Policy paper

Istanbul Convention progress report 2020 (accessible version)

Updated 21 December 2021

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

October 2020

Presented to Parliament pursuant to section 2 of the Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Act 2017

Introduction

This is the fourth annual report laid before Parliament in accordance with the requirements of section 2 of the Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Act 2017.^{[footnote 1]} It follows the third Report on progress, which was laid in Parliament on 31 October 2019 and sets out progress toward ratification since the UK signed the Convention in 2012.

This report provides an overview of the UK’s progress toward ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (“the Istanbul Convention”), including measures taken forward since the third Report on Progress. The Convention covers both reserved and devolved areas, and this report therefore covers the whole of the UK.

In line with the requirements of the 2017 Act, this report sets out:

• the administrative measures taken by the Government to enable the UK to ratify the Istanbul Convention;
• the legislative proposals brought forward, including those in the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales, to enable the UK to ratify the Convention; and
• the measures to be taken and legislation required to enable the UK to ratify the Convention.

It is set out in line with the Istanbul Convention’s key objectives of:

• Integrated policy
• Prevention
• Protection
• Prosecution

Executive Summary

Protecting women and girls from violence and abuse, and supporting victims and survivors, remain key priorities for this Government. Violence against women and girls (VAWG) crimes are extremely serious and have a huge impact both for those subjected to such violence and more broadly on our economy, health services, and the criminal justice system. The 2018/19 Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated that approximately 1.6 million women experienced domestic abuse in the previous year.

The Government signed the Istanbul Convention in 2012 to reaffirm the UK’s strong commitment to tackling VAWG. The Convention consists of 81 articles aimed at tackling VAWG which focus on prevention, protection of victims, prosecution, and integrated policies. As set out in the 2019 Progress Report the UK already complies with, or goes further than, almost all the Convention’s articles. A key element of the Convention is making sure that ratifying states can use their national law to prosecute offences required by the Convention when those offences are committed by their nationals or residents overseas (Article 44). The legal term for powers to allow prosecution in the UK of offences committed overseas is ‘extraterritorial jurisdiction’. Taking extraterritorial jurisdiction over offences required by the Convention that are not currently subject to such jurisdiction requires primary legislation.

On 3 March 2020 we reintroduced the landmark Domestic Abuse Bill in Parliament, which includes necessary legislative measures on extraterritorial jurisdiction for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as required by Article 44. Subject to parliamentary approval, the Bill is expected to achieve Royal Assent by spring 2021, and the provisions which enable England and Wales to be compliant with Article 44 will commence automatically two months after Royal Assent. The Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Ministers will need to make commencement regulations to bring their respective provisions into force. Together with provisions in the Domestic Abuse and Family Proceedings Bill currently before the Northern Ireland Assembly (which gives extraterritorial effect to the new domestic abuse offence in Northern Ireland) the Domestic Abuse Bill will satisfy, throughout the UK, the jurisdiction requirements of Article 44.

At the time of the last progress report, when devolved government had not been restored in Northern Ireland, the Bill also contained provision for a new domestic abuse offence in Northern Ireland, which would make Northern Ireland compliant with Article 33 of the Istanbul Convention (psychological violence). Since the restoration of devolved government, provision for the new offence has been removed from the Westminster Bill and placed in the Domestic Abuse and Family Proceedings Bill, which was introduced into the Northern Ireland Assembly on 31 March 2020. The Assembly Bill also provides for the new domestic abuse offence to be subject to extraterritorial jurisdiction. As soon as that Bill receives Royal Assent and the relevant provisions are implemented, Northern Ireland will become compliant with Articles 33 and 44 (when taken with the extraterritorial jurisdiction provisions relating to Northern Ireland in the Westminster Bill).

The issue of support for migrant victims of domestic abuse was one of those raised by the Joint Committee. In its response, the Government committed to:

review the overall response to migrant victims of domestic abuse, taking careful account of evidence provided by stakeholders on this issue. The review will specifically consider the Committee’s recommendation to extend the period of time that support is offered for and how this relates to a victim’s ability to access refuge accommodation. In considering our response to those who are eligible for the DDVC, we will take into account any obligations we may have under the Istanbul Convention to ensure we are compliant.^{[footnote 2]}

This relates to Articles 4(3) (to the extent that it relates to non-discrimination on the grounds of migrant or refugee status) and 59 of the Convention in particular.

The review has now completed and the review findings^{[footnote 3]} were published on 3 July 2020 on Gov.uk. 24 expert organisations and groups contributed to the review through a series of meetings and workshops, and this was followed by a Final Call for Evidence in March 2020 to charities and other relevant stakeholders. However, despite the contributions from stakeholders, the review concluded that the evidence made available has not enabled us to identify the scale and scope of potential needs of migrant victims.

That is why, on 28 April at Second Reading of the Domestic Abuse Bill, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Safeguarding announced that the Government would later in the year invite bids for grants from the £1.5 million Support for Migrant Victims (SMV) scheme to cover the cost of support in a refuge or other safe accommodation for migrant victims of domestic abuse, who are unable to access public funds. This pilot scheme will help to obtain the evidence needed to develop sustainable solutions for all migrant victims of domestic abuse over the longer-term.

We have therefore recorded Articles 4(3) (to the extent that it relates to non- discrimination on the grounds of migrant or refugee status) and 59 as “under review” pending the evaluation and findings from the SMV scheme. A draft prospectus outlining the details for the scheme was published on Gov.uk on 19 October.

In addition to the provisions on extraterritorial jurisdiction referred to above, the Domestic Abuse Bill also contains provisions to:

• define domestic abuse in law to underpin other measures in the Bill;
• establish in law the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, to stand up for victims and survivors, raise public awareness, monitor the response of local authorities, the justice system and other statutory agencies, and hold them to account in tackling domestic abuse;
• provide for a new Domestic Abuse Protection Notice and Domestic Abuse Protection Order;
• prohibit perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims in person in the family and civil courts;
• create a statutory presumption that victims of domestic abuse are eligible for special measures in the criminal, civil and family courts (for example, to enable them to give evidence via a video link);
• enable domestic abuse offenders to be made subject to polygraph testing as a condition of their licence following their release from custody;
• place the guidance supporting the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (“Clare’s law”) on a statutory footing;
• ensure that where a local authority, for reasons connected with domestic abuse, grants a new secure tenancy to a social tenant who had or has a secure lifetime or assured tenancy (other than an assured shorthold tenancy) this must be a secure lifetime tenancy;
• introduce a statutory duty on tier one local authorities in England to provide support to victims of domestic abuse and their children in safe accommodation and;
• address the so-called “rough sex defence” to make clear that a defendant’s claim that a victim had consented to serious harm or worse for sexual gratification is not a defence.

The Government’s response to the domestic abuse consultation sets commitments designed to promote awareness of domestic abuse; protect and support victims and their families; transform the justice process to prioritise victim safety and provide an effective response to perpetrators; and drive consistency and better performance in the response to domestic abuse across all local areas, agencies and sectors. Non-legislative commitments include:

• introducing regulations and statutory guidance on Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Health Education;
• investing in domestic abuse training for responding agencies and professionals;
• developing national guidance for police on serial and repeat perpetrators;
• improving awareness and understanding of the controlling and coercive behaviour offence and reviewing the effectiveness of that offence; and
• continuing to develop means to collect, report and track domestic abuse data.

In March 2016 we published our cross-Government VAWG Strategy, which set out our approach to tackling all forms of VAWG, including domestic abuse, so called ‘honour-based’ abuse, stalking and sexual violence. The Strategy recognised the gendered nature of these crimes, and committed to continuing to challenge deep- rooted social norms, attitudes and behaviours that discriminate against and limit women and girls across all communities. The Strategy was underpinned by £100 million of funding. In March 2019, we published a refreshed Strategy to ensure that we were doing all that we could to tackle these crimes which disproportionately affect women. The refresh reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to tackling all forms of VAWG, captured new programmes of work, including the Domestic Abuse Bill, and set out 54 new actions that the Government committed to take to drive forward this agenda. We remain committed to the 2016 Strategy, and our overarching strategic approach remains the same: to prevent VAWG, ensure that provision of services is as effective as possible, build partnerships across the statutory and non-statutory sectors, and pursue perpetrators. Alongside the refreshed Strategy we published an Action Plan Progress Report, which provided an update for the 95 actions committed to in 2016. Of these 95 actions, 54 had been completed, 29 were on track to be delivered by the date set out in 2016, and 12 remained a work in progress, due to be delivered by 2020. We are currently reviewing the progress of the outstanding actions and plan to publish an update shortly. In addition, we published the first cross-Government Male Victims Position Statement to strengthen and clarify our response to male victims of crimes covered by the VAWG Strategy.

Although much has been achieved over the last decade, there remains more to be done. The risks of violence against women and girls that existed ten years ago are still there, but the pace of societal and technological change means that new and evolving forms of crimes against women and girl are continuously emerging.

We are determined to build on our previous action to reduce VAWG through a cross- Government approach. Officials are currently working on options for a new Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy to cover the length of this Parliament, which will be published in 2021.

On 9 October, the Home Secretary appointed Nimco Ali OBE as an Independent Government Advisor on Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls. She will advise the Home Secretary and other ministers on the Government’s new Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.

One of the key commitments in the VAWG Strategy Refresh was the establishment of an end-to-end review into the criminal justice response to rape. Over the last few years we have seen reductions in the volumes of police referrals, charges, prosecutions and convictions for rape and serious sexual offences. The review, which is being jointly led by the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Attorney General’s Office, seeks to establish why this has happened and identify any issues within the system that have contributed to the fall in outcomes. Using this key evidence, we are developing and will publish a set of actions to address any issues identified. The review is considering the process from the point of police report through to the final outcome in court to identify where issues exist, so that we can take steps to improve our response, and we are working closely with the police, CPS, courts, and specialist victim services. The review is expected to report later this year.

Since the 2019 Report on Progress we have completed two consultations on improving the Victims’ Code and will be bringing the revised Code into force later this year. This will then feed into the work on the Victims’ Law.

In April 2020, we increased the funding available to rape support centres across England and Wales by 50%, bringing the core funding for centres to £12 million per year. In addition, the Government committed a further £4 million of funding to recruit new Independent Sexual Violence Advisers to help victims feel informed and supported at every stage of their recovery journey. Finally, the Government has provided £76 million of funding to ensure that victims and survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and modern slavery, as well as vulnerable children and their families, receive the support they need during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Devolved administrations

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland’s 2016 ‘Stopping Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse Strategy’ defines ‘domestic violence and abuse’ and ‘sexual violence and abuse’ in line with the Istanbul Convention and acknowledges that anyone can be a victim irrespective of age, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or any form of disability. The Strategy identifies the need to raise awareness and to promote a zero tolerance approach to domestic and sexual violence and abuse. An Information and Communication Plan has been developed to support the Strategy and promote the delivery of the initiatives under it. Annual actions plans are published under which a range of cross-governmental initiatives are taken forward.

Scotland

The Scottish Government is implementing ‘Equally Safe, Scotland’s Strategy to tackle all forms of VAWG’ – which entails working with stakeholders to prevent violence from occurring in the first place, building the capability and capacity of mainstream and specialist services to support survivors and those at risk, and strengthening the justice response to victims and perpetrators. Scotland has invested significant levels of funding in preventing and eradicating VAWG. This includes an additional £20 million over 2015-18 from justice budgets, which continued into 2019–2021, with around £5.7 million committed in 2020/21, primarily to support a number of existing funding allocations committed over the initial three-year period. It also included around £12 million in 2019/20 from the equality budget to support a range of projects and initiatives. This funding has been continued to September 2021 to enable organisations to focus on responding to Covid-19, and a new competitive funding round will be launched by the end of 2020.

