Political parties VVD and D66 want a reporting center to help prevent femicide

The political parties VVD and D66 are proposing a central reporting point where people can alert authorities to women who are at risk of being murder victims. The reporting point would be open at all times of the day, seven days a week. A spokesperson for political party D66 confirmed this after initial reporting from RTL Nieuws on Wednesday. Considering the input from other parties in earlier debates, they are expecting to win a parliament majority for the proposal.

The two parties think that a reporting point like this could reduce the number of cases of femicide, the murders of women by romantic partners, former partners, current and former spouses, stalkers, and other relations. Between 2018 and 2022, 217 women and girls were killed as a result of violence.

In roughly 80 percent of those cases, the culprit was someone from their home circle. This number was 15 percent when it came to men who were killed.

Many of these murders were not unexpected, and were crimes born out of jealousy, or were a case of "honor killing." These are murders often carried out by a family member against a victim who was considered to be dishonoring the family. In most cases, there are already concerns from acquaintances, but they do not have anywhere to go with these concerns, the VVD and D66 believe.

This is why the parties want an “accessible” reporting point like a telephone or chat service, which would always be available. The messages would then be collected at a central place and looked at by specialists.

“In our country, a woman is murdered once every eight days,” said D66 MP Hanneke van der Werf. “We cannot stick our heads in the sand for such a big problem. An accessible reporting point is needed soon where the first signals can be reported and where professionals can then decide what action is needed.”

The parties will leave it to the Cabinet to decide precisely what the reporting point will look like and where it will be housed. They have not yet said anything about the costs and how they will be paid. The VVD is one of the four parties in the governing coalition, while D66 is currently in the opposition.