Work With Perpetrators European Network. More than ten experts on the work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence and/or Intimate partner violence and Survivors to this violence (mostly women and children), met in Berlin to share different perspectives and to start setting up next steps to bring the European Standards forward. Experts came from the Council of Europe, European Commission DG Justice and Consumers – Gender Equality Unit, European Institute of Gender Studies, Work with Perpetrator Programmes in Germany, NGO for Children in Belgium as well as a representative from USA and Australia.

The goal of the Expert consultation meeting was to gather input on the European standards from relevant stakeholders in research, policy, child protection, and perpetrator work within the criminal justice setting. The meeting was divided into two parts. The first part where the vision and the process behind the European Standards for Perpetrator Programmes were presented by Sandra Jovanović Belotić, WWP EN Training and Capacity Building Manager and Berta Vall, WWP EN Research and Development Manager. Followed by a second part with a small group discussion on specific questions provided.

The meeting contributions will inform future updates to the standards and provide valuable insights for the development of quality assurance practices at the European level.

The quality of perpetrator programmes has become a central concern in this field. Researchers and practitioners have been focusing on determining whether these programmes are effective and identifying what works for different types of perpetrators. There is also a pressing need to improve the quality of these programmes and to bridge the gap between research and practice.

The European Standards for Programmes for Perpetrators of Domestic Violence is the first document of its kind at the European level, providing a minimum quality framework for survivor-safety-oriented programmes aimed at male perpetrators of intimate partner violence. Developed by the European Network for the Work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence (WWP EN), these standards reflect ongoing efforts to offer guidance on safe and effective work with perpetrators.

The standards outline minimum quality requirements for programmes working with male perpetrators of violence against their female (ex)partners, specifically focusing on in-person interventions.

For more information on the necessity of these standards, their scope, framework, and development process, refer to the standards document.