The Focus You Have Chosen for Your Next Report Is an Important One Indeed, and We Are Looking

No. 900.912/12-2005

Dear Ms. Ertürk,

With reference to your letter of 16 August 2005, in which you requested information relating to the due diligence standard as provided for in Art 4 (c) of CEDAW, I have the honour to forward to you,on behalf of my government,the relevant information concerning Austria.

The focus you have chosen for your next report is an important one indeed, and we are looking forward to learning more about the findings and analysis of your study.

Sincerely.

Elisabeth Ellison

(Counsellor)

Ms. Yakin Ertürk

Special Rapporteur on

Violence against Women

Office of the

High Commissioner for

Human Rights

Palais Wilson

Geneva

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Information for the Special Rapporteur on violence against women

October 2005

I. Measures to prevent violence against women in the family and community

At present, initiated by the minister for Health and Women, 6 ministries in close cooperation design measures to prevent harmful traditional practises, especially forced marriage and female genital mutilation, including e.g. information campaigns targeted at teachers as well as legal amendments where necessary.

During the Austrian presidency in 2006 the topic “harmful traditional practises” will be a focal point too. Therefore a conference dealing with this theme will take place on 25th of january 2006 in Brussels.

Furthermore a Round Table to deal with trafficking in women, attended by about 100 experts and representatives of the Federal Ministries concerned, is planed soon to improve coordination and to discuss further steps.

For constant exchange of relevant informations between all concerned ministries and coordination of their positions, in May 2003 an informal working group dealing with trafficking in persons was established in the Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs. In 2004, this working group was formally disposed by the Federal Government as a Task Force.

Public awareness campaigns

Currently an extensive information brochure dealing with violence against women and including an extensive list of counselling and support services, that was first published in 2001, was updated on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Health and Women. This brochure is sent free of charge to all interested relevant information centres for further distribution and of course – on request – to all interested women. Additionaly it is available on the website of the Federal Ministry for Health and Women.

Furthermore the Austrian Government constantly finances activities, carried out by NGOs, to make more aware of and sensitive to the problem of violence against women.

Efforts to educate girls and boys from a young age about gender equality

The Counselling Agency for Men in Vienna carries out a project to work with youngsters in schools and youth centers. It aims at learning strategies to satisfy

needs without using force respective violence.

Men´s Programmes – Prevention

One aspect of the issue "violence in the domestic sphere and social environment" is the treatment of people who maltreated or sexually abused children and women. Numerous scientific studies demonstrated that social work with the perpetrators decreases the ratio of recidivism and thus helps to prevent suffering in the future.

Therefore social work with the perpetrators makes an important contribution to protect victims and to prevent additional acts of violence.

In Austria a working group developed standards for perpetrator programms, the model project “Work with men who abused children” was realised, the key insights obtained by research evaluation were published in september 2002.

Concerning domestic violence, the Counselling Agency for Men in Vienna and the Intervention Centre Vienna carry out a joined program to work with perpetrators since several years. The program consists of three elements:

• an Anti-Violence-Training for perpetrators (carried out by the Counselling Agency for Men),
• a support programm for the partners of the participants (carried out by the Intervention Centre) and
• monitoring and cooperation to safeguard the victim´s safety (carried out by both of them).

In Tyrol, one of Austria´s nine provinces, in november 2004 a similar project has started, carried out by the Intervention Centre Tyrol and the Counselling Agency for Men in Innsbruck (the capital of the province Tyrol).

Other Counselling Agencies for Men offer work with perpetrators too, but usually do not cooperate with auxiliary attachments for victims in this way.

Legislative measures to prevent violence against women

In the first place, the Austrian Federal Act on Protection in the Family (“Protection from Violence Act”) has to be mentioned.

Protection from Violence Act:

With the enactment of the Federal Act on Protection against Violence in the Family (“Protection from Violence Act“) on May 1, 1997, the legal provisions for quick and effective protective measures for victims of domestic violence were considerably improved. This act is based on three pillars: barring order, issued by the Police; Intervention Centres to assist victims; and interim injunctions, issued by Family Courts.

Barring orders (§ 38a Security Police Act):

The key element of the reform was providing the police with the power to remove a person who presents a danger from the scene, prohibiting him to enter the home of a potential victim and to keep clear of this site within a certain distance. If the perpertrator is found to be inside the home of the victim (the endangered person), an "order of restraint" is imposed against the suspect, which means the perpertrator is barred from the victim's home and its vicinity. Barring orders are issued if ”a dangerous assault on a person´s life, health or freedom appears imminent“. These security police provisions apply to all persons living in a home, regardless of ownership or whether they are related to one another. When intervening, the police officers are held to inform the abused person about suitable victim protection facilities, i.e. the Intervention Centres (more on that later) and to immediately notify the Intervention Centre in charge about the issuing of a barring order.

