Graubünden passes law against domestic violence

The Graubünden cantonal parliament passed the new law against domestic violence on Tuesday, after a debate that stretched over two days and lasted more than four hours. The vote was clear: 84 in favour, 35 against. Unless a referendum is called, the law will take effect on 1 January.

The text, made up of eight articles, aims to strengthen action against physical, psychological, sexual and economic violence. The canton wants to reinforce cooperation between public bodies and private organisations that work with victims and perpetrators of domestic violence.

Until now, this cooperation relied on the government programme, whose funding is guaranteed only until the end of 2028. Under the new law, funds are secured beyond that date: 260,000 francs a year, plus 50,000 francs every four years for a needs analysis. Stable funding has a direct bearing on the continuity of support services for victims of domestic violence.

A database with pseudonymisation

The law also provides for a cantonal database, meant to track the evolution of the phenomenon and guide targeted measures. It will record the age and gender of the people involved, their relationship, the forms of violence, the geographic location and the outcome of cases.

During the debate, the UDC and the PLR had proposed also collecting data on the nationality of the people involved. The proposal was rejected by a narrow margin. Several members of parliament had raised concerns about data protection.

To limit this risk, the cantonal coordination office against domestic violence will pool the data in pseudonymised form, compare it, and release it publicly only in anonymised form. The aim is to identify regional differences, trends in different forms of violence, and the age groups most affected.

Cantonal minister Marcus Caduff explained that a project to define the technical details of data collection will be developed over the next three years. It remains to be seen, in practice, how the need to better understand the phenomenon will be balanced against the protection of the privacy of those involved.