Wales

The Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 (“the 2015 Act”) aims to improve the public sector response in Wales to these crimes. The Welsh Government has taken forward a range of measures to tackle Violence Against Women, including a ‘National Strategy on Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWDASV) (2016-21)’ and the appointment of two national advisers.

During 2020-21 the Welsh Government focused a proportion of funding on supporting VAWDASV organisations to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. It also established a resilience fund which third sector organisations could draw upon.

The Welsh Government opened up its e-learning training for those who may come into contact with victims of VAWDASV during the pandemic. Between April and July over 17,000 people accessed this training, enabling them to recognise signs of abuse and signpost people safely to support.

The Minister for Housing and Local Government announced a new £10 million funding package to provide appropriate temporary accommodation and support to vulnerable groups, including those fleeing domestic abuse and sexual violence, during the Covid-19 crisis. This funding includes support for staff and the welfare of clients. This has been followed by an additional £50 million and clear guidance on the next phase to both begin the transformation of homelessness service provision and ensure that no one is forced to return to the street or inappropriate temporary accommodation, but are instead supported to move on to more permanent homes.

In July 2020, Welsh Ministers approved an additional £1.575 million of revenue funding to help support the VAWDASV sector to meet any anticipated increase in demand as the easing of lockdown developed further. This funding will be utilised for specialist training and through the VAWDASV regional partnerships to develop the resilience of the sector in the face of increased demand and to address any gaps in provision. The funding will include support for services supporting older people experiencing domestic abuse and/or sexual violence.

Other funding includes a Housing Support Grant (HSG). Approximately £9.5 million is directed towards supporting victims who are fleeing domestic abuse to obtain and retain housing.

Integrated policy

Tackling VAWG requires an effectively co-ordinated multi-agency response. The Convention places a strong emphasis on the importance of multi-agency working and of having national strategies in place to ensure a co-ordinated approach. As set out in the 2019 Report, since signing the Convention in 2012, the UK has continued to put measures in place to encourage agencies to work across boundaries and ensure greater consistency. These include:

• the publication of our cross-Government VAWG Strategy in March 2016 and the publication of the refreshed Strategy in March 2019 which set out our ambition to drive a transformation in service provision and ensure that VAWG is ‘everyone’s business’;

• a National Statement of Expectations (NSE), published in December 2016, which sets out a clear blueprint for local action, including what local commissioners need to put in place to ensure their response to VAWG is collaborative, robust and effective, and the importance of considering how services will be accessible to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME); disabled; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT); and older victims and survivors. This is will be reviewed, in partnership with expert stakeholders, to ensure it remains robust, effective, and as up to date as possible;

• increased funding of £100 million, which included the £17 million VAWG Service Transformation Fund and £40 million for two tranches of the Domestic Abuse Accommodation Fund, which has given support to nearly 150 domestic abuse projects, providing over 4,000 bed spaces and supporting nearly 45,000 people;

• the publication of the first cross-government Male Victims’ Position Statement, in March 2019. This will sit alongside our cross-Government VAWG Strategy, to recognise the needs of male victims and clarify and strengthen our response;

• the publication of the Government’s response to the domestic abuse consultation which includes 123 cross-government commitments, including action to be taken relating to education, health and social care, employment, and housing;

• the appointment of a designate Domestic Abuse Commissioner (Nicole Jacobs), who will stand up for victims, raise awareness of domestic abuse, and hold both government and local agencies to account. Through the Domestic Abuse Bill, she will be furnished with legal powers to strengthen this role and drive forward progress nationally. These powers will mean that specified public bodies have a duty to cooperate with the Commissioner, and must respond within 56 days to any recommendations made to them.

Since last year’s Report on Progress, we have taken a range of further action to build on this.

The Tampon Tax Fund allocates £15 million each year to projects supporting vulnerable women and girls, including projects specifically focused on supporting victims of domestic abuse. The funding breakdown is as follows:

• 2017/18 - £6.8 million was allocated to 30 projects supporting victims of domestic abuse; £125,000 was awarded to the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance and £94,000 for Surviving Economic Abuse.
• 2018/19 - four projects collectively received £5.2 million to support victims of domestic abuse. These included £1.5 million for Women’s Aid Federation of England to deliver the Ask Me Plus project to create community peer support for victims of domestic abuse and £1.4 million for Rape Crisis to deliver a new digital approach to tackling sexual violence through Rape Crisis Centres in England.
• 2019/20 - £1.09 million was allocated to Southall Black Sisters to support women who have experienced violence and abuse and have no recourse to public funds; £1 million for Changing Lives to support vulnerable women who have been sexually exploited; Sacro were awarded £1.09 million to support online sex workers in Scotland and Comic Relief was awarded £1.3 million to make onward grants to small specialist women’s organisations across the UK who support victims of domestic abuse.

International work

The UK is proud to be demonstrating international leadership in our commitment to ending VAWG. We are pleased to have been selected as a co-lead on the Generation Equality Action Coalition to end gender-based violence (GBV).

Leadership of the Action Coalition gives us an opportunity to drive strong, coordinated messages on the importance of tackling VAWG in the context of Covid-19, and to ensure that efforts to build back better after the pandemic tackle the longer-term structural causes of violence.

Since 2012, we have worked to tackle VAWG in more than 30 countries. For example, we support the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (£21 million, 2014-2020), which provides grants to women’s rights organisations and other small grassroots organisations to support innovative approaches to tackling violence.

Evidence from the then Department for International Development’s ground-breaking £25 million flagship What Works to Prevent Violence (‘What Works’) research and innovation programme has shown that VAWG is preventable. Attitudes and behaviours can, do and must change so that violence against women and girls is no longer accepted as normal. What Works has rigorously tested interventions in a variety of countries, including Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Afghanistan. This research has demonstrated that interventions tackling values and behaviours – in homes, schools, and communities – can achieve significant reductions of around 50% in just a few years. The evidence being generated is a global public good, intended to help the Government, developing country governments and international partners everywhere to improve the effectiveness of their efforts to prevent VAWG.

To respond to the urgent need to scale up VAWG prevention, we are investing £67.5 million in a successor programme to What Works – What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale. This will be the first global effort to systematically scale up violence prevention efforts and is the largest investment by any single donor government to prevent violence against women and girls globally.

The UK also leads the world in our support to the Africa-led movement to end FGM. In 2018 we announced a further £50 million UK aid package - the biggest single investment worldwide to date by any international donor – to tackle this issue across the most-affected countries in Africa. The funding will help to:

• change attitudes to FGM through direct work with communities;
• support grassroots activists to lead change in their own countries;
• put in place laws, policies and systems banning FGM; and
• support doctors, nurses and midwives to end FGM and to care for survivors.

This builds on the significant action we have already taken to help end FGM, which includes:

• A £35 million UK aid package to help end FGM across 17 countries in Africa;
• A dedicated £12 million UK aid programme in Sudan: the largest ever single- country investment in ending FGM anywhere in the world;
• A £7.5 million UK aid/Norwegian Aid Agency programme to prevent harmful practices in Somalia;
• £3 million of UK aid to support grassroots organisations ending FGM across Africa;
• Co-hosting the 2014 Girl Summit, which helped to galvanise global commitment to end FGM and child marriage in a generation.

Devolved administrations

Scotland

Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls, was jointly produced by the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. A delivery plan for Equally Safe was published in November 2017.

Data is collected in relation to domestic abuse, rape, sexual abuse/assault, and forms of ‘honour-based’ abuse. Analysts draw data from a range of sources including Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey is the regular, population-based survey for assessing the prevalence of different forms of violence against women. It covers domestic abuse, rape, sexual assault and stalking/harassment.

Wales

The Welsh Government published its Strategy for tackling violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence in 2016, as required by section 3 of the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015. Welsh Ministers are required by the Act to publish annual reports on progress against both the Strategy and the measures in the Act.

Following a public consultation exercise, the Welsh Government published, in June 2019, a set of national indicators for measuring progress against the Strategy. Work with stakeholders to identify additional data sources and further refine the indicators was paused when the Covid-19 pandemic took effect but will be resumed digitally as matters return to business as usual.

Northern Ireland

The ‘Stopping Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse Strategy’ was published jointly by the Department of Health (DoH) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) in 2016. It highlights an overarching strategic vision for addressing domestic and sexual violence and abuse and is being delivered through a series of Action Plans. A communication plan has also been fully implemented to support the Strategy. Annual actions plans are published under which a range of cross-governmental initiatives are taken forward.

In terms of data collection, since 2001 a self-completion module focusing on domestic abuse has been included within the Northern Ireland Crime Survey (renamed the Northern Ireland Safe Community Survey from April 2018 onwards). Officials have worked with Department of Justice statisticians to ensure the survey is updated to reflect, going forward, the modern understanding of both domestic and sexual violence and abuse. A new self-completion module on sexual violence and abuse has been included within the survey, with the domestic and sexual violence and abuse modules being rotated biennially. The domestic violence module was asked in the 2018/19 survey while sexual violence and abuse was included for the first time in the 2019/20 survey.

Prevention

Preventing these crimes from happening in the first place is central to the Government’s approach. To help achieve this, the Convention emphasises the importance of ensuring professionals are appropriately trained to support victims, raising awareness, and providing treatment programmes for perpetrators of domestic abuse and sexual abuse. Since signing the Convention in 2012, we have taken forward a range of measures:

• We published specific advice on gov.uk for domestic abuse during Covid-19. This information made clear that isolation instructions did not apply where victims needed to leave home to seek help if they were in danger of domestic abuse. The guidance also shared details of the services available to victims or those concerned about others during the lockdown. Alongside the guidance, in April the Home Secretary launched a domestic abuse communication campaign, #YouAreNotAlone, to raise general awareness of domestic abuse during Covid-19 and signpost the support and advice available.

• We are also developing a codeword scheme in conjunction with retail outlets to enable victims of domestic abuse to discretely seek assistance where they may otherwise have had limited opportunities to do so because of isolation.

• On 17 July 2020, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced a new £5.1 million ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) for Integration Fund^{[footnote 4]} for 30 councils across England.

• The Troubled Families Programme, funded by MHCLG, continues to support this area and has been extended for a further year to March 2021 in the recent 2019 Spending Round. The programme’s national eligibility criteria include all forms of VAWG and children in need of help, so local areas can bring families onto the programme where there is a VAWG concern. Early identification and intervention allow a keyworker to be appointed to support and work with the family to overcome multiple and complex problems including domestic abuse and sexual violence.

• In April 2020 the Home Office announced £3.1 million for specialist services for children who have been directly or indirectly affected by domestic abuse. This includes one-to-one and group counselling sessions to improve the mental health of children affected and early intervention schemes.

• Until March 2020, the Police Transformation Fund (PTF) funded the development of a range of innovative approaches to working with perpetrators of domestic abuse through the Police Transformation Fund. Since then, the Government announced £10m of funding in this year’s Budget (from April 2020 – March 2021) for interventions working with perpetrators of domestic abuse. The aim of this funding is to expand approaches such as the Drive Project that have demonstrated their effectiveness in working with perpetrators and to continue to develop the evidence base by funding programmes or interventions that require further evaluation of their impact. We also want to strengthen the evidence base for ‘what works’ in addressing perpetrators’ behaviour to support effective commissioning of services going forward, which we will do so through funding research.