Each barring order is to be reviewed by security police organs within 48 hours. Compliance with barring orders has to be checked by the police at least once within the first three days. The order is valid for a maximum of 10 days. If the victim applies to a local Family Court for a interim injunction within the set term, the order is prolonged for a maximum of 20 days.

Intervention Centres:

Another key element of the reform are the socalled Intervention Centers that are to be informed of police actions, as a rule by immediate transmission of the police report, or within 24 hours at the very latest. The centers proactively contact the potential victim and offer advice and assistance

The centres are the first private "victim protection institutions" of that nature, and police authorities are obliged to cooperate with them. They are financed by the Austrian Ministry of the Interior and the Austrian Ministry of Health and Women on a contractual basis. For more details see point “support/protection”.

Interim Injunction by Family Courts:

Every person who lives or lived with the perpetrator in a family-like relationship may apply for an interim injunction.

The family court has to issue an interim injunction, banning the perpetrator from the home of the person at risk (even if it is their common home) and from the immediate vicinity, if the situation makes life or the encounter with the perpetrator intolerable for the victim and the victim urgently needs to live there.

Moreover, the court may, upon request, forbid the presence of the perpetrator at certain locations (workplace of the woman, kindergarten/school) and further forbid him to establish any form of contact with the victim, as long as this is not prejudicial to the perpetrators gravest interests.

An interim injunction is valid for a maximum period of 3 months. If a family-law action is brought against the perpetrator within this period, e.g. a divorce suit, the interim injunction may remain effective until the suit is closed.

Even before the Protection from Violence Act entered into force, it was possible that a wife - as a preliminary measure to initiate divorce proceedings and under restrictive conditions - could obtain an interim injunction against her violent husband, expelling him from the home.

With an amendment of the Regulation on Execution, in 1997 and especially in 2004, this instrument was considerably further developed, as it is no longer linked to a formal marriage, and enforcement of the interim injunction has become more effective.

Interdisciplinary training and follow-up training of police officers

Adequate training of law enforcement officers is of particular importance in connection with effective prevention of domestic violence.

One of the key factors is to make the officers understand causes and dynamics of violence in relationships and for the situation of a person who has become a victim of such a violent relationship. Further central topics deal with myths about violence, victim and culprit psychology, victim traumatology, violence against children, role and task of victim shelters, in particular the Intervention Centres and Youth Welfare, including the legal bases.

In Austria, at the end of the eighties, police officers were for the first time trained on the subject of domestic violence. These training courses were designed and organised jointly with staff of the victim shelters.

Later on, and based on the knowledge obtained from the training seminars, a 1-day seminar, commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior, was designed by the Austrian Association of Shelters (for Female Victims of Violence) for the basic law enforcement training syllabus and in 1992 implemented as a model project.

In 1995, the seminar was extended to 2 days. For this model a new training concept was designed. The most important element of the new seminar concept was the enhancement of interdisciplinary cooperation by team teaching. The seminar part "Intervention by law enforcement" is taught jointly by instructors from shelter facilities and police.

In autumn 2004, the instructor pairs were thoroughly re-trained in topical subjects such as Security Police Act, threat assessment, nature and dynamics of violence in relationships and victim protection, with the objective to develop new training priorities, adjusted to regional differences.

Regional meetings in rural areas

One key element of the Protection from Violence Act consists in the cooperation between law enforcement authorities and the institutions (InterventionCenter, shelters, consultation for men, youth welfare, etc.).

Socalled Cooperation Meetings of representatives from the gendarmery (until 1st of July 2005 the law enforcement agency in rural areas; since then police and gendarmery are integrated in a combined unit, the police), the local courts, and local social institutions are held. The participants are given an overview over police intervention involving the Protection of Violence Act and the experiences by the family contact officers (see the following point) in enforcing the Protection of Violence Act, and have the opportunity to report what they experience, and to optimise work flow and cooperation.

Other factors that need to be taken into account are the social context of victims in a rural environment. Priests, mayors, social workers, doctors, and other potential contact persons are important target groups, because they are opinion-forming on the one hand, and often they are a first place to turn to in case of family problems on the other hand. It is important to familiarise especially these persons what the possibilities are under the Protection of Violence Act.

Family contact officers serving as central information interface in the rural areas

Upon introduction of the Protection from Violence Act, gendarmery family contact officers were appointed in order to ensure more effective prevention of acts of domestic violence.

