Berlin, 22 January 2025 | Next Monday, 27 January 2025, the expert hearing will take place in the Committee on Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth of the German Bundestag on the Assistance to Violence Act The Women's Shelter Coordination Association (FHK) is invited as an expert. We welcome the government draft explicitly and call for cross-party support.
"The Assistance in Violence Act must be passed now. Postponing it until the next legislative period would be disastrous," emphasizes Stefanie Leich, Chair of the FHK Board of Directors. "With the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in 2018, Germany assumed an obligation under international law that exists regardless of the respective government. The implementation of this obligation cannot be delayed. The Assistance in Violence Act is a decisive step toward fulfilling this commitment and toward the urgently needed improvement of the support system for women and their children affected by violence."
The draft law provides for a legal right for victims of violence to ensure free and low-threshold access to protection and counseling for those affected by gender-based and domestic violence. Implementation is to be carried out by the states, with the federal government contributing €2,6 billion toward regular funding and the needs-based expansion of the assistance system.
It is noteworthy that the Motion by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group “Effectively combat violence against women – expanding protection, help and support services”, dated 12 November 2024, is in essential respects consistent with the Federal Government’s legislative initiative.
“The motions from the FDP parliamentary group and the Left Party group also show that there is cross-party agreement on how dire the situation of the aid system is and how urgently it is therefore necessary to finally improve this with a federal regulation,” notes Sibylle Schreiber, FHK Managing Director.
FHK is critical of the timetable: the legal entitlement and thus the obligation of the states to present a needs-based offer is only planned for 2030. Given the fact that Women's shelters due to lack of space This timeframe is problematic because asylum seekers reject women and their children who are seeking protection and have to wait weeks for advice.
Sibylle Schreiber emphasizes: "We call on the Bundestag to work across party and parliamentary lines to pass this law. It would be a missed opportunity to argue about details now instead of seizing the opportunity to sustainably strengthen the assistance system. The sooner we act, the sooner we can improve protection and support for those affected. Germany must fulfill its obligations – not at some point in the future, but now."
Quality recommendations
Current women's shelter statistics