• Over £819,000 of the Building a Stronger Britain Together programme has, since its launch, supported VAWG projects by offering opportunities to hard to reach communities and creating networks that challenge so called ‘honour- based’ abuse. Community Coordinators are also embedded within up to 40 local authorities across England and Wales and deliver the 2015 Counter Extremism Strategy in their local areas; this includes tackling the root causes of harmful practices such as ‘honour-based’ abuse, FGM and forced marriage.

Furthermore, the Domestic Abuse Bill and consultation response include a range of measures focused on prevention, including commitments to:

• improve the availability of high-quality domestic abuse perpetrator interventions both in prison and in the community;
• provide national guidance for police on the management of serial and dangerous perpetrators; and
• introduce new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders which will allow courts to place positive requirements on perpetrators, such as attending a perpetrator intervention or drug or alcohol treatment programme.

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) also delivers a range of interventions to address the needs of convicted and unconvicted offenders who have committed domestic abuse related offences. These include accredited domestic abuse programmes and programmes that address needs related to domestic abuse, including: attitudes and thinking, emotion management, alcohol related violence and sexual offending.

In addition to the accredited offers, all Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) deliver a range of non-accredited interventions, which support the needs of a diverse group of service users, who have no access to accredited programmes. These include support for those who are risk of perpetration, unconvicted and convicted service users.

Early prevention work is also provided by the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS) who commission the delivery of Domestic Abuse perpetrator programmes, to intervene with those identified at risk of perpetration by the Family courts.

The introduction of the Alternative Delivery Framework (ADF) in response to the Covid-19 pandemic has meant that the interventions can now be offered on a small group and individual basis, both in person and via remote means, meaning the programme can now operate more flexibly and responsively.

The Skills for Relationships Toolkit has been developed to support front line probation practitioners to have enhanced rehabilitative conversations about domestic abuse. The toolkit, which uses digital technology, is expected to be rolled out nationally, within the NPS, to support the Covid recovery effort.

Education has a vital role to play in encouraging young people to build healthy relationships, and to identify those relationships which are unhealthy. It is now compulsory for all primary schools in England to teach Relationships Education and for all secondary schools in England to teach Relationships and Sex Education.

Health Education will be compulsory in all state-funded schools. These subjects directly support the Government’s ambitions to end discrimination against women and girls.

Pupils will be taught in an age-appropriate way about stereotypes, consent, mutual respect, management of conflict, sexual violence and laws relating to sex, relationships and young people. High quality teaching of these subjects will ensure that children understand that violence and abuse are never acceptable and that it is important to report abuse and concerns about themselves and others on and offline.

The Department for Education has developed an online service featuring training materials, an implementation guide and case studies. This will cover all of the teaching requirements in the Relationships, Sex and Health Education statutory guidance, including online modules on how teachers teach about respectful relationships, being safe and ‘families & people who care for me’.

Devolved administrations

Wales

In Wales, Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) will be made a statutory part of the new curriculum for all learners between the ages of 3 and 16 and updated guidance will be produced for the current curriculum. Guidance for RSE in the current curriculum gives schools up to date information and support regarding this often sensitive and fast-moving area of study.

The Welsh Government has also published VAWDASV ‘Guidance for Governors; a ‘Good Practice Guide’ on a whole education approach to VAWDASV in Wales; and a VAWDASV education toolkit.

The Welsh Government’s approach to prevention includes tackling attitudes and behaviours before they become entrenched, and to this end it funds a third sector project that teaches about healthy relationships in schools, and has directed communications campaigns at children, young people and their care givers.

The Welsh Government continues to work with expert partners to develop and implement VAWDASV perpetrator policy leading the multi-agency VAWDASV perpetrator workstream under the ‘Framework to support positive change for those at risk of offending in Wales 2018-2023’. ‘Good practice Guidance for non-specialist

Welsh public services on working with adult perpetrators’ was published in November 2019.^{[footnote 5]} Practice Sharing events have been held quarterly to allow those who work with, or conduct research relating to, perpetrators to come together and share examples of their work and their findings, although some events were cancelled due to Covid-19. ‘Coronavirus (Covid-19): Guidance for services for perpetrators of VAWDASV’ was published in April 2020^{[footnote 6] [footnote 7]}.

Northern Ireland

A range of educational programmes are in place in Northern Ireland to promote pupils’ mental health and wellbeing. In educational institutions, there are also pastoral care arrangements and access to an external counselling service, ‘Inspire Workplaces’, for students.

The Domestic Violence and Abuse Disclosure Scheme (DVADS) is now in its third year. The aim of the scheme is to ensure the safety of potential domestic abuse victims. It allows the provision of relevant information relating to the abusive past of a partner - which would allow a potential victim to make an informed choice about their relationship. To promote DVADS, a targeted multi-media advertising campaign was launched in a bid to promote the scheme and explain how people can apply. It also sought to raise public awareness of the issue of domestic violence and abuse more generally.

The ‘Stopping Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse Strategy’, led by the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Department of Health, clearly identifies the need to raise awareness and promotes a zero-tolerance approach to domestic and sexual violence and abuse. A communication plan is fully implemented to support the Strategy. DoJ also ran an advertising campaign to raise awareness of the issue of domestic violence and abuse and the disclosure scheme. Run most recently in early 2020/21 this was an extensive multi-media campaign using a mix of TV, radio, outdoor and social media advertising. Looking forward to future years it is the intention to run further promotional campaigns, which in particular will highlight the introduction of the new domestic abuse offence in Northern Ireland which will include coercive and controlling behaviour.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) raises awareness of domestic abuse across Northern Ireland with its domestic abuse media campaign. A ‘Walking on Egg Shells’ campaign was launched over Christmas 2018 and a social media campaign was also launched in July 2019, Christmas 2019 and during the Covid-19 period in 2020.

Libraries NI linked with the PSNI’s ‘Walking on Eggshells’ campaign as part of the ‘New Year, New You’ campaign and the Samaritans’ ‘Blue Monday’ campaign in order to raise awareness of domestic abuse in rural communities. The 24 hour Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline was also promoted in the public offices of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and across the 96 library locations.

The Probation Board for Northern Ireland continues to deliver two court mandated programmes as additional requirements of a licence or order:

(i) Building Better Relationships – a nationally accredited group work programme for male perpetrators of domestic abuse, aimed at increasing understanding of motivating factors and reducing further incidents.

(ii) Respectful Relationships Interventions – one-to-one work to develop awareness of healthy, unhealthy and abusive relationships.

An important component of both programmes is the Partner Support Worker who supports the current/former partner of the participant, assists with safety planning and signposts to partner agencies.

The Northern Ireland Prison Service together with its partner agencies offers a range of psychology led programmes to support and challenge those in its care, which include:

• The Victim Impact Course, which includes specific topics covering violence against women and domestic abuse;
• The Building Better Relationships programme, aimed at promoting lifelong changes in behaviours which in the past have resulted in domestic abuse;
• The Resolve programme, aimed at offenders who have been assessed as posing medium risk of further aggressive behaviour, but may not have been convicted of violence;
• The Alcohol Related Violence programme;
• The Thinking Skills programme;
• The Horizon programme targeting adult male sex offenders;
• The Safer Lives programme, aimed at young adult males who offend before the age of 18;
• The Beyond Violence Pilot for females, which is a four-level model of violence prevention and considers the complex interplay between individual, relationship, community, and societal factors. It addresses factors that put people at risk of experiencing and/or perpetrating violence; and
• The introduction of a Women’s Safety Officer to support survivors of domestic abuse.

Scotland

The Scottish Government has provided £825,000 of funding to Police Scotland to train over 14,000 officers and front-line staff to support the implementation of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. To further support implementation, £166,000 was provided to Scottish Women’s Aid to develop training materials and train workers. The Scottish Government continues to fund Scottish Women’s Aid to develop a gender competent approach to capacity building on VAWG. It also funded the development of a training animation to provide an insight into the range of issues a solicitor might face when working on civil domestic abuse cases.

The Scottish Government regularly carries out national awareness campaigns tackling a range of VAWG crimes, including in relation to domestic abuse, rape and sexual assault and forms of ‘honour-based’ abuse. Scotland has funded a Rape Crisis Scotland awareness raising campaign to increase public understanding of responses to rape, as well as a campaign around the new offence of sharing private intimate images which was introduced in the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016. The Scottish Government also ran a campaign to raise awareness of the new offence of coercive control contained in the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. Following the introduction of public health restrictions in March 2020, the Scottish Government re-ran this campaign to raise awareness and encourage individuals experiencing abuse to seek support.

The Scottish Government supported the development and implementation of the Equally Safe in Higher Education Tool Kit (2018-20). The Tool Kit, launched in 2018, provides institutions with the practical resources to tackle gender based violence.

Further initiatives included the development of staff support cards and stickers on gender based violence; mental health support for use in student accommodation and teaching and communal areas; the development of additional materials to support freshers week and start of the college year activities; ongoing support for the Emily Test Charity for the development of a Charter Mark for universities; and exploration of the parameters of effective risk management approaches to complement the work undertaken by Universities Scotland. The Scottish Government also continues to support Rape Crisis Scotland to, amongst other things, ensure that all colleges and universities can access training and support, relevant to their identified needs, from local Rape Crisis Centres and other allied organisations; to further disseminate online training materials for students; and to support the continued development of local partnerships (such as Fearless Glasgow and Fearless Edinburgh).

The Scottish Government is funding the Caledonian System (over £2 million in 2019/20) in 13 local authority areas across Scotland. This is a specialist court- mandated programme working with male perpetrators which also aims to improve the lives of women and children affected by domestic abuse. A further £2.8 million has been allocated between 2018 and 2020 and has allowed the expansion of the programme to a further six local authorities, increasing the number of local authority areas delivering the Caledonian System to 19. In the Programme for Government 2019-20, the Scottish Government set out a commitment to explore policy options to increase access to positive behaviour change programmes for domestically abusive men. Work is currently underway to develop policy in relation to court and non-court mandated perpetrator programmes, which includes the development of demonstration projects to test delivery of a non-court mandated, one to one version of the Caledonian Programme.

Funding is also provided for the community delivery element of the Moving Forward: Making Changes (MFMC) programme, which is aimed at adult males convicted of a sexual offence (or a non-sexual offence that contains a significant sexual element) and who are deemed as being at medium or above risk of committing a similar offence in the future. From April 2017, a new justice social work funding distribution model was introduced to provide local authorities with more autonomy and flexibility to target resources to tackle local priorities, working in partnership with statutory community justice partners and in collaboration with the third sector to reduce reoffending. This resulted in a number of funding streams being decentralised, including funding for MFMC, which is now included in the wider justice social work funding allocation distributed to all 32 local authorities. It is therefore now up to each local authority to prioritise this funding to meet statutory obligations and local priorities.

Protection

We are committed to supporting all victims of VAWG crimes. We expect every report of VAWG to be treated seriously from the point of disclosure, every victim to be treated with dignity, and every investigation and prosecution to be conducted thoroughly and professionally. The Convention highlights the importance of police intervention (including removing domestic abuse perpetrators from their home), refuge provision for victims, appropriate sexual violence referral centres, helplines, and ensuring information for victims is accessible.

In the context of the Covid-19 crisis the police have taken advantage of reductions in some other types of offending to prioritise domestic abuse cases. Police forces have been proactively targeting known offenders and strengthening safeguards for victims. There has been increased use of web based and online services to reach victims and allow them safely to report offences. Serial and high-risk perpetrators are subject to monitoring and proactive intervention where appropriate. Police forces have been pursuing Domestic Violence Protection Orders, enabling perpetrators to be removed from shared accommodation to protect victims. To assist this the courts have prioritised domestic abuse cases during the lockdown period.

