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Course

New free Council of Europe HELP online course on Violence Against Women for Law Enforcement Professionals

Target group:

The Council of Europe has developed a new online course on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence targeting law enforcement. It can also be used by other first line professionals dealing with cases of violence against women and domestic violence (social or health professionals), civil society organisations, students and other target groups.

Fee:

Free

Digital:

Live streaming

About the event

New free Council of Europe HELP online course on Violence Against Women for Law Enforcement Professionals

Law enforcement plays a central role in addressing violence against women and domestic violence and in preventing its re-occurrence. Responses need to be efficient and tailored, within the legal framework, to the needs of victims and the risk of perpetrators.

In responding to violence against women and domestic violence, it is essential that law enforcement professionals are familiar with the human rights dimension of countering violence against women and are trained on an effective victim-centred response to victims and how to interact with perpetrators.

Drawing on the experience of several European police and law enforcement services including Denmark, France, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden, and based on the European main international treaty: the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women (also known as the Istanbul Convention) and the monitoring work of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), the Council of Europe has developed a new online course on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence targeting law enforcement. 

Read more and access the free online course at coe.int

Programme

The course contains 3 substantive modules and has an estimated learning time of 6 hours.

Module 0: Introduction

  • Welcome message, navigation instructions, course authors and course target group

Module 1: Understanding Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence

  • Key concepts and definitions
  • Violence against women and its different forms
  • What is domestic violence
  • Impact on victims
  • Consequences for society: costs of VAW and DV.

Module 2: Effective law enforcement responses in addressing violence against women and domestic violence

  • Principles of law enforcement response
  • Confronting stereotypes and professional bias
  • First contact with victims
  • At the scene of the incident/crime
  • At the police station
  • Investigation, evidence and reporting to prosecutor

Module 3: Assessing Risk of Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence

  • Risk assessment
  • Risk management
  • Police co-operation
  • Case

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