Country Profile Germany

General Country Information

Summary

There is one national women’s helpline in Germany, which is free of charge, available 24/7, and offers multilingual support, and there are other regional helplines supporting survivors of violence against women. There are 380 women-only shelters in Germany with a total of 2,720 family places available. There are 526 women’s centres, run mostly by women’s NGOs and welfare organisations, and different support services for survivors of sexualised violence. Germany does have a definition of primary prevention; it has started collecting systematic data on it, but a budget is allocated mostly on a project basis. Since 2023, the German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR) has acted as the National Rapporteur Mechanism on gender-based violence, mandated to monitor the implementation of the Istanbul Convention. Its first monitoring report was published in 2024. Frauenhauskoordinierung e.V. (FHK) publishes annual shelter statistics (approx. 50% of shelters provide data). The National Helpline also publishes annual reports. Federal states additionally collect data linked to subsidies, but these are generally not public

Women’s Specialist Services

Germany has one state-wide women’s helpline, the Violence against Women Helpline (Hilfetelefon ‘’Gewalt gegen Frauen’’/Bundeshilfetelefon, tel.: 116016), which is run by the Federal Office of Family Affairs and Civil Society Functions (Bundesamt für Familie und zivilgesellschaftliche Aufgaben). It operates free of charge, is available 24/7 and offers support in 18 languages (German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Kurmanji, Polish, Serbian, English, Farsi/Dari, Romanian, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Russian, Polish, Chinese, Arabic, and Bulgarian, as well as German sign language and Easy Language). Therefore, Germany does meet the Istanbul Convention standards for the provision of a national women’s helpline. The helpline provides support in cases of domestic violence, including psychological, physical and/or sexualised violence, stalking, forced marriages, sexual harassment in work and public spaces, trafficking in persons, female genital mutilation, bullying, and femicides. It is state-funded. In 2024, it offered 61,200 counselling services (54,300 calls and 7,000 online counselling). The most common form of violence reported was domestic violence, which remained at a similarly high level (59%) as in previous years, followed by sexualised violence (13% of the calls) and psychological violence.

In addition to the national women’s helpline, further services are available in Germany. The BIG Hotline, operated by BIG e.V. (Berliner Initiative Gegen Gewalt an Frauen e.V., tel.: +49 306110300), is a regional hotline for Berlin available 24/7, providing multilingual support to women survivors and relatives of women survivors of violence. At the national level, the Sexual Abuse Helpline (Hilfe-Telefon Sexueller Missbrauch, tel.: +49 8002255530) is operated by N.I.N.A. e.V. and funded by the Independent Federal Commissioner Against Sexual Abuse of Children and Adolescents. It is available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 09:00–14:00, and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 15:00–20:00, and works to improve the protection of children and young people from sexualised violence.

Germany has approximately 380 women’s shelters with an estimated 2,720 family places, which corresponds to approximately 6,800 beds. No federal state² meets the number of family places recommended by the National Rapporteur Mechanism on gender-based violence, which corresponds to one family place per 10,000 inhabitants; one family place corresponds to one bed for the woman and 1.54 places for children. The website www.frauenhaus-suche.de indicates free capacities in shelters on a nationwide level. The website is run by ZIF, the coordination of the Autonomous women’s shelters. Most shelters are open 24/7; according to the first periodic report for the implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Germany published by the German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR), 297 shelters declared round-the-clock accessibility. In several cities (e.g. Hamburg, Heidelberg, Hannover), 24/7 emergency shelters operate for short-term stays, transferring women later to permanent facilities. Funding of shelters remains highly fragmented and insufficient. Only around one-third of shelters receive stable institutional or mixed funding. The majority rely on a daily rate system under which women must cover accommodation and support costs either personally or through welfare assistance. This excludes certain groups—such as students, pensioners, EU migrants, and undocumented women—who may not qualify for public benefits. Depending on the shelter, women may bear none, part, or all of the costs: in 11% of shelters, costs always apply, in 60.8% only under certain conditions, and in 26.8% women must contribute directly.