The Victims’ Code sets out the services that must be provided to victims of crime by organisations in England and Wales and sets a minimum standard for these services. We intend to strengthen the Victims’ Code to address its complexity and accessibility and to update the entitlements so that they ensure that victims receive the help and support they need to cope and recover. The Government’s second consultation aimed at strengthening the Victims’ Code closed at the end of May 2020. We will publish a response to this consultation as soon as possible and bring the revised Code into force as soon as possible thereafter. Proposals currently being considered include providing greater clarity around victims’ rights and raising awareness for victims who do not report a crime or who withdraw from the criminal justice process so that they are aware that they are entitled to the same support as everyone else.

Funding for victims

The Home Office has also committed more than £1.1 million per year up to 2022 to support seven helpline services:

• the national domestic abuse helpline;
• a helpline for LGBT victims of domestic abuse;
• a helpline for male victims of domestic abuse;
• a helpline for perpetrators of domestic abuse;
• a helpline for victims of stalking;
• a helpline for victims of so-called honour-based abuse; and
• a helpline for victims of revenge porn.

The funding will be used to provide information to those experiencing (and in one case perpetrating) VAWG crimes as well as to provide specialist support for other victims and preparators. In addition, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) funds a helpline and webchat service for male victims of sexual abuse.

The MoJ directly commissions 75 rape support centres across England and Wales, and a further 16 via Police and Crime Commissioners, to provide independent, specialist support to female and male victims of sexual violence, including victims of child sexual abuse. The support is offered by specialist local organisations at a physical location, free of charge and regardless of whether a person reported the crime to the police. The emotional and practical support offered may include counselling, therapy, an Independent Sexual Violence Adviser service, helpline/online support, groupwork and advocacy.

In April this year, MoJ funding for these centres increased to £12 million per annum (up from £8 million in 2019/20). A total of £32 million funding has been awarded over three years (2019/20–2021/22), ensuring that sexual violence support services receive more sustainable funding through multi-year grant settlements.

The MoJ is also investing an additional £4 million per annum until 2022 in recruiting more Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs) to help victims feel informed and supported at every stage of their recovery journey. ISVAs provide an important link between police, support services and criminal justice agencies, and as part of their role may support a victim when they are attending court and giving evidence.

On 2 May the Government announced a £76 million package of support to ensure the most vulnerable in society get the support they need during the Covid-19 pandemic. This included:

• A £10 million fund for safe accommodation for victims of domestic abuse, administered by MHCLG. MHCLG has awarded £10 million to 147 successful bids, enabling the reopening or creation of 1,890 bedspaces.
• A £25 million fund, administered by the Ministry of Justice, to support local charities across England and Wales providing support to victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence. To date, over £22 million of that has been distributed for 548 charities - £19.5 million to through Police and Crime Commissioners and £2.6 million via the Rape Support Fund.
• £800,000 funding from the Ministry of Justice for the Finding Legal Options for Women (FLOWS) project, run by RCJ Advice, who provide free legal support to victims of domestic abuse who wish to apply for an emergency protective order from the courts.
• A £2 million fund, administered by the Home Office, for national and regional domestic abuse charities. The Home Office has allocated £1.7 million to 28 organisations. Additionally, the Home Office made awards to 14 domestic abuse charities from a separate £2 million fund (separate to the £76 million) which was designed to provide immediate support to domestic abuse helplines and online services, particularly on technology needs.

Further, the Government recognises that as we ease out of the lockdown measures announced to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important that sustainable support for victims of crime is in place. Therefore, the Government has committed to developing a Victims Funding Strategy, underpinned by a new delivery model addressing any shortfalls in service provision and enabling better join up between support providers.

The MoJ is also developing a Rape Victims’ Pledge with partners across the criminal justice system, which will provide additional support and information for victims, in order to make their engagement with the criminal justice system simpler and less distressing. The Government has also committed, following the Hidden Harms Summit (May 2020) hosted by the Prime Minister, to deliver a public campaign later this year to raise awareness among victims of sexual violence of their rights and the support available to them.

Legal protections

As highlighted in the 2019 Report on Progress, since signing the Convention in 2012, we have created a range of additional protective tools and powers, including Sexual Harm Prevention Orders, Sexual Risk Orders, FGM Protection Orders and Stalking Protection Orders. As of 30 June 2020, 2,605 Forced Marriage Protection Orders and 614 FGM Protection Orders have been made since their introduction (2008 and 2015 respectively).

We are introducing new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders which will offer protection that can be tailored to the needs of each victim. These will have a flexible duration, a criminal sanction for breach and a range of possible conditions including prohibitions, positive requirements, notification requirements and the potential to use electronic monitoring to monitor compliance with specific conditions.

We are also placing the guidance on the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (“Clare’s Law”) on a statutory footing. This scheme provides a framework for police to make disclosures to someone about their current or former partner’s abusive or violent offending. By placing the guidance in statute, we aim to raise awareness of the scheme and enable more people to be warned of the dangers posed by their partners or ex-partners.

Health

NHS England developed a five-year Strategic Direction for Sexual Assault and Abuse Services (2018-2023), to ensure victims receive joined-up pathways of care over the course of their life whenever they need it. The goal is for the strategy to radically improve access to services for victims and survivors of sexual assault and abuse, and support them to recover, heal and rebuild their lives.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), through NHS England and NHS Improvement, spent £35 million in 2019/20 to fund 47 sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) to ensure that where sexual violence does occur, there is the best possible response for victims. The centres are available to all victims, regardless of age, gender and when the sexual violence or abuse occurred. NHS England and NHS Improvement regional teams may enter into local agreements with relevant partners, such as police, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and local authorities, to establish, where appropriate, collaborative commissioning arrangements for wider support services available at SARCs.

NHS England and NHS Improvement and DHSC also launched new community- based clinics to support non-pregnant women who have undergone FGM. The holistic community-based clinics offer a range of support services delivered by a multi-disciplinary team including: physical assessments and treatment (including deinfibulation if required), counselling, safeguarding information and access to a FGM Health Advocate. There will be onward support to a specialist consultant if additional support is required.

DHSC oversaw £2 million of government funding to expand the pathfinder programme, led by the charity Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse, to develop a whole health system response to domestic abuse in acute, community and mental health settings. It provided staff training and a support programme to bridge the gap between the voluntary sector and healthcare, to harness the strengths of each, and to provide an improved domestic abuse service. A toolkit was developed and launched to help share the learning from the project and is available for free online.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are developing an action plan specifically on domestic violence and abuse. This will raise awareness amongst NHS staff, ensure that staff have the skills to identify and refer victims, and address the issue of NHS staff who are themselves victims or perpetrators.

Children

The Domestic Abuse Bill and consultation response set out a wide range of measures to improve protection for victims of domestic abuse and their children.

Children will benefit from a number of measures in the Domestic Abuse Bill –ensuring that they are recognised as victims of domestic abuse in their own right, and the designate Domestic Abuse Commissioner has been appointed to encourage good practice in, amongst other things, the provision of protection and support for children affected by domestic abuse.

The Home Office has provided funding to Operation Encompass - a scheme that facilitates schools and police working together to provide emotional and practical support to children affected by domestic abuse, including provision of a specialist helpline for teachers during the Covid period. We have also provided funding to nine projects supporting children affected by domestic abuse.

We are committed to taking forward national learning and are working with the Department for Education, the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health and Social Care to examine the recommendations from the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s report ‘It was Hard to Escape’, as well as those from other safeguarding reviews relating to child criminal exploitation. This is in order to identify areas for improvement, put in place support for vulnerable children, raise awareness of criminal exploitation from county lines and ensure that the criminal justice response to county lines is as effective and robust as possible.

Migrant victims

We are clear that all victims of domestic abuse are treated first and foremost as victims regardless of their immigration status. We have instigated special measures for individuals who are in the UK as a spouse or partner of someone who is British or a settled person, where they may apply for a period of permission to remain in their own right – independent from that of the sponsor who may be the alleged perpetrator. This period of leave allows them time in a safe environment to reflect and take advice on what they want to do next. Removing “no recourse to public funds” from their permission to remain allows them to make a claim for public benefits.

Some individuals who come forward as victims may not have a recognised secure immigration status and, of these, some individuals may have a “no recourse to public funds” restriction on their permission to remain. However, where appropriate they will be signposted to alternative options; enforcement action is not prioritised against victims or survivors of abuse. We are continuing to develop safeguarding protocols to offer a degree of protection where this is required.

The issue of support for migrant victims of domestic abuse was one of those raised by the Joint Committee on the Draft Domestic Abuse Bill in its report published in June 2019. In its response, the Government said that it would:

review the overall response to migrant victims of domestic abuse, taking careful account of evidence provided by stakeholders on this issue. The review will specifically consider the Committee’s recommendation to extend the period of time that support is offered for and how this relates to a victim’s ability to access refuge accommodation. In considering our response to those who are eligible for the DDVC, we will take into account any obligations we may have under the Istanbul Convention to ensure we are compliant.”^{[footnote 8]}

The review has now completed and the review findings^{[footnote 9]} were published on 3 July 2020 on Gov.uk. 24 expert organisations and groups contributed to the review through a series of meetings and workshops, and this was followed by a Final Call for Evidence in March 2020 to charities and other relevant stakeholders. However, despite the contributions from stakeholders, the review concluded that the evidence made available has not enabled us to identify the scale and scope of potential needs of migrant victims.

That is why, on 28 April at Second Reading of the Domestic Abuse Bill, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Safeguarding announced that the Government would later in the year invite bids for grants from the £1.5 million Support for Migrant Victims (SMV) scheme to cover the cost of support in a refuge or other safe accommodation for migrant victims of domestic abuse, who are unable to access public funds. This pilot scheme will obtain the evidence needed to develop sustainable solutions for all migrant victims of domestic abuse over the longer-term.

We have therefore recorded Articles 4(3) (to the extent that it relates to non- discrimination on the grounds of migrant or refugee status) and 59 as “under review” in this Progress Report, pending the evaluation and findings from the SMV scheme. A draft prospectus setting out the details of the project was published on Gov.uk on 19 October.

Safe accommodation

MHCLG continues to support and part-fund Women’s Aid’s UK-wide online VAWG service directory, ‘Routes to Support’. This contains information about VAWG services with up to date refuge vacancies. MHCLG also funds the Women’s Aid ‘No Woman Turned Away’ project which provides additional support to victims facing barriers to accessing services and support.

MHCLG have allocated £100 million for a Move-On Fund, which will deliver accommodation and support for former rough sleepers moving on from hostels and victims of domestic abuse moving on from refuges. The fund is split equally between the Greater London Authority in London and Homes England, who are administering the fund outside of London.

In May 2019, MHCLG launched a public consultation on a new statutory duty requiring local authorities to assess the needs of and commission support for victims and their children in safe accommodation.^{[footnote 10]} The Government published a response in October 2019^{[footnote 11]} and the Domestic Abuse Bill, upon its re-introduction on 3 March 2020, included a new legal duty on tier 1 Local Authorities in England (county and unitary councils [other than London Boroughs], the Greater London Authority and the Isles of Scilly Council) to provide support for victims of domestic abuse and their children within safe accommodation.

On 17 February 2020 MHCLG announced £16.6 million for Support for Victims of Domestic Abuse and their Children within Safe Accommodation, funding 75 Local Authority-led projects in England for the delivery of support to victims of domestic abuse, and their children, within safe accommodation in 2020/21. This will help up to 43,000 survivors.

As above, MHCLG has also awarded - from the £10 million fund for safe accommodation for victims of domestic abuse during the Covid-19 pandemic - £10 million to 147 successful bids, in total supporting 166 organisations to provide 1,890 bedspaces.

