Gender-based violence against women

31. The Committee recommends that the State party, in close consultation with women’s groups and experts on gender-based violence prevention, increase efforts toward the prevention of gender-based violence against women, including by: introducing teachings about zero tolerance for violence into the school curriculum at all levels and training teachers accordingly; conducting large-scale awareness-raising campaigns in the media on zero tolerance for violence, on recognizing aggressive behaviour and on where to seek help; ensureing sufficient support structures are in place for women wishing to leave an aggressive spouse; and setting up programmes for perpetrators of gender-based violence aimed at non-recurrence. The Committee furthermore recommends that the State party:

(a) Implement the recommendations issued by the Committee on Partner Homicide, including to set up the Permanent Intimate Partner Homicide Commission and ensure that it is allocated adequate human, technical and financial resources.

(b) Renew its National Action Plan against rape, which expired in 2022, and conduct a study on the reasons for the discontinuance of a high number of rape cases, including the potential links to gender bias against victims of rape.

(c) Align the definition of rape with international standards, basing it on the lack of consent rather than use of force or threat.

(d) Include capacity building on the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of domestic violence cases in the mandatory basic education for the judiciary, prosecutors, police and other law enforcement officers, including on the issuance and monitoring of restraining orders and reverse domestic violence alarms, as well as in the use of Spousal Assault Risk Assessment and PATRIARK.

(e) Allocate adequate resources and provide the necessary capacity-building to ensure the effective and uniform implementation of the Crisis Centre Act throughout the State party.

(f) Provide capacity-building to relevant law enforcement officers, health professionals and municipal employees to strengthen the identification of victims of gender-based violence among women with disabilities, including through better usage of the TryggEst tool, ensure that women with disabilities have access to confidential and independent complaint mechanisms; and apply the section 291 of the Penal Code on rape in all cases of rape.

(g) Conduct research into the disproportionate risk of gender-based violence against Sami women to prevent and address the gender-based violence they experience within and outside their community, provide capacity building to law enforcement officials on Sami language and culture, and allocate sufficient human, technical and financial resources to re-establish the Sami crisis centre.

(h) Intensify monitoring of the incidence of violence in the name of so-called “honour” while taking into consideration all circumstances that may lead to the increase or decrease of reporting of these cases and analyse the reason for the increase in reporting of such violence. It also recommends that the State party disseminate information on how to seek protection from and report violence in the name of so-called “honour” through different accessible channels, including at school and via social media, and provide support for victims and for women and girls who fear they may be subjected to violence in the name of so-called “honour”

(i) Ensure that the provisions in the Immigration Act and Immigration Regulations are not applied in an overly restrictively way but in a way that protects the rights of women victims of gender-based violence, and provide women victims of gender-based violence with the support needed to access to judicial review of decisions of the immigration authorities.

(j) Implement the recommendations in the 2022 Baseline Evaluation Report by the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and
Domestic Violence.