Belgium has implemented a special law to prevent femicide

Belgium’s response to femicide marks a major shift in how gender-related killings are understood. The law does more than name a crime. It asks police, courts, health services, and public authorities to recognize warning signs earlier and respond to violence against women as a connected social problem.

What femicide means under Belgium’s new approach

Femicide is the intentional killing of a woman or girl because of her gender. It can occur in different settings. The most common context is often an intimate partner or former partner relationship, but femicide can also involve family members, sexual violence, trafficking, or attacks linked to misogyny.

The Belgium femicide law uses a broad legal definition. It recognizes several forms, including intimate partner femicide, non-intimate femicide, family-related femicide, and gender-based killings connected to sexual violence. This matters because a basic homicide record may show that a woman died, while hiding the gendered circumstances behind her death.

“Femicide refers to the intentional murder of women because they are women.” — UN Women

Belgium’s approach also distinguishes femicide from the killing of a woman where gender is not a known motive. That distinction does not reduce the seriousness of other crimes. Instead, it improves the way institutions study patterns, risk factors, and missed opportunities for protection.

The law also recognizes gender-related killings of transgender women and certain victims exposed to specific forms of exploitation, including sex workers. Its purpose is not to rank victims. It is to ensure that different forms of violence are recorded rather than overlooked.

Why Belgium introduced the law

For years, Belgium faced a serious data problem. There was no single, consistent national system for counting femicides. Reports from journalists and feminist associations helped reveal the scale of the crisis, but informal lists could not replace official statistics. Differences in definitions and reporting methods made comparisons from one year to the next difficult.

That gap affected prevention. If authorities cannot identify how many victims died, where killings occurred, or whether a partner had made threats, they cannot easily measure progress. They may also miss repeated warning signs in domestic violence cases.

Belgium’s Institute for the Equality of Women and Men has stressed the importance of reliable data. The institute supports better collection and publication of information about violence against women, victims, and institutional responses. The law gives this goal a stronger legal foundation.

Marie-Colline Leroy, who served as Belgium’s secretary of state for Equal Opportunities, was among the political figures associated with the legislation. Feminist associations and survivor advocates also pushed for a framework that treats femicide as part of a wider pattern, not as a series of isolated crimes.

Belgium also introduced the law in the wider context of gender equality. Violence against women is not only a criminal justice issue. It affects health, housing, employment, family life, and equality between women and men across society.

What the legislation does in practice

The law is often described as historic because it creates a comprehensive framework for prevention, protection, prosecution, and policy evaluation. It does not simply add a separate criminal charge called femicide to the criminal code. Rather, it sets rules for recognizing and addressing gender-based violence and gender-related killings.

Area	Earlier weakness	Law’s practical direction
Definition	Gender-related killings were not consistently identified.	Use shared definitions for femicide and related crimes.
Data	Sources used different methods and categories.	Improve official collection, analysis, and reporting.
Risk assessment	Threats and domestic violence signals could remain disconnected.	Strengthen assessment of danger to victims.
Training	Responses varied between services and regions.	Support training for police, justice, and care professionals.
Accountability	Prevention policies were hard to evaluate.	Create a clearer basis for monitoring public action.

One important feature is the recognition of risk assessment. Professionals may need to consider threats, access to weapons, stalking, separation, strangulation, escalating control, and previous partner violence. These factors do not predict every crime, but they can help services identify urgent danger.

The law also supports training. Police officers, prosecutors, judges, health workers, and social services may encounter victims at different stages. Shared knowledge can reduce the chance that a report is dismissed as a private relationship dispute.

In addition, the framework seeks better cooperation. Domestic violence often involves several agencies. A victim may speak with police, a doctor, a shelter worker, or a court official. Coordinated procedures can make it easier to share relevant information while respecting privacy and due process.

How the law strengthens prevention and institutional response

Prevention begins before a killing. It includes primary prevention, such as education about consent, healthy relationships, and gender equality. It also includes early intervention when violence, coercive control, or threats are already present.

Domestic violence is not limited to physical assault. It can include financial abuse, isolation, intimidation, sexual violence, monitoring, and control over housing or communication. These forms of violence may be difficult to prove, yet they can create a serious and sustained risk.

For victims, a stronger system should mean more than improved statistics. It should mean that reports are taken seriously, safety plans are realistic, and support is available without forcing a person to repeat the same story to many agencies.

• Police can receive stronger guidance on risk indicators and repeat incidents.
• Courts can consider patterns of partner violence rather than one event alone.
• Health and social services can improve referrals and safety planning.
• Researchers can compare data across regions and years more accurately.
• Public authorities can assess whether prevention programs are working.

Implementation remains the key test. A law can establish duties, but agencies need funding, staff, training, shelters, interpreters, and reliable procedures. Victims in rural areas, migrants, disabled women, LGBTQ+ people, and those facing poverty may encounter additional barriers to support.

Statistics should therefore be read with care. A change in the number of reports may reflect greater trust in police, better recording, or a real change in violence. Data can guide policy, but it cannot replace listening to victims and examining how each case was handled.

Why Belgium’s femicide framework matters beyond Belgium

Belgium’s law offers a model for treating femicide as a measurable form of gender-based violence. Its wider value lies in connecting legal definitions with data collection, prevention, professional training, and victim support.

The framework also challenges a common assumption: that each killing is an unpredictable tragedy. Some crimes may be impossible to prevent, but many victims have experienced earlier violence, threats, stalking, or control. Recognizing those patterns can help institutions act sooner.

Belgium still must show that the law changes daily practice. Success will depend on transparent reports, consistent statistics, sustained support for feminist associations, and meaningful accountability when systems fail.

The broader lesson is clear. Ending femicide requires more than prosecution after a death. It requires a society that identifies violence early, believes victims, challenges misogyny, and treats safety as a shared public responsibility. Belgium has created an important legal foundation. Its lasting impact will be measured by the protection it provides before another life is lost.