The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence defines key terms as follows:
- “Violence against women” is understood as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women. It includes all forms of gender-based violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological, or economic harm or suffering to women. This also covers threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.
- “Domestic violence” refers to all acts of physical, sexual, psychological, or economic violence that occur within the family or household, or between former or current spouses or partners—regardless of whether the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim.
- “Gender” means the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men.
- “Gender-based violence against women” means violence directed against a woman because she is a woman, or violence that affects women disproportionately.
- “Victim” means any individual who has been subjected to the conduct described above.
- The term “women” also includes girls under the age of 18.