05/05/2020 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 29 April, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) and the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) called on the EU and Member States to strengthen their measures to protect victims of domestic violence, both during the pandemic and in the long term, and presented recommendations on this matter. The two organisations’ recommendations include collaboration between the police, justice and health sectors, Europe-wide harmonisation of data collection and the sharing of good practice between countries. They also reiterated their commitment to the European Commission's proposal to add violence against women to the EU’s list of crimes. The EIGE and FRA also stressed that financial insecurity caused by the crisis and the possible subsequent recession might be additional factors in triggering the violence. (AC)