Left Party expresses concerns over gender equality in Luxembourg

In a statement released on Friday, the Left Party highlighted a sobering statistic, notably that one in three women globally has experienced gender-based violence. In Luxembourg, 60% of domestic violence victims are women. A recent survey showed that 20% of women between the ages of 16 and 74 encountered physical, sexual, or psychological violence at least once during 2019/2020. Data from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) noted that 444 women were killed by their partners across ten EU member states in 2020.

Despite Luxembourg's ratification of the Istanbul Convention, which focuses on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, in December 2018, the Left Party remains concerned. Their statement pointed out that the first report by the Group of Experts on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) for Luxembourg identified multiple recommendations for improving the legislative framework and addressing deficiencies related to victim protection and the concept of "secondary victimisation." Although the Convention criminalised gender-based violence in Luxembourg's criminal law, the Left Party criticises the absence of an official definition for "femicide" and the lack of reliable statistics regarding this issue.

The Left Party underlined that, despite ongoing efforts from stakeholders such as the Gewalt ("Violence") Report and the Equality Observatory, there remains a significant lack of information and data essential for a comprehensive understanding of the challenges linked to domestic and gender-based violence. The party disclosed that, before the election campaign, it conducted a meticulous examination to identify gaps in the legal framework and the availability of relevant data. To this end, MP Nathalie Oberweis presented six parliamentary questions to the Ministers of Justice and Equality between Women and Men. The Left Party expressed disappointment that these questions, sent on 31 August 2023, have remained unanswered, and lamented that "the ministers concerned are not fulfilling their functions to the end." The Left Party concluded by asserting that, "Neither the election campaign nor the election results absolve the ministers who remain in office of their responsibilities to answer to the nation, its citizens, and the parliament."