Andorra has made significant legislative and institutional progress in preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence in recent years. However, comprehensive action is still required in certain areas to fully comply with the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence, known as the "Istanbul Convention", concludes the Council of Europe group of experts GREVIO in a new thematic report released today.
GREVIO welcomes the adoption in 2022 of the law on the application of the right to equal treatment and opportunities for women and men as a significant step towards the full incorporation of the principles of the Istanbul Convention into national legislation. The law acknowledges the role of gender stereotypes in perpetuating inequality and violence against women. It amends the Criminal Code by introducing a new crime of gender-based violence, separate from domestic violence, as well as the notion of consent to sexual relations.
The report also recognises the Andorran authorities' increased efforts in awareness-raising activities and young people's education, notably through the incorporation into school curricula and extra-curricular activities of subjects related to gender equality, gender stereotypes and violence against women.
Increased support for female victims of violence
Regarding support and protection for women victims of violence, GREVIO notes an increase in the number of professionals trained in dealing with victims and welcomes the provision of a permanent and specialised reception service for victims of sexual and domestic violence at the Nostra Senyora de Meritxell Hospital and the central police station. The authorities continue to provide economic assistance to cover the accommodation and basic needs of women victims and their children.
GREVIO welcomes that mediation in civil and criminal proceedings involving cases of violence or a high degree of conflict within the couple is banned by law in Andorra. Moreover, measures are in place to ensure the safety of women victims and prevent further traumatisation, notably processing cases involving violence as a priority, holding separate hearing times for the parties at courts and ensuring that statements gathered as evidence from women victims take place in a safe setting.
Long-term strategy to deal with gender violence needed
Despite Andorra's progress, the report identifies areas that require urgent action. GREVIO calls on the Andorran authorities to devise a comprehensive, long-term strategy to combat violence against women, with regular evaluation mechanisms, and to allow women's rights NGOs to play a greater role in developing, implementing and assessing these policies. Furthermore, additional efforts are needed to improve the collection of data broken down by the sex and age of the victim and perpetrator, the nature of their relationship and the form of violence inflicted.
To ensure better protection for children exposed to domestic violence, GREVIO calls on the Andorran judicial authorities to systematically take into account incidents of domestic violence when taking decisions on custody and visiting rights and to rigorously assess the risk of recurring violence by one parent against the other that the child would be exposed to in order to adapt or even withdraw parental rights from the abusive parent.
In addition, it highlights that the relevant authorities should issue emergency barring orders without delay in cases of domestic violence, to ensure the protection of women in situations of immediate danger. It is also essential to collect data on the number of judicial decisions issued in cases of violence against women and domestic violence, including emergency barring and protection orders.
Improvements are also needed in the implementation of the programme for perpetrators of domestic violence, training for law enforcement and judicial authorities, the transparency of budgets devoted to combat violence against women, ensuring also that women rights NGOs have sufficient resources and time to carry out their work, and ensuring awareness-raising activities on all forms of violence covered by the convention.
Finally, GREVIO expresses concern about specific trends that could undermine women's trust in the legal system to protect them from gender-based violence, such as the use of an accelerated procedure in some cases of violence against women against women, and the low number of convictions.
The report has been published today together with the comments from the Andorran authorities.
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GREVIO is an independent human rights body mandated to monitor the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence (CETS No. 210), known as the "Istanbul Convention", by its states parties. Open for signature to any country in the world in addition to the 46 Council of Europe member states, the treaty has been ratified by 38 states and the European Union, and signed by another six.
Andorra and the Istanbul Convention
Andorra and the Council of Europe