Devolved administrations

Northern Ireland

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) will ‘signpost’ domestic abuse victims (with consent) to a range of voluntary/support organisations. This is supplementary to a referral to Victim Support Northern Ireland for all victims of domestic abuse- motivated crimes. Officers will also make referrals to Social Services where a child has been present or is normally resident in a household where a domestic abuse incident has occurred. Support mechanisms are also available for high-risk victims of domestic abuse, who can be referred to Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences.

The Department of Justice (DoJ), in conjunction with the PSNI, are taking forward work (subject to funding) to develop a streamlined advocacy support service for victims of domestic and sexual violence and abuse. A model has been developed and the advocacy role specification and the requirements to procure the service are being drawn up.

From October 2018 the DoJ has fully funded costs relating to the Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA) service pilot being led by Victim Support NI (VSNI).

Additionally, in 2019/20 the Department of Health (DoH), DoJ and other statutory partners provided grant funding to key voluntary organisations supporting victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence and abuse. The DoH, DoJ and Department for Communities (DfC) also jointly fund a 24 hour, 365 days a year domestic and sexual violence helpline, which is a freephone service offering support and signposting information to anyone affected by domestic and sexual violence in Northern Ireland. The DoH and the PSNI also jointly fund Northern Ireland’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), which provides 24-hour care and support, 365 days a year, to victims/survivors and their families.

The Northern Ireland Prison Service and Probation Board for Northern Ireland jointly appointed a Women’s Safety Officer in November 2019. The role of the safety officer is to work alongside Women’s Aid in supporting women both in custody and in the community (post release) who have experienced domestic abuse. The safety officer will help women understand their pathway into abusive relationships and empower them to live lives beyond the controlling and coercive relationships they have previously experienced.

Multi-agency guidelines on FGM were issued in 2014 and are currently being revised and updated. The revised guidance will take account of FGM Protection Orders (FGMPOs), new FGM care pathways and an FGM risk assessment tool launched in October 2018. The Northern Ireland Maternity System (NIMATS) has been updated to enable collection and analysis of FGM data. In addition, the Department of Health is introducing powers to enable a court, when dealing with an application for an FGMPO, to make other orders regarding the welfare of the child, for example an interim care order or a care order. This will improve the ability of the court to act quickly to protect children at risk.

As part of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry a range of support services were put in place by The Executive Office (TEO) to support individuals who suffered abuse whilst resident in an institution as children.

The Historical Institutional Abuse (Northern Ireland) Act 2019 received Royal Assent on 5 November 2019. The Act provides for the establishment of the HIA Redress Board and a Commissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse (COSICA). These were two of the recommendations of the HIA Inquiry Report.

The Redress Board administers a redress scheme to award compensation to those who suffered institutional abuse as children, The Commissioner, when appointed, will have a statutory duty to promote the interests of any person who suffered abuse as a child while resident in an institution at some time between 1922 and 1995. In advance of the appointment of the Commissioner an Interim Advocate has been in place since August 2019 to represent the interests of these victims and survivors.

Scotland

The Scottish Government is investing around £13.5 million this financial year to tackle VAWG, which includes support for front line specialist services. This includes an additional £1.5 million to support front line services in responding to Covid-19. The funding helps to support a range of services working with women and children who have experienced gender-based violence. This includes local Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis services; funding to national bodies in Scotland which are working to support those at risk of domestic abuse and sexual violence; and third sector organisations supporting those at risk and survivors of forced marriage, FGM and other forms of so- called ‘honour based’ abuse.

The Scottish Government provides funding to support the Scottish Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline, the Rape Crisis National Helpline and the Respect’s Men’s Advice Line. The funding they provide to support the work of Rape Crisis Scotland also includes core funding for their national office and support for the 17 local Rape Crisis services across Scotland. 14 Rape Crisis Centres have been allocated an additional £1.5 million over 2018-21 to help these services plan for the future and ensure that more people can receive access to the support they need.

The Scottish Government introduced the Forensic Medical Services (Victims of Sexual Offences) (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament on 26 November 2019. Subject to scrutiny by the Scottish Parliament, it is hoped that it can be passed by the end of the calendar year. The Bill provides a new legal basis for the carrying out of forensic medical examinations for victims of sexual crime, and in particular will establish a national self-referral model for victims who wish to have an examination without first reporting to the police.

The Bill will underpin the ongoing work of the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland’s Rape and Sexual Assault Taskforce which has been tasked by the Scottish Ministers with providing national leadership for the improvement of healthcare and forensic medical examination and healthcare services for adults, children and young people who have experienced rape, sexual assault or child sexual abuse. The Taskforce has wide representation from experts, including health, justice, social work, and third sector partners, such as Rape Crisis Scotland, to ensure that the voice of lived experience is heard.

Taskforce funding has been provided to support the creation of Scottish Sexual Assault Response Coordination (SSARC) services in each territorial health board where these did not previously exist, to make improvements to existing facilities and to develop regional centres of expertise. Funding also continues to be provided to NHS Education Scotland to deliver trauma informed training to doctors who undertake forensic medical examinations as well as those nurses who are involved in providing trauma informed care for victims of rape and sexual assault and onward referrals to aftercare services. Proposals to develop the role of nurse sexual offence examiners in Scotland have been approved by Ministers and the Lord Advocate with a test of change due to commence late in 2020. Taskforce funding will also pay for priority places on a new Postgraduate Qualification course in Advanced Forensic Practice being developed at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, and commencing in January 2021.

A package of Taskforce resources is due to be launched before the end of 2020 which will include clinical pathways, the national form, supplementary guidance documents for healthcare professionals and national data sets to monitor Health Board performance against the Healthcare Improvement Services Quality Indicators. A National Self-Referral Protocol for the Health Boards is being developed to ensure consistent access to services for victims; and work is being done to explore how victims will know about and access self-referral services.

It is possible for a person at risk in Scotland to obtain a court order and an interdict or non-harassment order against the person who is the cause of the risk. The police have a power to detain a suspect prior to charge, or to release on undertakings, which may include a requirement that the accused does not approach the residence of the suspected victim. Equally, the court can make it a condition of bail that an accused cannot return to the suspected victim’s home. Ministers have consulted on proposals for new protective orders which would strengthen provision in this area by enabling the police to apply for an order without the need for the victim to apply to the civil courts, and there is a commitment to introduce legislation in the Parliamentary session.

The Scottish Government introduced the Female Genital Mutilation (Protection and Guidance) Bill to the Scottish Parliament in May 2019, which included provisions to confer the power upon Ministers to issue statutory guidance and for the creation of FGM Protection Orders. The Bill was passed on 19 March 2020 and received Royal Assent on 22 April 2020, becoming an Act.

Wales

The Welsh Government provides funding to local authorities and third sector organisations; for strategic coordination of services at a local level; to deliver direct service provision to support and protect victims; and for training. The funding is directed towards delivering the objectives of the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, which are to prevent VAWDASV, and to protect and support victims and survivors of VAWDASV. The VAWDASV capital grant supports a range of capital projects.

The Welsh Government has introduced statutory guidance to require local authorities and local health boards to produce a local VAWDASV strategy and implementation plan. They have also introduced statutory guidance on regional needs-led commissioning of VAWDASV services.

The Welsh Government provides funding for Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVAs) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs) as well as funding for training them. Funding is also provided for Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs), and a range of direct services including counselling support.

Capital funding programmes include target hardening, aimed at supporting victims and survivors to remain safely in their own homes. In 2020-21 the Welsh Government provided an additional £1.2 million to fund dispersed community-based accommodation for those fleeing abuse and violence for whom refuge accommodation is not appropriate. This is in addition to the Housing Support Grant (HSG), which supports victims who are fleeing domestic abuse to obtain and retain housing.

The Welsh Government is rolling out a programme of ‘Ask and Act’ - training for frontline professionals to enable them to identify and appropriately support victims and survivors of VAWDASV. Further support is provided through the Live Fear Free helpline, which delivers a free service, 24 hours and 365 days a year, and the Dyn Helpline for male victims of violence and abuse.

Prosecution

The Convention requires state parties to have in place a range of criminal offences covering the conduct set out in the Convention and measures to ensure the effective investigation of allegations; and to carry out judicial proceedings in a way which respects the rights of victims. Where the relevant conduct – which includes psychological, physical and sexual violence as well as stalking, forced marriage and FGM - is committed in the UK, we have robust laws in place to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice. These include a specific offence of forced marriage, which came into force in 2014; and an offence of controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship, which came into force in 2015. The latter offence aims to protect victims who would otherwise be subjected to sustained patterns of abuse that can lead to total control of their lives by the perpetrator. We are currently undertaking a review of the effectiveness of the offence, which is due to report later this year.

Article 44 additionally requires the UK to be able to prosecute criminal conduct set out in the Convention when that conduct is committed outside the UK by a UK national or a person who is habitually resident in the UK (extraterritorial jurisdiction). The UK already has extraterritorial jurisdiction over offences which cover some of the conduct set out in the Convention, such as sexual offences where the victim of the offence is under 18, forced marriage and FGM. The Domestic Abuse Bill (and, in Northern Ireland, the Domestic Abuse and Family Proceedings Bill) will amend domestic law – throughout the UK – to take extraterritorial jurisdiction over offences covering other criminal conduct set out in the Convention.

We have also strengthened the law in ways which go beyond what the Convention requires, including:

• a new Stalking Protection Order (introduced in January 2020), breach of which without a reasonable excuse is a criminal offence. And we have raised the maximum penalty for the offences of putting people in fear of violence and stalking involving fear of violence or serious alarm or distress from 5 to 10 years’ imprisonment;
• a ‘revenge porn’ offence introduced in 2015, making it a criminal offence to disclose private sexual photographs and films without the consent of an individual who appears in them and with the intent to cause that individual distress. The Government also funds the ‘revenge porn’ helpline, which has helped with approximately 5,000 cases since it opened in February 2015;
• a new offence of ‘upskirting’ to close a previous loophole in the law. Parliament passed the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 which ensures this behaviour is captured by specific criminal offences. The provisions came into effect in April 2019;
• changes to FGM legislation including a new offence of failing to protect a girl from the risk of FGM, and granting victims of FGM lifelong anonymity; both were introduced in 2015. In February 2019, there was the first UK conviction for FGM, with the perpetrator sentenced to 11 years in prison;
• lifelong anonymity for victims of forced marriage was introduced in 2017 to encourage more victims to come forward.

Prosecutions and convictions

VAWG convictions^{[footnote 12]} (England and Wales)

2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
66,860	58,276	67,380	78,773	87,275	84,565	80,387	70,323	56,414

Previously, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has published annual data on Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) offences. In order to enhance accountability and transparency with regards to CPS performance, the CPS now publishes quarterly data on a wider range of offence types.

Overall the data shows a decrease in the number of convictions for VAWG-related crimes. This should be viewed in the context of wider falls in the volume of cases across the criminal justice system. A cross-government review of rape cases is underway to understand the reasons for the fall in volumes of police referrals, charges, prosecutions and convictions for VAWG offences and to address any identified issues. Any lessons learnt for wider VAWG cases will be considered, and steps taken as appropriate.

Additionally, the CPS has launched a five year strategy on rape and serious sexual offences. The strategy is underpinned by a commitment to ensuring that the right person is prosecuted for the right offence. It represents a clear articulation of the role that the CPS can play in driving a step change for the criminal justice system as a whole - emphasising that work needs to be approached collectively.

