A man shot his wife.

One reads such news with horror.

But are the right conclusions drawn?

November after November, when the Federal Criminal Police Office presents its statistics on intimate partner violence, politicians express concern.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called violence against women "abhorrent" on Thursday.

But so far the shock remains.

In October, an independent expert committee of the Council of Europe accused Germany of “serious deficits” in protection against violence.

The state does too little to assess the risk of women being killed by violent (ex) partners - and to protect particularly vulnerable women from it.

And the federal government has a duty anyway: through the Istanbul Convention, which has been in force in Germany for almost five years.

In the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP promise to implement them “unreservedly and effectively”.

The Convention prescribes preventing violence against women, combating it and providing protection and assistance to those affected.

But Germany is still not fulfilling its obligation.

The example of Hanna F shows what the worst-case scenario can lead to. She is one of 113 women who were killed last year.

In the summer of 2020 she wanted to get a divorce, her husband had cheated on her.

Upon learning of her plan, he knocked her out, kicked her in the head, choked her, and threatened her with a knife.

In November 2020, she obtained a ban on contact and proximity.

But her ex-husband ignored it.

He called her several times a day, ambushed her, crept around the house in the evenings.

Other women experience the same thing.

There are men who stab the tires of their former partners, catch their child on the way to school and threaten to kill both of them.

Poor data on domestic violence

Contact bans were violated 11,804 times last year, by 5,698 men and 463 women, according to police crime statistics.

The number also includes cases of stalking by strangers. It is not known how many transgressions relate to (ex) partnerships, nor in how many cases physical assaults occur.

It is also not later linked whether such assaults preceded the death of a woman.

The data situation on domestic violence is poor, which was also criticized by the Council of Europe body.

The Landesverband Frauenberatung Schleswig-Holstein eV estimates that 40 to 50 percent of men violate the ban on contact and proximity imposed on them.

And then the women are at their mercy.

Authorities hardly check whether perpetrators adhere to the prohibition of approach.

They only find out about violations when the woman informs the court.

As specialist advice centers complain, it takes at least six months for the courts to hear about the violation of the contact ban.

Women have to take care of their own safety

Hanna F. was so afraid of her former husband that she asked her children to sleep with her at night.

At her request, neighbors parked their cars in front of her house - the man should think she had visitors.

The house was equipped with surveillance cameras.

In the end nothing helped.

Hanna F. was shot dead in front of her new partner's apartment on May 19, 2021.

Much of what she experienced also applies to other women.

Several European countries are holding perpetrators accountable.

In certain cases, Great Britain orders electronic monitoring of the approach ban.

Switzerland continuously monitors all persons against whom a ban on approaching them has been imposed with an electronic tag.

In Spain, the alarm is even sounded in this way if the perpetrator approaches a previously defined area, such as the ex-wife's apartment.

Germany still shies away from electronic residence surveillance.

But experiences from other countries show that when it comes to domestic violence, a clear message is needed: Whoever hits, goes – and stays away.

By restricting the freedom of the perpetrator, the victim regains her freedom.

That would be an important signal - also for other victims of domestic violence who dare to report and obtain a ban on contact.

For society that understands that domestic violence is a problem that the state does not condone.

Only if structures are created to protect those affected will we no longer read in the statistics on intimate partner violence: 113 women and 14 men are dead.