Their main tasks are:

• dealing with cases of violation of domestic violence, drawing up expert opinions, and supporting their colleagues during complex interventions in a domestic environment;
• linking and updating information about known victims and perpetrators;
• talking to suspects making sure they realize to have violated norms and laws;
• supporting the victims, unless they have to apply to an intervention center;
• providing network and interface to intervention centers, courts, and other institutions dealing with domestic violence.

Case conferences in crisis situations and severe cases of violence

In order to prevent further escalation in cases of very serve violence, interdisciplinary case conferences will be instituted at district level. The purpose is to exchange information, to optimise work flows, and take inter-agency preventive measures for comprehensive protection of the victim.

Mandatory reporting for physicians:

In Austria, all punishable offences, which are to be prosecuted by law, can be reported by any person. Naturally, this is also true of cases of domestic violence.

According to the Physician Law of 1998 (Ärztegesetz) physicians are sworn to secrecy about all secrets entrusted or made known to them in the execution of their duty. But in case of reasonable suspicion that an act punishable by law has lead to death or serious bodily injury of a person, they are obliged to report this to the police. In the latter case, they have to inform the victim about institutions for the protection of victims – to prevent more violence.

Hence, minor bodily injuries are not subject to mandatory reporting.

If the victim is under age, special provisions apply: If a minor is suspected of having been maltreated, tortured, neglected, or sexually abused, the physician is obliged to report the case. If the suspicion is directed against a close relative, reporting may be omitted as long as this is necessary for the well-being of the minor and results in a cooperation with youth welfare authorities and, if necessary, the intervention of a child protection team in a hospital.

Efforts to measure changes in attitudes and perceptions of violence against women

The number of barring orders issued by the police as well as the number of clients supported by the Intervention Centres is monitored constantly. As below - mentioned statistics show, both indicators increase constantly, while the number of settlement of disputes (a less intrusive police measure, consisting in calming down the arguing parties to make them stop quarreling) decreases.

II. Measures to protect and provide services to women who have been subjected to violence by private actors

Police response to violence against women

The most important police tasks in cases of domestic violence can be summarised as follows:

• Assessing the danger, and if necessary, eliminate the danger.
• Filing a charge if a criminal offence was committed. Depending on the severity of the offence, the individual exerting violence is either to be arrested and a ban including an order of restraint is to be imposed, based on a threat assessment. In other words, there has to be certain degree of likelihood that a "dangerous assault" (which constitutes a criminal offence) against life, health, freedom will occur. The criteria to be applied are present and any previous criminal offences, especially if of violent nature, use of weapons or threats to do so, bodily injuries. threats, and also statements taken from neighbours and witnesses, confirming the suspect's aggressive behaviour, and his conduct visavis the intervening police officers.
• As a rule, expulsion order and prohibition to enter the home are imposed together, ex officio, which means it happens irrespective of what the victim would want to happen, home ownership, or in whose name rented. An exception might be a situation where the violent individual has already left the scene when the police arrive. In such a case, only a ban to enter the home would be imposed.
• Taking away the keys to the home
• Duty to inform
• the victim about possible legal steps and about the application for an interim injunction, and about victim protection facilities
• the suspect about the legal provisions and the consequences if not adhered to, the area he is prohibited to enter, how long he is barred from the victim's home, and where he can take accommodation.
• The suspect must be allowed to take with him essential items needed daily
• Detailed recording of the police operation including facts of case, required to take legal action under civil law and documenting that the victim cannot be expected to live with the suspect any longer.
• transmission of the police report to the Interventions centre
• Review of the prohibition to return to the home by the law enforcement authorities (legal officer) within 48 hours – followed by lifting the ban, if unjustifiedly imposed.
• Review of the prohibition to return to the home within the first three days, by the police.
• Additional protection measures for persons extremely at risk (especially personal surveillance).

The Security Police Act permits to forward person-related data to suitable victim protection facilities (the Intervention Centre) as far as necessary to provide protection to individuals at risk. As a rule, the entire police report is forwarded, but person-related data of third parties, such as witnesses, have to be anonymised for reasons of data protection.

Police intervention prior to the Protection of Violence Act

Also before the implementation of the Protection from Violence Act 1997, the police took action if reports pointing to domestic violence were received. The measures taken then were referred to as "settlement of disputes", mainly consisting in attempts of conciliation between the parties involved by talking and calming them down. In severe cases the officers advised the woman or wife to temporarily seek shelter in a safe place.

The point was not to split up the relation between suspect and victim, on the contrary, the aim was to mediate between the arguing parties.

However, in many instances, no charge was filed, despite distinct indications that a criminal offence had been committed. The reason was the assumption that law enforcement officers only had the duty to appease, and that any sort of escalation of the argument would have a negative effect on the partnership, and was therefore considered counter-productive.