The length of stay varies considerably. Autonomous shelters generally follow a principle of self-determination, giving women the space and necessary time to take back control of their lives and recover from violence. However, funding arrangements and bed shortages often impose limitations, with some shelters restricting stays to one, three, or six months, while others allow up to one year or longer. Authorities have at times pressured shelters to shorten stays in order to increase turnover and serve more women. Services offered by shelters are broad and typically include casework, counselling and psychological support, legal and practical advice. Collaboration with external services is often required, especially for women with specific needs (e.g. disabilities), to secure adequate shelter placements.

All women-only shelters can accommodate older women, and most can accommodate women with children with disabilities. Some can be accessed by and are accessible to women with uncertain residence permits and undocumented women, refugee women, homeless women, women with physical, cognitive and/or sensory disabilities, women with substance abuse issues, transgender women and women with older sons. No women-only shelter is equipped to support unaccompanied girls under the age of 18.
Germany has several specialised women’s shelters for specific groups. There are shelters specifically for survivors of trafficking, as well as girls’ and young women’s shelters (Mädchenhäuser) for survivors of sexualised violence within families or neighbourhoods. The National Network of Autonomous Girls’ Shelters (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Autonome Mädchenhäuser) currently operates girls’ shelters in 14 different cities. These facilities are explicitly feminist, anti-racist, and anti-patriarchal in orientation and are increasingly addressing questions of gender diversity, though approaches vary across locations. In addition, there are shelters for women affected by honour-based violence, two facilities that provide specialised support for women with substance abuse issues, as well as specialised shelters for survivors of forced marriage, refugee women, and migrant women.

Women-only shelters are partially funded by the state, including regional authorities, municipalities, and federal states, and by religious institutions and through donations. Around one-third of shelters receive institutional funding and are therefore not fully dependent on daily-rate financing. In these cases, however, women still have to pay rent and apply for social welfare to cover living costs. About two-thirds of shelters are financed through a daily-rate system. In 2024, a draft law on financing the anti-violence structure was presented to the public, stating that there should be no costs for survivors of violence. Implementation is still pending, and the lack of available shelter places remains a major problem. Approximately 250 shelters are run by women’s NGOs with a feminist or gender-specific approach, around 90 shelters are managed by faith-based organisations and 50 by welfare organisations. Women’s shelters exist in all regions, but coverage is not sufficient, and the situation is particularly difficult in rural areas.

Main reasons for declining referrals were the lack of space or capacity to accommodate survivors with children, the women-only shelters not being adequately equipped for the needs of the women and/or children or no available space or capacity to support the survivor. The most common forms of violence reported by survivors were domestic, sexualised and physical violence. Survivors also frequently reported psychological violence, which remains a major issue as it is often not legally recognised, and women and children affected by domestic violence often face structural and institutional violence too. According to the Women’s Shelter Coordination (Frauenhauskoordinierung, FHK), in their 176 shelters, 6,264 women and 7,043 children were accommodated in 2023. Scaled up to all 380—400 shelters, this corresponds to approximately 14,238 women and 16,008 children nationwide.

In addition to women-only shelters, there are other facilities that can support survivors of violence against women. These include support homes and groups within the youth welfare system.

Germany has approximately 526 women’s centres. The Federal Association of Women’s Counselling Centres and Rape Crisis Centres (Bundesverband Frauenberatungsstellen und Frauennotrufe, bff) reported 227 women’s centres in 2023, including specialist counselling centres, rape crisis centres, intervention centres, and centres for survivors of gender-based violence. Centres working on human trafficking are represented by the German NGO Network against Trafficking in Human Beings (Bundesweiter Koordinierungskreis gegen Menschenhandel e.V., KOK), numbering about 81, some of which also operate shelters. Other centres are connected with shelters and represented by the Central Information Office of Autonomous Women’s Shelters (Zentrale Informationsstelle Autonomer Frauenhäuser, ZIF) or the Women’s Shelter Coordination (Frauenhauskoordinierung, FHK).

Women’s centres provide counselling and psychological support, legal advice, financial and social welfare support and advocacy, housing advice, employment support, referrals and collaboration with other services, representation before courts, police and social services, and residential support services. Key challenges faced by women’s centres in providing support to survivors include limited access to housing, childcare, employment, and support in custody and economic matters. Women’s centres also provide specialist support for survivors of sexualised violence, including specialist psychological care, specialist advocacy services, community awareness and education for prevention work, as well as legal advice.

