Honour-based violence: Legal and institutional approaches in Spain

Abstract

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (known as the Istanbul Convention) imposes on States Parties the need to address holistically all forms of violence against women, including honour-based violence not only by prosecuting such conduct, but also by preventing it and, above all, protecting its victims. While some northern European countries have addressed it, this form of violence against women has not yet received the attention it deserves in some Mediterranean European countries. This paper uses Spain as a case study to expose its deficient institutional and regulatory approach and lack of visibility of this form of violence against women. It analyses this reality phenomenologically, examines the legal and institutional response to it from a victim-centred perspective, and proposes ways to overcome this situation.