The CPS is leading efforts across Government on the national implementation of a best practice framework for use across all magistrates’ courts to ensure cases of domestic abuse are handled effectively, and victims and witnesses are supported appropriately. The framework has been developed after common components from high performing courts were identified. Progress is being reviewed by a national delivery group which includes all criminal justice agencies and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner.

The CPS has also developed an ambitious and rigorous programme of work for 2020- 2021 for domestic abuse. This programme will improve joint working and will narrow the disparity between domestic abuse reporting and criminal justice outcomes; building public confidence in the CJS’s response by delivering justice for all.

The College of Policing piloted and published an evaluation of the Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment (DARA) tool. Further testing of the tool has been taking place in four forces. The College has reviewed the impact of DARA and they have concluded that further forces can be invited to join the pilot. They have begun negotiations with several forces to support those that wish to take up the Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment tool. In April it published Principles for the Management of Serial and Potentially Dangerous Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse and Stalking. The College continues to support the rollout of its behavioural change course DA Matters, which focuses on controlling and coercive behaviour and the impact for victims.

Devolved administrations

Wales

Criminal justice matters are reserved in Wales, but the Welsh Government supports the UK Government in activities related to this area. For example, Welsh Government officials sit on the MoJ’s Specialist Domestic Violence Improvement Oversight Group, which considers how to improve the victim’s experience. In doing so, the work has aimed to reduce witness attrition and improve prosecution and conviction rates. The Welsh Government has also contributed to the funding and training of Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVAs) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs). Early support from IDVAs and ISVAs has been shown to reduce witness attrition.

Scotland

Scotland has a range of legislation to tackle VAWG crimes. This includes specific offences of forced marriage, FGM and stalking. The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 provides for a specific offence of abuse of a partner or ex-partner that covers behaviour likely to cause psychological harm, where it occurs between partners or ex- partners. There are also several more general offences that can be used in prosecuting VAWG crimes.

The Scottish Parliament considered a Legislative Consent Motion for the Domestic Abuse Bill on 17 June 2020. The Parliament agreed that the relevant provisions of the Bill relating to amendments to the law of Scotland concerning extra-territorial jurisdiction over certain offences committed outside the UK by a UK national or habitual resident of Scotland, in order to ensure compliance with Article 44 of the Istanbul Convention, should be considered by the UK Parliament.

There are measures in place in Scotland to provide support for child witnesses during the criminal justice process, including automatic entitlement to certain protective measures. The Scottish Government’s Equally Safe Violence Against Women and Girls fund provides funding for local specialist services including support for children who have experienced domestic abuse. The Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Act was enacted in June 2019. Its main purpose is to improve the way in which child and vulnerable witnesses participate in the criminal justice system by enabling the much greater use of pre-recording of their evidence in advance of the criminal trial.

The Scottish Government is also exploring the application of the Barnahus concept of trauma informed support for child victims of serious and traumatic crimes. Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate have been commissioned to develop Scotland-specific standards for Barnahus, which will set out what is required to improve the response to child victims and provide a roadmap for how the concept could operate in Scotland. Work is ongoing and will build on learning from the current children and families, health and justice work streams and the impact of and response to Covid-19 to support the co-design of draft standards for consultation.

Northern Ireland

A range of special measures are available in Northern Ireland to assist vulnerable (including young children) and intimidated (including victims) witnesses to give evidence to the police and at court. Victims of violence can be issued non-molestation or occupation orders. Orders of this kind can, for example, give a victim exclusive rights to a residence. Any breach of a non-molestation or occupation order can result in criminal or other legal sanctions.

The Domestic Abuse and Family Proceedings Bill, which is currently progressing through the Northern Ireland Assembly, will include a new offence to capture patterns of psychological abuse, violence, and/or coercion of a partner, ex-partner or close family member. Once in operation this will ensure that the criminal law in Northern Ireland satisfies the requirements of Article 33 of the Convention which requires parties to take the necessary measures “to ensure that the intentional contact of seriously impairing a person’s psychological integrity through coercion or threats is criminalised” as well as the associated extra territorial jurisdiction provisions in Article 44.

Next steps

The Government remains committed to ratifying the Istanbul Convention and as this report highlights, we continue to make significant progress in tackling VAWG in the UK.

The Government takes its international commitments very seriously and will only ratify when we are satisfied that the UK has met all our obligations under the Convention. As set out above, the Domestic Abuse Bill includes provisions necessary for compliance with the extraterritorial jurisdiction requirements of the Convention across the UK, and the Domestic Abuse and Family Proceedings Bill, which is before the Northern Ireland Assembly, includes provisions necessary for the criminalisation of psychological violence in Northern Ireland. As we have committed previously, we are also reviewing the overall response to migrant victims of domestic abuse.

The Government will set out a timetable for ratification in line with the requirement of section 1 of the Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Girls (Ratification of Convention) Act 2017 when all the legislative provisions necessary for compliance have been enacted.

We remain committed to doing all that we can to tackle VAWG. Everyone has the right to live in safety, regardless of their gender. As we drive forward our VAWG strategy, we will ensure we continue to deliver for all, leave no one behind and make VAWG everyone’s business.

