After femicides

Raab warns against “political actionism”

Following a series of femicides - five women and a 13-year-old girl have been killed since Friday - Women's Affairs Minister Susanne Raab (ÖVP) emphasized at a press conference on Tuesday that every murder is different and that the background and motives need to be clarified. For this reason, a working meeting is to be held this week with experts from the fields of security, justice and victim protection to analyze the cases.

In a large proportion of femicides, the perpetrator comes from the woman's family environment, and there is often also a history of addiction or mental illness, according to the Minister. "However, we must also be allowed to address the disproportionately high number of perpetrators with a migration background." The cases of the past few days should and will now be addressed with "calm and seriousness", Raab warned, not to fall into "political actionism" in the discussion.

A mother and daughter were murdered in this house last Friday - just two of the five murders of women that took place within the space of a single day.(Bild: klemens groh)

Raab: "Not every murder case can be prevented" 
"Six women have been murdered in the last few days, which has shaken us all to the core." But we know that "we cannot prevent every case of murder, even though we have a well-developed violence protection system". The federal government has established a women's advice center in every district, expanded emergency shelters and established new violence outpatient clinics, the minister listed some examples of protecting women from violence. Some of these measures would be more effective in the coming years, "let's hope that we can continue on this common path, because every murder is one too many".

Violence protection centers are in a good financial position
What she feels is missing from the debate, however, is "that women's organizations have been starved for years". This has now changed: "If you ask violence protection centers and women's and girls' organizations, they will tell you that they are in a good financial position," the Minister is convinced.

In the fight against violence against women, it is important "that we work with society as a whole". There is a "strong alliance" within the government, and at this week's talks they want to specifically consider "where we can tighten up the system of protection against violence even more".