based  vi-
olence  vary  substantially  among  Member  States.  For  ex- 
ample, in the case of intimate partner violence, some Mem-
ber States use the term ‘domestic violence’, while others re-
fer to it as ‘family violence’ in their national law. In the case of 
sexual violence, rape and sexual assault, other terms used 
can be ‘sexual violence’, ‘sexual offence’ or ‘sexual abuse’. For 
stalking, some other legal terms used nationally are ‘intru-
sive  behaviour’  or ‘persistent  persecution’.  In  addition,  this 
research project confirmed that it is possible to distinguish 
between sexual harassment and stalking.

What is included within legal definitions also matters greatly. 
For example, in some Member States, intimate partner vio- 
lence  will  only  encompass  physical  violence,  while  in  
others  a  broader  definition  is  used  which  includes  eco-
nomic and physiological violence. Added to that, intimate 
partner violence can cover current intimate partners but in 

some Member States´ legal definitions also cover ex-part-
ners, or can refer only to married couples or also extend to 
intimate partners that are not married.

Without  a  common  understanding  of  the  terms  and  def- 
initions  used  for  data  collection  and  statistical  purposes 
across the different administrative sectors, the collection of 
harmonised data on gender-based violence by administra-
tive sources will remain impossible at EU level.

Gender-neutrality in legislation ignores the power relations  
between  women  and  men  that  underpin  gender-based 
violence, negatively affecting data collection

Legislation in the majority of Member States, and for most 
forms of gender-based violence is gender-neutral. The in-
formation on the sex of the victim and the perpetrator is a 
prerequisite  to  identifying  incidents  of  gender-based  vio- 
lence.

Since  it  is  up  to  data  producers  and  compilers  to  make 
this distinction visible in their data, this information is not 
systematically  collected.  This  makes  it  almost  impossible 
to  measure  gender-based  violence  in  statistics  obtained 
through  such  administrative  data  where  these  follow  the 
prevailing  legal  definitions  in  Member  States  adopting  a 
gender-neutral approach. 

Criminalised  incidents  are  more  likely  to  be  recorded 
by administrative data sources

A strong link exists between the criminal and administra-
tive collection of data. Where incidents are criminalised, the 
registration of the incident is more likely and data collection 
on gender-based violence occurs in a more systematic way. 
In contrast, this means that administrative data is therefore 
more patchy where incidents are not criminalised. 

This  correlation  is  very  clear  in  agencies  located  in  police 
and justice services. Differences in how each Member State 
prosecutes, under their criminal law, different forms of gen-
der-based  violence  will  impact  the  process  of  collecting 
administrative data.

Given  that  not  all  forms  of  gender-based  violence  are  crim-
inalised  in  the  same  way  across  Member  States,  this  means 
that there may be serious difficulties in collecting data on the 
specific incidents or behaviours that define each form of gen-
der-based violence. In several Member States, sub-categories 

69

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 5. Conclusions and recommendations

of gender-based violence incidents covered by this study are 
listed in the Member State´s criminal law (as a separate crim- 
inal offence or an aggravating feature), while in other Member 
States these incidents appear in civil law (often regarding pro-
tection orders), or they are prosecuted indirectly through other 
types of crimes, making them less likely to be recorded. For ex-
ample, only a few Member States considered intimate partner 
violence as a separate crime, and in most of them it falls un-
der the scope of domestic violence or family violence. In some 
Member  States  intimate  partner  violence  is  considered  only 
an  aggravating  feature;  or  can  only  be  prosecuted  indirectly 
under other crimes. In the case of sexual violence, two of the 
forms considered as sexual violence (rape and sexual assault), 
are criminalised in all EU-28 Member States. Sexual harassment, 
in turn, is criminalised as such, in less than half of the Member 
States. And stalking is a separate criminal offence in fourteen 
Member States but is sometimes named differently.

Regardless  of  whether  forms  of  gender-based  violence  are 
addressed  in  separate  legislation  or  in  one  piece  of  legisla-
tion, a comprehensive legal framework must be applicable to 
each form, including measures for the prevention of violence, 
protection and support of the victim, and punishment of the 
perpetrator, as well as measures to ensure the thorough im-
plementation and evaluation of the law (United Nations, 2009 
(148). This cannot be ensured without comparable data.