Annex A: Table of compliance

Article	Status, England	Status, Wales	Status, Northern Ireland	Status, Scotland
Principles / Administrative articles: 1. Purposes of the Convention 2. Scope of the Convention 3. Definitions	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
4. Fundamental rights, equality and non-discrimination 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative and other measures to promote and protect the right for everyone, particularly women, to live free from violence in both the public and the private sphere. 2. Parties condemn all forms of discrimination against women and take, without delay, the necessary legislative and other measures to prevent it, in particular by: -embodying in their national constitutions or other appropriate legislation the principle of equality between women and men and ensuring the practical realisation of this principle; -prohibiting discrimination against women, including through the use of sanctions, where appropriate; -abolishing laws and practices which discriminate against women. 3. The implementation of the provisions of this Convention by the Parties, in particular measures to protect the rights of victims, shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, gender, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, state of health, disability, marital status, migrant or refugee status, or other status. 4. Special measures that are necessary to prevent and protect women from gender-based violence shall not be considered discrimination under the terms of this Convention.	Compliant other than section 3 in relation to the migrant or refugee status element, which is under review.	Compliant other than section 3 in relation to the migrant or refugee status element, which is under review.	Compliant other than section 3 in relation to the migrant or refugee status element, which is under review.	Compliant other than section 3 in relation to the migrant or refugee status element, which is under review.
5. State obligation a due diligence 1. Parties shall refrain from engaging in any act of violence against women and ensure that State authorities, officials, agents, institutions and other actors acting on behalf of the State act in conformity with this obligation. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative and other measures to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, punish and provide reparation for acts of violence covered by the scope of this Convention that are perpetrated by non-State actors.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
6. Gender-sensitive policies Parties shall undertake to include a gender perspective in the implementation and evaluation of the impact of the provisions of this Convention and to promote and effectively implement policies of equality between women and men and the empowerment of women.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
7. Comprehensive and co-ordinated policies 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative and other measures to adopt and implement State-wide effective, comprehensive and co-ordinated policies encompassing all relevant measures to prevent and combat all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention and offer a holistic response to violence against women. 2. Parties shall ensure that policies referred to in paragraph 1 place the rights of the victim at the centre of all measures and are implemented by way of effective co-operation among all relevant agencies, institutions and organisations. 3. Measures taken pursuant to this article shall involve, where appropriate, all relevant actors, such as government agencies, the national, regional and local parliaments and authorities, national human rights institutions and civil society organisations.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
8. Financial resources Parties shall allocate appropriate financial and human resources for the adequate implementation of integrated policies, measures and programmes to prevent and combat all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention, including those carried out by non-governmental organisations and civil society.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
9. Non-governmental organisations and civil society Parties shall recognise, encourage and support, at all levels, the work of relevant non-governmental organisations and of civil society active in combating violence against women and establish effective co-operation with these organisations.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
10. Co-ordinating body 1. Parties shall designate or establish one or more official bodies responsible for the co-ordination, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and measures to prevent and combat all forms of violence covered by this Convention. These bodies shall co-ordinate the collection of data as referred to in Article 11, analyse and disseminate its results. 2. Parties shall ensure that the bodies designated or established pursuant to this article receive information of a general nature on measures taken pursuant to Chapter VIII. 3. Parties shall ensure that the bodies designated or established pursuant to this article shall have the capacity to communicate directly and foster relations with their counterparts in other Parties.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
11. Data collection and research 1. For the purpose of the implementation of this Convention, Parties shall undertake to: a. collect disaggregated relevant statistical data at regular intervals on cases of all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention; b. 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 conviction rates, as well as the efficacy of measures taken to implement this Convention. 2. Parties shall endeavour to conduct population-based surveys at regular intervals to assess the prevalence of and trends in all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention. 3. Parties shall provide the group of experts, as referred to in Article 66 of this Convention, with the information collected pursuant to this article in order to stimulate international co-operation and enable international benchmarking. 4. Parties shall ensure that the information collected pursuant to this article is available to the public.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
12. General obligations 1. Parties shall take the necessary measures to promote changes in the social and cultural patterns of behaviour of women and men with a view to eradicating prejudices, customs, traditions and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority of women or on stereotyped roles for women and men. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative and other measures to prevent all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention by any natural or legal person. 3. Any measures taken pursuant to this chapter shall take into account and address the specific needs of persons made vulnerable by particular circumstances and shall place the human rights of all victims at their centre. 4. Parties shall take the necessary measures to encourage all members of society, especially men and boys, to contribute actively to preventing all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention. 5. Parties shall ensure that culture, custom, religion, tradition or so-called “honour” shall not be considered as justification for any acts of violence covered by the scope of this Convention. 6. Parties shall take the necessary measures to promote programmes and activities for the empowerment of women.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
13. Awareness-raising 1. Parties shall promote or conduct, on a regular basis and at all levels, awareness-raising campaigns or programmes, including in co-operation with national human rights institutions and equality bodies, civil society and non-governmental organisations, especially women’s organisations, where appropriate, to increase awareness and understanding among the general public of the different manifestations of all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention, their consequences on children and the need to prevent such violence. 2. Parties shall ensure the wide dissemination among the general public of information on measures available to prevent acts of violence covered by the scope of this Convention.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
14. Education 1. Parties shall take, where appropriate, the necessary steps to include teaching material on issues such as equality between women and men, non-stereotyped gender roles, mutual respect, non-violent conflict resolution in interpersonal relationships, gender-based violence against women and the right to personal integrity, adapted to the evolving capacity of learners, in formal curricula and at all levels of education. 2. Parties shall take the necessary steps to promote the principles referred to in paragraph 1 in informal educational facilities, as well as in sports, cultural and leisure facilities and the media.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
15. Training of professionals 1. Parties shall provide or strengthen appropriate training for the relevant professionals dealing with victims or perpetrators of all acts of violence covered by the scope of this Convention, on the prevention and detection of such violence, equality between women and men, the needs and rights of victims, as well as on how to prevent secondary victimisation. 2. Parties shall encourage that the training referred to in paragraph 1 includes training on co-ordinated multi-agency cooperation to allow for a comprehensive and appropriate handling of referrals in cases of violence covered by the scope of this Convention.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
16. Preventive intervention and treatment programmes 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to set up or support programmes aimed at teaching perpetrators of domestic violence to adopt non-violent behaviour in interpersonal relationships with a view to preventing further violence and changing violent behavioural patterns. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to set up or support treatment programmes aimed at preventing perpetrators, in particular sex offenders, from re-offending. 3. In taking the measures referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, Parties shall ensure that the safety of, support for and the human rights of victims are of primary concern and that, where appropriate, these programmes are set up and implemented in close co-ordination with specialist support services for victims.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
17. Participation of the private sector and the media 1. Parties shall encourage the private sector, the information and communication technology sector and the media, with due respect for freedom of expression and their independence, to participate in the elaboration and implementation of policies and to set guidelines and self-regulatory standards to prevent violence against women and to enhance respect for their dignity. 2. Parties shall develop and promote, in co-operation with private sector actors, skills among children, parents and educators on how to deal with the information and communications environment that provides access to degrading content of a sexual or violent nature which might be harmful.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
18. General Obligations 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to protect all victims from any further acts of violence. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures, in accordance with internal law, to ensure that there are appropriate mechanisms to provide for effective co-operation between all relevant state agencies, including the judiciary, public prosecutors, law enforcement agencies, local and regional authorities as well as non-governmental organisations and other relevant organisations and entities, in protecting and supporting victims and witnesses of all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention, including by referring to general and specialist support services as detailed in Articles 20 and 22 of this Convention. 3. Parties shall ensure that measures taken pursuant to this chapter shall: –be based on a gendered understanding of violence against women and domestic violence and shall focus on the human rights and safety of the victim; –be based on an integrated approach which takes into account the relationship between victims, perpetrators, children and their wider social environment; -aim at avoiding secondary victimisation; –aim at the empowerment and economic independence of women victims of violence; –allow, where appropriate, for a range of protection and support services to be located on the same premises; –address the specific needs of vulnerable persons, including child victims, and be made available to them. 4. The provision of services shall not depend on the victim’s willingness to press charges or testify against any perpetrator. 5. Parties shall take the appropriate measures to provide consular and other protection and support to their nationals and other victims entitled to such protection in accordance with their obligations under international law.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
19. Information Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that victims receive adequate and timely information on available support services and legal measures in a language they understand.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
20. General support services 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that victims have access to services facilitating their recovery from violence. These measures should include, when necessary, services such as legal and psychological counselling, financial assistance, housing, education, training and assistance in finding employment. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that victims have access to health care and social services and that services are adequately resourced and professionals are trained to assist victims and refer them to the appropriate services.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
21. Assistance in individual/collective complaints Parties shall ensure that victims have information on and access to applicable regional and international individual/collective complaints mechanisms. Parties shall promote the provision of sensitive and knowledgeable assistance to victims in presenting any such complaints.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
22. Specialist support services 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to provide or arrange for, in an adequate geographical distribution, immediate, short- and long-term specialist support services to any victim subjected to any of the acts of violence covered by the scope of this Convention. 2. Parties shall provide or arrange for specialist women’s support services to all women victims of violence and their children.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
23. Shelters Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to provide for the setting-up of appropriate, easily accessible shelters in sufficient numbers to provide safe accommodation for and to reach out pro-actively to victims, especially women and their children.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
24. Telephone helplines Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to set up state-wide round-the-clock (24/7) telephone helplines free of charge to provide advice to callers, confidentially or with due regard for their anonymity, in relation to all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
25. Support for victims of sexual violence. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to provide for the setting up of appropriate, easily accessible rape crisis or sexual violence referral centres for victims in sufficient numbers to provide for medical and forensic examination, trauma support and counselling for victims.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
26. Protection and support for child witnesses 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that in the provision of protection and support services to victims, due account is taken of the rights and needs of child witnesses of all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention. 2. Measures taken pursuant to this article shall include age-appropriate psychosocial counselling for child witnesses of all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention and shall give due regard to the best interests of the child.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
27. Reporting Parties shall take the necessary measures to encourage any person witness to the commission of acts of violence covered by the scope of this Convention or who has reasonable grounds to believe that such an act may be committed, or that further acts of violence are to be expected, to report this to the competent organisations or authorities.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
28. Reporting by professionals Parties shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the confidentiality rules imposed by internal law on certain professionals do not constitute an obstacle to the possibility, under appropriate conditions, of their reporting to the competent organisations or authorities if they have reasonable grounds to believe that a serious act of violence covered by the scope of this Convention, has been committed and further serious acts of violence are to be expected.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
29. Civil lawsuits and remedies 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to provide victims with adequate civil remedies against the perpetrator. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to provide victims, in accordance with the general principles of international law, with adequate civil remedies against state authorities that have failed in their duty to take the necessary preventive or protective measures within the scope of their powers.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
30. Compensation 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that victims have the right to claim compensation from perpetrators for any of the offences established in accordance with this Convention. 2. Adequate state compensation shall be awarded to those who have sustained serious bodily injury or impairment of health, to the extent that the damage is not covered by other sources such as the perpetrator, insurance or state- funded health and social provisions. This does not preclude Parties from claiming regress for compensation awarded from the perpetrator, as long as due regard is paid to the victim’s safety. 3. Measures taken pursuant to paragraph 2 shall ensure the granting of compensation within a reasonable time.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
31. Custody, visitation rights and safety 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that, in the determination of custody and visitation rights of children, incidents of violence covered by the scope of this Convention are taken into account. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the exercise of any visitation or custody rights does not jeopardise the rights and safety of the victim or children.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
32. Civil consequences of forced marriages Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that marriages concluded under force may be voidable, annulled or dissolved without undue financial or administrative burden placed on the victim.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
33. Psychological violence Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the intentional conduct of seriously impairing a person’s psychological integrity through coercion or threats is criminalised.	Compliant	Compliant	In progress towards compliance	Compliant
34. Stalking Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the intentional conduct of repeatedly engaging in threatening conduct directed at another person, causing her or him to fear for her or his safety, is criminalised.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
35. Physical violence Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the intentional conduct of committing acts of physical violence against another person is criminalised.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
36. Sexual violence, including rape 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the following intentional conducts are criminalised: a) engaging in non-consensual vaginal, anal or oral penetration of a sexual nature of the body of another person with any bodily part or object; b) engaging in other non-consensual acts of a sexual nature with a person; c) causing another person to engage in non-consensual acts of a sexual nature with a third person. 2. Consent must be given voluntarily as the result of the person’s free will assessed in the context of the surrounding circumstances. 3. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the provisions of paragraph 1 also apply to acts committed against former or current spouses or partners as recognised by internal law.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
37. Forced marriage 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the intentional conduct of forcing an adult or a child to enter into a marriage is criminalised. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the intentional conduct of luring an adult or a child to the territory of a Party or state other than the one she or he resides in with the purpose of forcing this adult or child to enter into a marriage is criminalised.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
38. Female genital mutilation Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the following intentional conducts are criminalised: a. excising, infibulating or performing any other mutilation to the whole or any part of a woman’s labia majora, labia minora or clitoris; b. coercing or procuring a woman to undergo any of the acts listed in point a; c. inciting, coercing or procuring a girl to undergo any of the acts listed in point a.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
39. Forced abortion and forced sterilisation Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the following intentional conducts are criminalised: a. performing an abortion on a woman without her prior and informed consent; b. performing surgery which has the purpose or effect of terminating a woman’s capacity to naturally reproduce without her prior and informed consent or understanding of the procedure.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
40. Sexual harassment Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person, in particular when creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment, is subject to criminal or other legal sanction.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
41. Aiding or abetting and attempt 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to establish as an offence, when committed intentionally, aiding or abetting the commission of the offences established in accordance with Articles 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38.a, and 39 of this Convention. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to establish as offences, when committed intentionally, attempts to commit the offences established in accordance with Articles 35, 36, 37, 38.a and 39 of this Convention.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
42. Unacceptable justifications for crimes, including crimes committed in the name of so-called “honour” 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that, in criminal proceedings initiated following the commission of any of the acts of violence covered by the scope of this Convention, culture, custom, religion, tradition or socalled “honour” shall not be regarded as justification for such acts. This covers, in particular, claims that the victim has transgressed cultural, religious, social or traditional norms or customs of appropriate behaviour. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that incitement by any person of a child to commit any of the acts referred to in paragraph 1 shall not diminish the criminal liability of that person for the acts committed.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
43. Application of criminal offences The offences established in accordance with this Convention shall apply irrespective of the nature of the relationship between victim and perpetrator.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
44. Jurisdiction 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to establish jurisdiction over any offence established in accordance with this Convention, when the offence is committed: a. in their territory; or b. on board a ship flying their flag; or c. on board an aircraft registered under their laws; or d. by one of their nationals; or e. by a person who has her or his habitual residence in their territory. 2. Parties shall endeavour to take the necessary legislative or other measures to establish jurisdiction over any offence established in accordance with this Convention where the offence is committed against one of their nationals or a person who has her or his habitual residence in their territory. 3. For the prosecution of the offences established in accordance with Articles 36, 37, 38 and 39 of this Convention, Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that their jurisdiction is not subordinated to the condition that the acts are criminalised in the territory where they were committed. 4. For the prosecution of the offences established in accordance with Articles 36, 37, 38 and 39 of this Convention, Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that their jurisdiction as regards points d and e of paragraph 1 is not subordinated to the condition that the prosecution can only be initiated following the reporting by the victim of the offence or the laying of information by the state of the place where the offence was committed. 5. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to establish jurisdiction over the offences established in accordance with this Convention, in cases where an alleged perpetrator is present on their territory and they do not extradite her or him to another Party, solely on the basis of her or his nationality. 6. When more than one Party claims jurisdiction over an alleged offence established in accordance with this Convention, the Parties involved shall, where appropriate, consult each other with a view to determining the most appropriate jurisdiction for prosecution. 7. Without prejudice to the general rules of international law, this Convention does not exclude any criminal jurisdiction exercised by a Party in accordance with its internal law.	In progress towards compliance	In progress towards compliance	In progress towards compliance	In progress towards compliance
45. Sanctions and measures 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the offences established in accordance with this Convention are punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions, taking into account their seriousness. These sanctions shall include, where appropriate, sentences involving the deprivation of liberty which can give rise to extradition. 2. Parties may adopt other measures in relation to perpetrators, such as: -monitoring or supervision of convicted persons; -withdrawal of parental rights, if the best interests of the child, which may include the safety of the victim, cannot be guaranteed in any other way.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
46. Aggravating circumstances Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the following circumstances, insofar as they do not already form part of the constituent elements of the offence, may, in conformity with the relevant provisions of internal law, be taken into consideration as aggravating circumstances in the determination of the sentence in relation to the offences established in accordance with this Convention: a. the offence was committed against a former or current spouse or partner as recognised by internal law, by a member of the family, a person cohabiting with the victim or a person having abused her or his authority; b. the offence, or related offences, were committed repeatedly; c. the offence was committed against a person made vulnerable by particular circumstances; d. the offence was committed against or in the presence of a child; e. the offence was committed by two or more people acting together; f. the offence was preceded or accompanied by extreme levels of violence; g. the offence was committed with the use or threat of a weapon; h. the offence resulted in severe physical or psychological harm for the victim; i. the perpetrator had previously been convicted of offences of a similar nature.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
47. Sentences passed by another Party Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to provide for the possibility of taking into account final sentences passed by another Party in relation to the offences established in accordance with this Convention when determining the sentence.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
48. Prohibition of mandatory alternative dispute resolution processes or sentencing 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to prohibit mandatory alternative dispute resolution processes, including mediation and conciliation, in relation to all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that if the payment of a fine is ordered, due account shall be taken of the ability of the perpetrator to assume his or her financial obligations towards the victim.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
49. General obligations 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that investigations and judicial proceedings in relation to all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention are carried out without undue delay while taking into consideration the rights of the victim during all stages of the criminal proceedings. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures, in conformity with the fundamental principles of human rights and having regard to the gendered understanding of violence, to ensure the effective investigation and prosecution of offences established in accordance with this Convention.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
50. Immediate response, prevention and protection 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the responsible law enforcement agencies respond to all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention promptly and appropriately by offering adequate and immediate protection to victims. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the responsible law enforcement agencies engage promptly and appropriately in the prevention and protection against all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention, including the employment of preventive operational measures and the collection of evidence.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
51. Risk assessment and risk management 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that an assessment of the lethality risk, the seriousness of the situation and the risk of repeated violence is carried out by all relevant authorities in order to manage the risk and if necessary to provide co-ordinated safety and support. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the assessment referred to in paragraph 1 duly takes into account, at all stages of the investigation and application of protective measures, the fact that perpetrators of acts of violence covered by the scope of this Convention possess or have access to firearms.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
52. Emergency barring orders Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the competent authorities are granted the power to order, in situations of immediate danger, a perpetrator of domestic violence to vacate the residence of the victim or person at risk for a sufficient period of time and to prohibit the perpetrator from entering the residence of or contacting the victim or person at risk. Measures taken pursuant to this article shall give priority to the safety of victims or persons at risk.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
54. Investigations and evidence Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that, in any civil or criminal proceedings, evidence relating to the sexual history and conduct of the victim shall be permitted only when it is relevant and necessary.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
55. Ex parte and ex officio proceedings 1. Parties shall ensure that investigations into or prosecution of offences established in accordance with Articles 35, 36, 37, 38 and 39 of this Convention shall not be wholly dependant upon a report or complaint filed by a victim if the offence was committed in whole or in part on its territory, and that the proceedings may continue even if the victim withdraws her or his statement or complaint. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure, in accordance with the conditions provided for by their internal law, the possibility for governmental and non-governmental organisations and domestic violence counsellors to assist and/or support victims, at their request, during investigations and judicial proceedings concerning the offences established in accordance with this Convention.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
56. Measures of protection 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to protect the rights and interests of victims, including their special needs as witnesses, at all stages of investigations and judicial proceedings, in particular by: a. providing for their protection, as well as that of their families and witnesses, from intimidation, retaliation and repeat victimisation; b. ensuring that victims are informed, at least in cases where the victims and the family might be in danger, when the perpetrator escapes or is released temporarily or definitively; c. informing them, under the conditions provided for by internal law, of their rights and the services at their disposal and the follow-up given to their complaint, the charges, the general progress of the investigation or proceedings, and their role therein, as well as the outcome of their case; d. enabling victims, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of internal law, to be heard, to supply evidence and have their views, needs and concerns presented, directly or through an intermediary, and considered; e. providing victims with appropriate support services so that their rights and interests are duly presented and taken into account; f. ensuring that measures may be adopted to protect the privacy and the image of the victim; g. ensuring that contact between victims and perpetrators within court and law enforcement agency premises is avoided where possible; h. providing victims with independent and competent interpreters when victims are parties to proceedings or when they are supplying evidence; i. enabling victims to testify, according to the rules provided by their internal law, in the courtroom without being present or at least without the presence of the alleged perpetrator, notably through the use of appropriate communication technologies, where available. j. A child victim and child witness of violence against women and domestic violence shall be afforded, where appropriate, special protection measures taking into account the best interests of the child.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
57. Legal aid Parties shall provide for the right to legal assistance and to free legal aid for victims under the conditions provided by their internal law.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
58. Statute of limitation Parties shall take the necessary legislative and other measures to ensure that the statute of limitation for initiating any legal proceedings with regard to the offences established in accordance with Articles 36, 37, 38 and 39 of this Convention, shall continue for a period of time that is sufficient and commensurate with the gravity of the offence in question, to allow for the efficient initiation of proceedings after the victim has reached the age of majority.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
59. Residence status 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that victims whose residence status depends on that of the spouse or partner as recognised by internal law, in the event of the dissolution of the marriage or the relationship, are granted in the event of particularly difficult circumstances, upon application, an autonomous residence permit irrespective of the duration of the marriage or the relationship. The conditions relating to the granting and duration of the autonomous residence permit are established by internal law. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that victims may obtain the suspension of expulsion proceedings initiated in relation to a residence status dependent on that of the spouse or partner as recognised by internal law to enable them to apply for an autonomous residence permit. 3. Parties shall issue a renewable residence permit to victims in one of the two following situations, or in both: a. where the competent authority considers that their stay is necessary owing to their personal situation; b. where the competent authority considers that their stay is necessary for the purpose of their co-operation with the competent authorities in investigation or criminal proceedings. 4. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that victims of forced marriage brought into another country for the purpose of the marriage and who, as a result, have lost their residence status in the country where they habitually reside, may regain this status.	Under review	Under review	Under review	Under review
60. Gender-based asylum claims 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that gender-based violence against women may be recognised as a form of persecution within the meaning of Article 1, A (2), of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and as a form of serious harm giving rise to complementary/subsidiary protection. 2. Parties shall ensure that a gender-sensitive interpretation is given to each of the Convention grounds and that where it is established that the persecution feared is for one or more of these grounds, applicants shall be granted refugee status according to the applicable relevant instruments. 3. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to develop gender-sensitive reception procedures and support services for asylum-seekers as well as gender guidelines and gender-sensitive asylum procedures, including refugee status determination and application for international protection.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
61. Non-refoulement 1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to respect the principle of non-refoulement in accordance with existing obligations under international law. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that victims of violence against women who are in need of protection, regardless of their status or residence, shall not be returned under any circumstances to any country where their life would be at risk or where they might be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
62. General principles 1. Parties shall co-operate with each other, in accordance with the provisions of this Convention, and through the application of relevant international and regional instruments on co-operation in civil and criminal matters, arrangements agreed on the basis of uniform or reciprocal legislation and internal laws, to the widest extent possible, for the purpose of: a. preventing, combating and prosecuting all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention; b. protecting and providing assistance to victims; c. investigations or proceedings concerning the offences established in accordance with this Convention; d. enforcing relevant civil and criminal judgments issued by the judicial authorities of Parties, including protection orders. 2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that victims of an offence established in accordance with this Convention and committed in the territory of a Party other than the one where they reside may make a complaint before the competent authorities of their state of residence. 3. If a Party that makes mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, extradition or enforcement of civil or criminal judgments imposed by another Party to this Convention conditional on the existence of a treaty receives a request for such legal cooperation from a Party with which it has not concluded such a treaty, it may consider this Convention to be the legal basis for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, extradition or enforcement of civil or criminal judgments imposed by the other Party in respect of the offences established in accordance with this Convention. 4. Parties shall endeavour to integrate, where appropriate, the prevention and the fight against violence against women and domestic violence in assistance programmes for development provided for the benefit of third states, including by entering into bilateral and multilateral agreements with third states with a view to facilitating the protection of victims in accordance with Article 18, paragraph 5.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
63. Measures relating to persons at risk When a Party, on the basis of the information at its disposal, has reasonable grounds to believe that a person is at immediate risk of being subjected to any of the acts of violence referred to in Articles 36, 37, 38 and 39 of this Convention on the territory of another Party, the Party that has the information is encouraged to transmit it without delay to the latter for the purpose of ensuring that appropriate protection measures are taken. Where applicable, this information shall include details on existing protection provisions for the benefit of the person at risk.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
64. Information 1. The requested Party shall promptly inform the requesting Party of the final result of the action taken under this chapter. The requested Party shall also promptly inform the requesting Party of any circumstances which render impossible the carrying out of the action sought or are likely to delay it significantly. 2. A Party may, within the limits of its internal law, without prior request, forward to another Party information obtained within the framework of its own investigations when it considers that the disclosure of such information might assist the receiving Party in preventing criminal offences established in accordance with this Convention or in initiating or carrying out investigations or proceedings concerning such criminal offences or that it might lead to a request for co-operation by that Party under this chapter. 3. A Party receiving any information in accordance with paragraph 2 shall submit such information to its competent authorities in order that proceedings may be taken if they are considered appropriate, or that this information may be taken into account in relevant civil and criminal proceedings.	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
65. Data Protection Personal data shall be stored and used pursuant to the obligations undertaken by the Parties under the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS No. 108).	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant	Compliant
66. Group of experts on action against violence against women and domestic violence 1. The Group of experts on action against violence against women and domestic violence (hereinafter referred to as “GREVIO”) shall monitor the implementation of this Convention by the Parties. 2. GREVIO shall be composed of a minimum of 10 members and a maximum of 15 members, taking into account a gender and geographical balance, as well as multidisciplinary expertise. Its members shall be elected by the Committee of the Parties from among candidates nominated by the Parties for a term of office of four years, renewable once, and chosen from among nationals of the Parties. 3. The initial election of 10 members shall be held within a period of one year following the entry into force of this Convention. The election of five additional members shall be held following the 25th ratification or accession. 4. The election of the members of GREVIO shall be based on the following principles: a. they shall be chosen according to a transparent procedure from among persons of high moral character, known for their recognised competence in the fields of human rights, gender equality, violence against women and domestic violence, or assistance to and protection of victims, or having demonstrated professional experience in the areas covered by this Convention; b. no two members of GREVIO may be nationals of the same state; c. they should represent the main legal systems; d. they should represent relevant actors and agencies in the field of violence against women and domestic violence; e. they shall sit in their individual capacity and shall be independent and impartial in the exercise of their functions, and shall be available to carry out their duties in an effective manner. 5. The election procedure of the members of GREVIO shall be determined by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, after consulting with and obtaining the unanimous consent of the Parties, within a period of six months following the entry into force of this Convention. 6. GREVIO shall adopt its own rules of procedure. 7. Members of GREVIO, and other members of delegations carrying out the country visits as set forth in Article 68, paragraphs 9 and 14, shall enjoy the privileges and immunities established in the appendix to this Convention.	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Procedural: 67. Committee of the Parties 68. Procedure 69. General recommendations 70. Parliamentary involvement in monitoring 71. Relationship with other international instruments 72. Amendments 73. Effects of this Convention 74. Dispute settlement 75. Signature and entry into force 76. Accession to the Convention 77. Territorial application 78. Reservations 79. Validity and review of reservations 80. Denunciation 81. Notification	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

1. Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Act 2017. Section (2) Reports on progress: (1) The Secretary of State shall each year until ratification lay before each House of Parliament a report on the following— (a) if a report has been laid under section 1(1), any alteration in the timescale specified in that report in accordance with subsection (1)(b) and the reasons for its alteration; (b) the administrative measures taken by HM Government to enable the United Kingdom to ratify the Istanbul Convention; (c) the legislative proposals brought forward, including those in the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly, to enable the United Kingdom to ratify the Istanbul Convention; (d) the measures to be taken and legislation required to enable the United Kingdom to ratify the Istanbul Convention. (2) The first annual report shall be laid no later than 1 November 2017. (3) Subsequent annual reports shall be laid no later than 1 November each year. ↩

2. Paragraph 150, Domestic Abuse Bill. ↩

3. Migrant victims of domestic abuse review. ↩

4. Thousands to benefit from high-quality community based English language learning. ↩

5. Violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence: public services good practice guide. ↩

6. Violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence: perpetrator service standards. ↩

7. Rapid Evidence Assessment: what works with domestic abuse perpetrators? and Violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence: perpetrator service standards. ↩

8. Paragraph 150, Domestic Abuse Bill. ↩

9. Migrant victims of domestic abuse review. ↩

10. Domestic Abuse Services. ↩

11. Support for victims of domestic abuse in safe accommodation. ↩

12. This includes cases flagged as domestic abuse, rape and sexual offences excluding rape. Please refer to the CPS’s Annual Crime Report on VAWG for 2018-19 for explanatory notes to help interpret the data. ↩