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Legal Definitions in the EU Member States

This resource includes the legal definitions of different types of gender-based violence used in EU Member States, according to their legal terminology and national legislation. It was last updated in 2019 and makes a reference to the United Kingdom as a member state of the European Union.

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  • Legal Definitions in the EU Member States

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Types of GBV
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  • Country
    Austria
    Topics
    • Violence
    • Justice

    Occurs when a person and their children are subject to physical, psychological or sexual violence in their family or are repeatedly persecuted and harassed (stalked).

    Legal Source

    Security Police Act, Section 38a; Domestic Violence is only indirectly covered under the Criminal Code under various sections that may be applied: Section 75 (Murder), Section 76 (Manslaughter), Section 77 (Murder by Hire),Section 78 (Involvement in Suicide), Section 79 (Infanticide), Section 82 (Abandonment), Section 83 (Bodily Harm), Section84 (Grievous Bodily Harm), Section 85 (Grievous Bodily Harm with Lengthy Recovery Time), Section 86 (Assault with DeadlyConsequences), among others.

    Legal provisions on protection orders

    Interim injunctions are applied. The police is also obliged to inform intervention centres who in return offer protection for the victims as well as psychosocial and legal advice (Security Police Act, Section 38a).

  • Country
    Austria
    Topics
    • Violence
    • Justice

    A rape is committed if the deed has been a coitus or any other form of penetration. The victim of a rape has to be coerced by force, by deprivation of her/his liberty, or by dangerous threat either to perform or to tolerate the coitus.

    Observations

    Aggravated forms of rape exist when the victim gets pregnant, dies, suffers sever injuries or is put in an humiliating state over a prolonged period of time. These aggravated forms of rape are accompanied by higher threats of punishment.

    Legal Source

    Criminal Code, Section 201

    Legal provisions on protection orders

    No legal provision

  • Country
    Austria
    Topics
    • Violence
    • Justice

    Sexual assault occurs when a person is coerced by force or dangerous threat to perform or tolerate a sexual act that does not fall under rape according to Section 201 of the Criminal Code.

    Observations

    Aggravated forms exist when the victim gets pregnant, dies, suffers sever injuries or is put in a humiliating state over a prolonged period of time. These aggravated forms are accompanied by higher terms of punishment.

    Legal Source

    Criminal Code, Section 202

    Legal provisions on protection orders

    No legal provision

  • Country
    Austria
    Topics
    • Violence
    • Justice

    Touching the victim’s sexual characteristics or committing a sexual act in front of the victim.

    Observations

    Sexual harassment requires the victim’s complaint for prosecution.

    Sexual harassment at the workplace in the Equal Treatment Act offers a broader definition by penalizing touching other parts of the victim’s body as well as verbal utterance. (Equal Treatment Act, Section 46)

    Legal Source

    Criminal Code, Section 218

    Legal provisions on protection orders

    No legal provision

  • Country
    Austria
    Topics
    • Violence
    • Justice

    In Austria, stalking is defined as “persistent persecution”. Criminal law distinguishes four types of stalking, for each of them imprisonment up to one year can be imposed: a) trying to come close to the victim, b) contacting the victim by repeated letters, phone calls, emails, or SMS, c) ordering goods or services for the victim using her/his personal data and d) make other persons contact the victim using the victim’s personal data.

    Legal Source

    Criminal Code, Section 107a

    Legal provisions on protection orders

    Interim injunctions can be applied on the victim’s request under civil law (EO, Section 382g, Paragraph 1). The police is obliged to inform intervention centres on stalking cases who in return offer protection for the victims.

  • Country
    Belgium
    Topics
    • Violence
    • Justice

    Any form of physical (e.g. intentional assault and battery), sexual (rape of modesty and rape), psychological (stalking and insults) or economic violence (e.g. abandonment of family) between spouses or persons who live together or have lived together and between a stable emotional and sexual relationship exists or existed.

    Observations

    Domestic violence is any form of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence between members of a same family, regardless of their age.

    Legal Source

    Law to combat violence against partners,24 November 1997

    Legal provisions on protection orders

    Court custody

  • Country
    Belgium
    Topics
    • Violence
    • Justice

    Any act of sexual penetration, regardless of its nature and by whatever means, committed against a non-consenting person, represents a crime of rape. Consent is not considered to have been given, if the crime is committed by violence, coercion or deceit, or is made possible by the infirmity or physical or mental impairment of the victim.

    Observations

    The Law of 4 July 1989 amending certain provisions concerning the crime of rape has broadened the definition of rape.

    Marital rape is forbidden and condemned by the law in the same way as other forms of rape: it represents an aggravating circumstance in cases of rape.

    Legal Source

    Criminal Code, Article 375

  • Country
    Belgium
    Topics
    • Violence
    • Justice

    Indecent assault is defined in terms of use of violence or threats for adults.

    Legal Source

    Criminal Code, Article 372

  • Country
    Belgium
    Topics
    • Violence
    • Justice

    "Sexual harassment at work" is defined as any unwanted conduct related to the sex of a person of any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct with a sexual connotation with the purpose or effect that the dignity of the person is being violated, especially when a threatening, hostile, insulting, humiliating or offensive situation is being created.

    Observations

    In the judicial system, cases of sexual harassment can be qualified as stalking.

    Legal Source

    Law of 11 June 2002

    Legal provisions on protection orders

    Protection against dismissal and relocation.

  • Country
    Belgium
    Topics
    • Violence
    • Justice

    The repeatedly pursuing, watching or harassing of a person in a way this person perceives to be disturbing, worrying or tormenting.

    Legal Source

    Law 30 October 1998

  • Country
    Bulgaria
    Topics
    • Violence
    • Justice

    In Bulgaria, intimate partner violence is included under "domestic violence": any act of physical, mental, sexual, emotional or economic violence and any attempted such violence, as well as the forcible restriction of individual freedom and rights and of private life, carried out against individuals who have kinship ties, who have or have had family relation or are or were cohabiting partners. In addition any act of domestic violence in presence of a child is considered mental and emotional violence against him/her.

    Legal Source

    Law on Protection against Domestic Violence 2005, Article 2 and Criminal Code, Article 296, Paragraph 1 (punishment for noncompliance with a protection order against domestic violence, issued by the court under the Law on Protection against Domestic Violence)

    Legal provisions on protection orders

    Law on Protection against Domestic Violence 2005, Chapter 2

  • Country
    Bulgaria
    Topics
    • Violence
    • Justice

    Sexual intercourse with a female who is unable to defend herself and without her consent; by force or threat of force or by bringing her into a helpless state. This act is punishable with imprisonment of two to eight years.

    Observations

    Penetrative sexual acts with another person by using his/her employment or material dependence on him/her - imprisonment of up to three years (Penal Code, Article 153)

    Higher punishment for aggravated rape (e.g., when the victim is under the age of 18, related to the offender, or if it is a repeat offence)

    Legal Source

    Criminal Code, Article 152

    Legal provisions on protection orders

    No legal provision

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