Commitment  to  combating  gender-based  violence 
through a National Strategic or Action Plan goes together  
with better coverage of administrative data on gender- 
based violence

The legal and regulatory framework within which Member 
States approach the different types of gender-based violence 
impacts on the practice of data collection. In those Mem-
ber  States  where  gender-based  violence  is  poorly  cover- 
ed in national legislation, data collection is more limited in 
coverage,  timeliness,  accuracy  and  quality.  Conversely,  in 
Member States and sectors with clear coverage and con-
cern  about  gender-based  violence  incidents  at  national 
level,  administrative  organisations  are  required  to  collect 
relevant data on gender-based violence and, where appro-
priate, to share information.

(148) 

Source: UN Handbook for legislation on violence against women. 
2009.  Available  at:  http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/
handbook/Handbook  %20for  %20legislation  %20on  %20violence 
%20against %20women.pdf

70

In  total,  18  Member  States  had  specific  National  Action 
Plans  or  strategies  to  combat  violence  against  women, 
some of them stressing the need for data collection. How-
ever, these provided few general guidelines for a systematic 
and common methodology across systems and organisa-
tions, if any, in the collection of administrative data on gen-
der-based violence for statistical purposes. 

Therefore,  the  absence  of  a  regulatory  framework  specif- 
ically related to gender-based violence administrative data 
collection  in  Member  States,  and  the  lack  of  common 
guidance  underpinning  data  collection  on  gender-based 
violence do not sufficiently enable the collection of com-
parable data on gender-based violence across the different 
administrative data sources in EU Member States.

Increasing  regulations  on  administrative  data  collec-
tion in gender-based violence at national level is key to 
achieve  greater  comparability  of  administrative  data 
across the EU

In all Member States there are some rules in place regulat-
ing administrative data collection and the associated offi-
cial  statistics,  often  not  set  in  law  (but  rather  captured  in 
national action plans or internal guidelines) and not specif-
ically targeted at data collection on gender-based violence. 
Specific rules are highly conducive to achieving data that is 
comparable within a Member State, which in turn increases 
the feasibility of achieving comparable administrative data 
across Member States.

The  majority  of  Member  States  have  general  policies  in 
place regarding collection of data within the police system, 
and some of them in the justice system, which would in-
clude data collection on gender-based violence. However, 
these  policies  often  exclude  data  collection  on  incidents 
that are not criminalised, hence are not all-encompassing. 
Within the health system and social services systems, col-
lection  and  management  of  administrative  or  statistical 
data  on  gender-based  violence  is  often  carried  out  at  lo-
cal or sub-national level and national requirements do not  
exist. In some Member States there are rules in place aimed 
at data collection only on intimate partner violence across 
all sectors, thus applicable for all organisations registering 
data on that incident.

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data5. Conclusions and recommendations

The  regulation  and  collection  of  administrative  data 
is  hampered  due  to  the  lack  of  a  specific  institution  or 
defined inter-sectorial mechanisms in place coordinating 
the process

The decentralisation of governments or systems makes 
it more difficult to collect, coordinate and compile data 
in a comparable way across different levels

One important difficulty for collecting comparable admin-
istrative data on gender-based violence across the EU, is the 
decentralisation of the government as a whole or some of 
the  sector  or  systems  in  some  Member  States,  especially 
social services and NGOs, which affects the coordination of 
administrative data collection at a national level.

It  results  in  a  high  number  of  administrative  organisa-
tions  with  responsibilities  for  working  with  victims  and 
perpetrators of gender-based violence. This heterogene-
ity makes it more difficult to collect and compile data in 
a comparable way  across different  levels  of  government 
and more difficult to coordinate the collection and com-
pilation of data in a harmonised and comprehensive way 
across Member States.

Confidentiality  rules  represent  an  important  obstacle 
faced by data compilers

Data  protection  agencies  are  involved  at  some  level  in 
the  regulation  of  administrative  data  collection,  particu-
larly in the health and social support services, because of 
the sensitivity of patient and services’ user data. This fact 
make it more difficult and complex to access the data and 
information from National Statistical Offices and other in-
stitutions working on statistics productions. In many cas-
es,  dissemination  of  data  to  third  agencies  needs  to  be 
mandatory or regulated to enable the exchange of infor-
mation  while  guaranteeing  the  data  protection  of  both 
victim and perpetrator.

