The European Union’s Push to Criminalize Femicide in Member States

Author: Ana Budeanu

May 25, 2026

HRRC is encouraged by the European Union’s efforts to criminalize gender-based violence and, more specifically, femicide. However, we emphasise that all policies regarding gender-based violence must be regularly updated to better protect human rights and promote equality.

A young woman poses among red shoes, symbolising support for domestic violence victims, at an awareness event in Bucharest, Romania, March 31, 2026 [Image credit: AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru]

The European Union (EU) has a long-standing debate on the criminalization of gender-related killings, also named femicide, or feminicide in Latin America, because although gender equality is a core value of the EU and a fundamental right under its law, the population and institutions of some EU member states are seriously failing in upholding them.

In 2024, the EU criminalized female genital mutilation, forced marriage and several forms of gender-based cyberviolence as they had become increasingly common. And although the EU has acceded in 2023 to the Istanbul Convention, a treaty on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, member states such as Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, and Slovakia have chosen not to despite the EU’s recommendations.

Recently, Romania passed a law criminalizing femicide after many gender-related killings took place across its territory, despite legal actions such as protection orders and criminal complaints. These gender-based crimes happened mostly due to the fact that women and their violence-related complaints aren’t taken seriously; they have been perceived as “provoking” the acts of violence.

Fortunately, not all members of Romanian society see gender-related violence and killings in the same way, and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have advocated for these complaints and criminal cases to be taken seriously by the state and its institutions. As a result of these civil society actions, femicide has been defined as the intentional killing of a woman, whether by a family member or a third party, and is punishable the same as aggravated murder. The sentence could mean15-to-25 years, or even life imprisonment.

This legal development in Romania signifies a great push for the EU's efforts to criminalize gender-based violence within its treaty and to uphold its values and fundamental rights.

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Glossary

• Aggravated Murder - considered more serious or heinous than normal : characterized by aggravating elements (such as the use of a deadly weapon)

• Civil Society - a voluntary association of individuals for common ends

• especially : an organized group working together or periodically meeting because of common interests, beliefs, or profession

• Criminal Complaint - a document sworn to by a crime victim or police officer that sets forth a criminal offense and commences proceedings in a magistrate's court

• Criminalization - to make illegal

• Cyberviolence - violence, or its equivalent, carried out in cyberspace or on the Internet.

• Domestic Violence - violent or abusive behavior directed by one family or household member against another

• European Union - economic, scientific, and political organization consisting of Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia

• Female Genital Mutilation - a procedure performed especially as a cultural rite that typically includes the total or partial excision of the female external genitalia and especially the clitoris and labia minora and that is now outlawed in many nations including the U.S. —abbreviation FGM

• Femicide/Feminicide - the gender-based murder of a woman or girl by a man

• Gender Equality - the quality or state of being equal, gender-based

• Gender-Related - the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex

• Protection Order - a court order issued upon petition of a law enforcement officer, family member, or household member that temporarily removes access to firearms and ammunition from a person when access to the weapon is determined to pose a risk to that individual or to others —abbreviation ERPO

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References

1. From Strasbourg to Bucharest: How civil society turned a legal victory into Romania's femicide law

2. EU action on gender equality

3. Directive (EU) 2024/1385 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on combating violence against women and domestic violence 

4. Gender Equality Strategy 2025 

5. Action against violence against women and domestic violence Istanbul Convention