Wallonia has adopted a draft decree that paves the way for the introduction of electronic bracelets aiming to protect victims of intrafamilial abuse. The anti-rapprochement devices alert the former victim and the police if their perpetrator is nearby.
The amount of open intrafamilial abuses in Wallonia peaked in 2023, reaching 3,941 compared to 3,013 in 2019 (a 23% increase). Already used by almost 130 people in Flanders and around 10,000 in the Brussels-Capital Region, the electronic devices approved by Wallonia on Monday aim to improve victims' sense of security and autonomy and to prevent restraining order violations by the perpetrator.
"The figures are indisputable," Walloon Justice Minister Françoise Bertieaux (MR) said. "The number of people being monitored for domestic violence is constantly increasing. In addition to prevention, it is also imperative that we equip ourselves with all the tools we need to limit the risk of repeat offences."
State Secretary for Gender Equality Marie-Colline Leroy (Écolo) announced country-wide implementation of the bracelets in December, and Wallonia is building on this by adding additional measures. While the details are still being ironed out, it is expected that the bracelets will be used in two different scenarios.
On the one hand, both the victim and the perpetrator may wear the bracelets and a GPS system will notify both parties if they come within a certain distance of each other.
Alternatively, solely the perpetrator wears the bracelet and is forbidden from entering certain areas delineated by a judge.
Fight against femicide
In adopting the draft decree, liberal party Mouvement Réformateur (MR) pointed to the programme's success in other countries, highlighting that the device has "proved its worth abroad".
Indeed, similar systems exist in France, Spain and Canada, where the bracelets are seen as an effective protective measure against femicide. In France, 10,500 cases of breached restraining orders came to police attention as a result of the system. Spain's former Justice Minister Pilar Llop said that no woman wearing a bracelet had been murdered since their introduction in 2009.
Belgium adopted a historic law against femicide in 2023, viewed as a crucial step to protect women by the feminist community. The law defined femicide as the intentional killing of women because of their gender. It took multiple dimensions of violence against women into consideration and made provisions for better protection against gender-based violence.
The organisation Stop Feminicide estimates that there are roughly two femicides a month in Belgium. A man murdered his wife in extremely violent circumstances in Waregem (east Flanders) in January, a case that was considered the first femicide of 2024 in Belgium.