In addition, the safety of the victim is a priority among so-
cial and healthcare institutions which also adds difficulties 
to the access or use of primary or raw data.

A  main  institution  regulating  administrative  data  collec-
tion exists in only a few Member States. In most Member 
States, instead the responsibility for regulating data collec-
tion from administrative sources on gender-based violence 
lies  with  the  government  ministries,  and  in  most  cases  is 
focused on specific sectors, with a lack of intersectorial co-
ordination on this specific issue.

In some Member States there are specific bodies or institu-
tions that are focused on coordinating administrative data 
collection and dissemination, whether at a sectorial level or 
covering  all  sectors. These  institutions  are  responsible  for 
the  data  processing,  periodic  dissemination,  exploitation 
and  inclusion  of  data  in  statistical  and  qualitative  studies 
by  professional  groups,  institutions  and  administrations. 
In  many  countries,  the  National  Statistical  Office  appears 
to be the driving force behind changes in improving data 
collection and statistical products, not specifically for gen-
der-based violence, but in general. It has a central role in 
regulating data collection for statistics, as they receive in-
formation from different administrative data sources, which 
would enable the coordination, control and supervision of 
collecting  the  relevant  administrative  data  from  agencies 
of different systems, if they are thinking of harmonising and 
collecting comparable data.

The police and/or the public prosecution agencies play an 
important  role  in  regulating  data  collection  in  their  own 
system  in  ten  Member  States,  by  issuing  internal  rules  on 
data recording in police and/or prosecution administrative 
sources. However, there is a lack of systematic coordination 
between  systems  to  guarantee  the  availability  and  quality 
of data collected by the different agencies interacting with 
victims or perpetrators of gender-based violence. This fact is 
widespread among different administrative sources, even for 
instance between police and justice services, which are the 
sectors  most  connected.  As  highlighted  by  the  Council  of 
Europe, without systematic coordination, progress in admin-
istrative data collection is difficult (Council of Europe, 2008).

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Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data 5. Conclusions and recommendations

5.2  Recommendations

A  specific  institution  or  defined  intersectorial  mech-
anisms  are  needed  to  coordinate  data  collection  in 
each Member State

The implementation of a specific institution, group or mech-
anism of coordination will guide and support the produc-
tion  and  dissemination  of  statistics  on  gender-based  vio- 
lence. The main goal of this coordinating system should be 
to  guarantee  the  independence  of  the  statistical  produc-
tion,  the  coordination  of  data  collection  among  different 
systems, the agreement on common definitions and stan-
dardised and systematic methodologies, as well as ensur-
ing the quality of data.

One  development  that  could  serve  as  a  model  for  other 
Member States is the setting up of working groups to co-
ordinate  improvements  in  administrative  data  collection 
on  gender-based  violence.  This  is  already  implemented 
in some Member States where different National Working 
Groups  or  Committees  have  been  set  up  to  coordinate 
improvements  in  the  statistical  products  and  to  establish 
harmonised information systems related to gender-based 
violence service-data

Common  terms  and  definitions  for  administrative 
data  collection  and  statistical  purposes  in  relation  to 
gender-based  violence  need  to  be  agreed  among  EU 
Member States

At Member State level, the main coordinating institutions 
in gender-based violence data collection, for instance, the 
National Statistical Offices if there is no other administrative 
body, should agree and use common definitions for statis-
tical purposes, drawing upon but independent of the legal 
definitions of the different forms of gender-based violence 
for  the  purpose  of  collecting  comparable  administrative 
data  at  European  level  from  different  sectors  or  systems 
(police, justice, social services and health).

This can be supported by setting-up a task force facilitated 
by  the  EIGE  in  conjunction  with  Eurostat  for  the  purpose 
of building a common understanding among EU-28 in the 
definition of gender-based violence and the forms of gen-
der-based violence for statistical purposes.

The  introduction  of  a  standard  crime  classification 
system, including crimes related to gender-based vio-
lence, for statistical purposes across the EU is needed

Having referenced the work done by the UNECE Task Force 
that  developed  the  first  International  Crime  Classification 
Framework  for  statistical  purposes  (149),  approved  in  June 
2012; and using Eurostat as the driving force to enable this 
action  and  its Working  Group  on  Statistics  on  Crime  and 
Criminal Justice, the development of a crimes classification 
system, including crimes related to gender-based violence, 
focused on statistical purposes is needed.

