Electronic ankle monitors and mandatory anti-violence training for perpetrators: Following Spain's model, women in Germany are set to receive significantly better protection from domestic violence. The Bundestag passed the reform of the Violence Protection Act on Friday with a large cross-party majority.
Politicians from all parliamentary groups praised the electronic ankle monitor in particular as an effective tool for improving the safety of women. However, the opposition argued that the planned measures do not go far enough.
All parliamentary groups voted in favour of the bill, with the exception of the Left Party, which abstained. Under the federal government's proposal, courts will be able to order potential offenders to wear an electronic ankle monitor, following the Spanish model. In high-risk cases, compliance with restraining orders will be actively monitored. Penalties for violating protection orders are also set to be increased.
In addition, the reform creates a legal basis for family courts to mandate offenders' participation in anti-violence programmes. Family courts will also gain the ability to request information from the national weapons registry as part of their risk assessments.
Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) told the Bundestag that the electronic ankle monitor has been highly effective in protecting women in Spain for the past 20 years. "Now it is finally coming here as well," she said. If a perpetrator approaches too closely despite a restraining order, an alarm is triggered immediately.
Those affected also receive a real-time alert. The second pillar of the law, she added, is working with offenders: "Anyone who commits violence must work on themselves so that the violence does not erupt from them again."
SPD MP Carmen Wegge described the reform as a long overdue systemic change: "Mandatory offender programmes, authorities that will work directly with all parties involved in the future, a warning zone for the ankle monitor that intervenes before a violation even occurs, and victims who will be allowed to bring a trusted person into court proceedings, because no one should have to face court alone in such a situation."
"Fulfilling the promise of protection against violent offenders is a central task of the rule of law for us," said Günther Krings (CDU), deputy leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. Women often live "in fear in the very place that should be their safest, their own home. That is a situation we must not accept." The electronic ankle monitor, he said, "relieves victims of the burden of raising the alarm."
AfD MP Rainer Galla called the electronic ankle monitor "a suitable and necessary tool for protection against identified violent offenders." It gives victims "a small measure of security and also freedom back, and that is a good thing," he said. However, Galla expressed doubt about whether court-ordered anti-violence training could be an effective means of preventing violence.
The Left Party considers the law insufficiently rigorous. Instead of addressing the root causes of male violence, the federal government is relying on the ankle monitor as a single instrument, argued Left Party lawmaker Aaron Valent.
"This is not a strategy, this is authoritarian symbolism," he said. It remains unclear, he added, who will protect affected women "once the ankle monitor is removed." Valent pointed to Spain, where dedicated courts for gender-based violence demonstrate that a different approach is possible.
The Greens also argued that the electronic ankle monitor can only be one part of the solution. Protection for women must begin before violence occurs, said Lena Gumnior on behalf of the Greens' parliamentary group. Domestic violence, she said, is "the result of rape culture, of hate speech against women, and of patriarchal claims of ownership." Gumnior pointed to Spain, where sexual offence law includes the "yes means yes" consent standard, a principle the CDU/CSU has so far rejected.
In a next legislative step, the governing coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD plans to ensure that a father's violence against the mother has direct consequences for custody and visitation rights. In cases of domestic violence, criminal proceedings should in future include support from psychosocial professionals, "so that people can feel safe," said Justice Minister Hubig.
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