Background:
The entry into force of the Violence Protection Act (Gewalthilfegesetz – GewHG) in February 2025 represents a milestone in the commitment to better protection against violence and is the result of decades of feminist activism. The core objective of the law is to remedy the previous undersupply of the violence support system in Germany and to provide a needs-based support system for gender-based and domestic violence. The federal states are obliged to ensure a nationwide network of protection and advisory services. From 2032, women affected by violence will have an individual legal right to protection and advice (§ 3 GewHG).
However, the GewHG does not only stipulate the provision of sufficient and needs-based protection, advice, and support services for women affected by violence. To achieve the core objective, urgently required prevention measures are also to be taken. Services aimed at persons who use violence are named as a specific measure (§ 1 Paragraph 2 GewHG). Furthermore, structured networking work within the support system and with other cooperation partners is to be strengthened, and public relations work promoted (§ 1 Paragraph 2 and 3 GewHG). To support the federal states in implementing the necessary measures, the federal government is providing a total of 2.6 billion euros over the period from 2027 to 2036.
Intervention and prevention:
From the perspective of the Federal Association for Perpetrator Work on Domestic Violence (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Täterarbeit Häusliche Gewalt e.V. – BAG TäHG), the GewHG is an important step towards implementing the Istanbul Convention (IC), despite some gaps. The legal right to protection and advice, as well as the federal government’s financial participation in expanding the support system, are significant advances in improving the protection of those affected. It is also explicitly welcomed that work with persons who use violence and other (primary) prevention measures have been included in the law. Even though the focus of the law is rightly on creating needs-based protection and advisory services for persons affected by violence, the consideration of prevention work is an important signal. Intervention and prevention must finally be thought of together and expanded in parallel if we want to establish effective protection against violence and, beyond that, overcome structures that promote violence. For this reason, prevention is an elementary component of the IC and the EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence. For the GewHG to be implemented in this sense, the prevention sector must also be included in the baseline analyses, needs planning, and the resulting financing concepts of the federal states.
Baseline analysis and development planning:
As a first step, the GewHG provides for the creation of baseline analyses and development plans by all federal states. According to the law, these must be oriented towards the actual need for services in sufficient numbers and appropriate geographical distribution. All named areas, including networking work, work with persons who use violence, and other measures to prevent gender-based and domestic violence, are to be included in the analyses (§ 8 Paragraph 2 GewHG). The analyses, including development planning and financing concepts, must be available by 31 December 2026.
In their creation, the BAG TäHG believes it is essential to ensure that the funds provided by the federal government flow into both additional measures and the expansion of existing structures. Specialists from civil society must be involved in the preparation of the baseline analyses.
It is undisputed that the provision of non-discriminatory and low-threshold services for women and children affected by violence must come first. Currently, more than 12,000 places in women’s shelters are missing, and a large proportion of the advisory and protection services are not barrier-free or geared towards the special needs of persons with disabilities.[1] There is an acute need for action here, even beyond the GewHG.
At the same time, the other named measures, as formulated in the text of the law, must also be taken into account when creating the baseline analyses. For instance, systematic and structured networking between the actors in the support system is the key to effective protection for those affected. Violence can only be prevented and interventions can only be made quickly and purposefully in cases of violence through cooperation alliances. The BAG TäHG therefore calls for the support for networking work mentioned in the law to be addressed in the baseline analyses.
The same applies to the field of prevention. Work with persons who use violence is stipulated in Article 16 of the IC as a measure to prevent violence.[2] Equality-oriented perpetrator work is an important instrument for preventing (further) violence, addressing the causes of violence, and thus also reducing the need for protection and advisory places for those affected. It is central that work with persons who use violence meets the quality criteria according to the requirements of the IC, is carried out by trained specialists, is oriented towards the protection of those affected, and takes place within cooperation alliances. For this reason, the BAG TäHG, together with the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs and associations for victim support, developed the standard for working with perpetrators in cases of domestic violence.[3] In 2022, GREVIO, the monitoring body for the implementation of the IC, called on Germany to intensify efforts to provide a nationwide range of perpetrator work according to the BAG TäHG standard.[4]
Nevertheless, there continue to be large differences both between and within the federal states regarding the financing and availability of services according to the BAG TäHG standard.[5] Perpetrator work is currently underfunded and unevenly distributed; in particular, there are significant supply gaps in rural areas.[6] To counteract the current underfunding and to reduce the need for protection and advisory places by expanding prevention work, perpetrator work according to the BAG TäHG standard must be taken into account in the baseline analyses and financing plans of the states. Only if standard-bound services for persons who use violence (and other prevention measures) are adequately financed and expanded can we address the roots of violence. To be able to implement the work in a facility according to the quality criteria of the BAG TäHG standard, this means, among other things, ensuring minimum staffing of two full-time positions (specialists, excluding administration) per facility and adjusting this according to the catchment area, accessibility, and case numbers.
Conclusion:
Due to the insufficient supply situation in all federal states and sectors, the funds provided by the federal government will not be enough to comprehensively remedy the imbalance in violence protection. Therefore, the BAG TäHG appeals to the federal government, the states, and municipalities to initiate further steps to improve the support system and to increase efforts to fulfill international obligations such as the IC and the EU Directive on combating violence against women. In the long term, we need cross-departmental measures in the form of an overall strategy that links protection, intervention, and prevention and supports the overcoming of structural causes of violence. The GewHG can make an important contribution to this if implemented purposefully. As a first step, this requires baseline analyses that name the actual needs, aim for a comprehensive improvement of the status quo, and specifically link intervention with prevention. Work with persons who use violence must be taken into account in the distribution of financial resources without disadvantaging or cutting funds for specialist advice and intervention centres for domestic violence.
[1] Frauenhauskoordinierung e.V. (2025): Bundesweite Frauenhaus-Statistik 2024 [online] https://www.frauenhauskoordinierung.de/fileadmin/redakteure/PDF/2025-09-08_FHK-Statistik-2024_Langfassung_final_lk.pdf [08.10.2025].
[2] Council of Europe (2011): Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, [online] https://rm.coe.int/1680462535 [08.10.2025], p. 10.
[3] BAG TäHG (2023): Arbeit mit Tätern in Fällen häuslicher Gewalt, Berlin: BMBFSFJ, [online] https://www.bmbfsfj.bund.de/bmbfsfj/service/publikationen/arbeit-mit-taetern-in-faellen-haeuslicher-gewalt-80734 [21.10.2025].
[4] GREVIO (2022): Baseline Evaluation Report on legislative and other measures giving effect to the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) in GERMANY, [online] Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence [10.10.2025], p. 43.
[5] German Institute for Human Rights (2024): Monitor Gewalt gegen Frauen. Umsetzung der Istanbul-Konvention in Deutschland. Erster Periodischer Bericht, [online] Monitor Gewalt gegen Frauen [08.10.2025], p. 157 ff.
[6] Kavemann, Barbara et al. (2025): Bedarfsanalyse zur Prävention geschlechtsspezifischer und häuslicher Gewalt. Kurzfassung, in: Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (ed.), [online] BMBFSFJ_Kurzfassung_Bedarfsanalyse_PraevGHG_Barrierefrei.pdf [08.10.2025], pp. 28 and 32.