A useful resource to use as reference is the UN Manual for 
the Development of a System of Criminal Justice Statistics 
of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics 
Division of the United Nations which makes a clear distinc-
tion between international classifications of crime for stat- 
istical purposes, as opposed to legal definitions of crimes.

In  addition,  as  the  Istanbul  Convention  has  triggered  ac-
tions  for  data  collection  on  gender-based  violence  in  a 
number  of  Member  States  already,  which  will  enter  into 
force on 1 August 2014, it could be used as a starting point, 
as  it  includes  not  only  a  definition  of  gender-based  vio-
lence against women but also the categories of crime re-
lated to gender-based violence relevant within the scope 
of this report: 

 ● Article 34 — Stalking;

 ● Article 36 — Sexual Violence, including Rape;

 ● Article 40 — Sexual Harassment;

 ● Articles  52  and  53  —  partly  cover  domestic  violence, 

including intimate partner violence.

The same definitions as in the Istanbul Convention are used 
at EU level in Directive 2012/29/EU for intimate partner vio-
lence  and  in  Directive  2006/54/EC  for  sexual  harassment. 
This  shows  some  consistency  for  these  definitions  across 
the  EU,  and  their  further  implementation  and  use  could 
substantiate their meaning.

(149)  UNODC/UNECE Task Force on Crime Classification to the Conference  
of  European  Statisticians,  Principles  and  Framework 
for  an 
International  Classification  Of  Crimes  for  Statistical  Purposes,  June 
2012.  (Available  at:  http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-
analysis/statistics/crime/Report_crime_classification_2012.pdf )

72

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data5. Conclusions and recommendations

Moreover, the distinction between sexual harassment and 
stalking should be maintained in the categories and defin- 
itions of forms of gender-based violence for statistical pur-
poses across the EU 28.

Guidelines  regulating  administrative  data  collection 
on  gender-based  violence  from  different  sectors  and 
across the EU-28 need to be provided

The EIGE and Eurostat play a key role in the development of 
these guidelines, and the support of EU institutions and EU 
Member States for their implementation through a formal 
mechanism is crucial in this respect. The EIGE, as the Centre 
of Knowledge in the EU on gender issues, can provide evi- 
dence-based information and expertise on gender-based 
violence  data  collection.  Eurostat,  as  the  institution  col-
lecting  data  and  providing  statistics  at  EU  level,  should 
support Member States in the implementation of formal 
processes that guarantee the reliability and quality of data 
and methodology.

In the social and health services, where it is more difficult 
to collect information, it is important, to facilitate women 
to report violence, at the same time as ensuring that their 
privacy  and  safety  are  respected  and  guaranteed  during 
that process. This includes respecting womens’ right not to 

report a gender-based violence incident. Therefore, guide-
lines  improving  administrative  data  collection  on  gen-
der-based  violence  across  the  EU  need  to  recognise  the 
limits  involved  in  making  data  collection  compulsory  (for 
example by social services) without infringing upon victims’ 
fundamental rights (including the right not to report and to 
remain anonymous).

One way of dealing with this challenge is to combine data 
on identified victims with ‘presumed’ victims. This approach 
was adopted by the European Commission in its data col-
lection  efforts  on  trafficking  in  human  beings  (150).  How- 
ever,  disseminating  data  on  gender-based  violence  does 
not mean that privacy policies are being violated. As long 
as the disseminated data are anonymous, i.e. as long as no 
personal data on the individual can be extracted, it could 
comply with most data protection legislation. Therefore, a 
balanced approach needs to be taken when collecting ad-
ministrative data from across Europe that respects the priv-
acy of the victim, and the privacy of perpetrator data, but 
also allows for dissemination of meaningful information

(150)  UNODC/UNECE Task Force on Crime Classification to the Conference 
of  European  Statisticians,  Principles  and  Framework 
for  an 
International  Classification  Of  Crimes  for  Statistical  Purposes,  June 
2012.  (Available  at:  http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-
analysis/statistics/crime/Report_crime_classification_2012.pdf )

73

Administrative data sources on gender-based violence against women in the EUCurrent status and potential for the collection of comparable data Bibliography

Executive SummaryBibliography

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