Inaction was no longer an option.

With 29 deaths per year, New-Zealand is one the developed countries most affected by domestic violence. The New-Zealand police reports an average of 120,000 calls received each year : this represents one call every four minutes.

It was a tight vote.

The text was adopted with a relatively narrow margin, as 63 MPs voted in favour and 57 against. Conservatives from the National Party, the majority group in Parliament with 56 out of 120 seats, voiced concerns that such provisions would be detrimental to working women and female job seekers, as employers would see them as having a negative impact on female productivity.

A model to follow.

New-Zealand is only the second country, after the Philippines in 2004, to implement such progressive measures. Council of Europe figures indicate that 15% of women in Europe are victims of domestic violence on a daily basis. Thus, it seems urgent to institutionalise such support mechanisms, so as to enable victims take steps aimed at severing ties with a violent partner, without putting their employment situation in jeopardy.

It must be noted that women are not the only victims of domestic abuse. In France in 2016, men accounted for 21% of domestic violence-related deaths.