“K2” violence indicators

KidsToo has defined its “K2” indicators to measure different aspects of domestic violence and make comparisons with official indicators relating to violence in general and domestic violence in particular.

Since 2015, the United Nations‘ Agenda 2030 has been the global reference framework guiding countries’ action on sustainable development. It comprises 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) broken down into 169 targets. Translated into the Swiss context, these targets are measured using 85 indicators.

For Switzerland, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) is responsible for the MONET 2030 indicator system. This system presents an overview of sustainable development in Switzerland, illustrating the progress made towards the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations’ Agenda 2030, as well as with regard to certain themes specific to Switzerland. Comprising more than 100 indicators covering the three dimensions of environmental, social and economic sustainability, the system is structured according to the 17 SDGs.

Two of these indicators measure violence:

• L’ODD 5.2 pour la violence domestique.
• L’ODD 16.1 pour les infractions de violence.

Both indicators also give a breakdown by gender.

From the point of view of domestic violence, these indicators have design flaws.

The FSO states that indicator SDG 5.2 is not internationally comparable. For indicator 16.1, the FSO states that crime indicators are of limited value in international comparisons, given that the range of punishable acts considered, their definition (according to national penal codes), survey methods and data quality differ from one country to another, as does the propensity of the population to report offences”.

Indicators SDG 5.2-K2.0 and SDG 5.2-K2.1

The official “domestic violence” indicators do not take rape into account. This choice has a negative impact on the indicator itself insofar as, due to the small number of cases, it cannot be interpreted according to the FSO’s own opinion. Furthermore, as rape victims are mainly women, not including rape reduces the proportion of women who are victims of serious domestic violence and makes it impossible to verify that the objective of reducing all forms of violence against women has been achieved.

For indicator SDG 5.2-K2.0, the number of victims of offences committed or attempted under the relevant articles of the penal code, as well as rape.

For indicator SDG 5.2-K2.1, the number of victims of all criminal offences considered by the FSO as serious domestic violence are taken into account PLUS sexual acts against children.

Indicator SDG 5.6-K2.0

Offences involving psychological violence are considered by the FSO to be less serious (e.g. insults, threats). They nevertheless cause great suffering. As the decision to report such offences varies greatly from one case to another, hidden crime reaches a high level. The behaviour of victims – their greater or lesser propensity to lodge a complaint – plays a more important role in cases of psychological violence than in cases of serious violence.

There is no official indicator for measuring changes in psychological violence, either overall or in the context of domestic violence.

Indicator SDG 5.6-K2.0 gives the number of victims of psychological violence in the home recorded by the police. A reduction in this indicator is therefore a step towards sustainable development.

Indicateurs ODD 16.1-K2.0 et ODD 16.1-K2.1

Indicators SDG 16.1-K2.0 and SDG 16.1-K2.1

Victimisation indicator K2.0

In the case of domestic violence, a victim is subjected to several types of offence and some offences are repeated by the alleged perpetrator. These various offences and their repetition increase the victim’s degree of suffering. The victimisation indicator can only be calculated globally. The information needed to calculate it by gender or type of relationship between victim and perpetrator is lacking.

Control (“emprise”) indicator K2.0

The repetition of offences is one of the characteristics of systematic violence, whereas ‘pure’ one-off violence is (should be) one-off. The importance of systematic violence in domestic violence offences can be approximated arbitrarily by comparing the number of multiple offences with the overall number of single offences. The control indicator can only be calculated globally. The information required for a calculation by gender or type of relationship between victim and perpetrator is lacking.