Most women’s centres are equipped to support women with uncertain residence permits, undocumented women, and refugee women. Some women’s centres can be accessed by and are accessible to women with physical, cognitive and sensory disabilities, older women, transgender women and unaccompanied girls under the age of 18. There are 102 women’s centres specialised in supporting survivors (at risk) of forced marriage. Additionally, there are women’s centres specialised in supporting survivors (at risk) of honour-based violence, female genital mutilation, trafficking in persons, women with uncertain residence permits and undocumented women, refugee women and Black and Minority Ethnic Women. Moreover, there are women’s centres specialised in supporting women survivors with physical, cognitive and/or sensory disabilities. Older women survivors can be supported by 257 women’s centres, and girls under the age of 18 by 176 women’s centres. There are 44 women’s centres that provide support to LGBTQI+ people, including transgender women and non-binary people.
Around 227 women’s centres are run by women’s NGOs. In addition, 299 centres are members of the Women’s Shelter Coordination (Frauenhauskoordinierung, FHK) but are operated by welfare organisations. Main funding sources for women’s centres include state funding, donations, religious institutions, and international funding. Overall, funding for centres is insufficient, and at the end of 2024, financial cuts affected the National Coordination Group Against Human Trafficking – KOK and its support for refugee women, with further cuts announced for 2025. Women’s centres are present in all regions of Germany, but the coverage is inadequate. There are significant gaps in rural areas, and access to counselling for women with disabilities is insufficient both in rural and urban areas. According to bff internal statistics, the number of women accessing their centres is increasing over time: 77,583 persons were counselled in 2020, 78,711 in 2021, and 85,170 in 2022. Counselling contacts increased from 242,670 in 2020 to 295,553 in 2022. About 80% of clients were directly affected by violence, while the remaining 20% were counselling professionals and relatives.

There are specialised services for women and girls who have experienced sexualised violence in Germany, including rape crisis centres, sexual violence referral centres, and a specialised helpline, as well as crisis and medical services. Services provided in the country to survivors of sexualised violence include specialist forensic and medical care, psychological care, specialist advocacy, community awareness and prevention, and legal advice. Additionally, about half of women’s centres provide counselling for sexualised violence too.

A programme is underway to implement sexual violence referral centres across federal states, coordinated by a rape crisis centre in Hessen. The Sexual Abuse Helpline (tel.: +49 8002255530), anonymous and free of charge, provides help and support specifically for children affected by sexual abuse, their family members, concerned persons from their social circles, and relevant professionals. The Federal Working Group of Feminist Organisations against Sexual Violence against Girls and Women (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Feministischer Organisationen gegen Sexuelle Gewalt an Mädchen und Frauen e.V., BAG FORSA) represents 22 organisations nationwide. BAG FORSA is based on a feminist perspective, viewing sexualised violence as a societal problem requiring coordinated strategies at multiple levels. It supports feminist organisations both during their establishment and when addressing later challenges.

Funding for sexualised violence support services comes from state authorities and donations. Institutional funding is insufficient, and many centres, such as rape crisis centres and organisations like Wildwasser, rely heavily on donations to sustain their work. BAG FORSA cooperates with the German Association for Prevention and Intervention (DGPI) and with BKSF (nationwide coordination of specialised centres, not limited to feminist centres). Services in Germany support women over 18, as well as young women and children under 18.

Public authorities collected for the first time data on primary prevention through the study ‘’Analysis for the Needs of Prevention of Gender-Specific and Domestic Violence’’ (Bedarfsanalyse zur Prävention von geschlechtsspezifischer Gewalt gegen Frauen und von häuslicher Gewalt), conducted by the institute Sozialwissenschaftliches Forschungsinstitut zu Geschlechterfragen (SoFFI) at the International Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (SOCLES), in cooperation with the German Youth Institute (Deutsches Jugendinstitut e.V., DJI). The project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Bundesministeriums für Bildung, Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend, BMBFSFJ), ran from 2022 to May 2025.

Germany has a National Action Plan against Violence against Women (Aktionsplan II der Bundesregierung zur Bekämpfung von Gewalt gegen Frauen), which was issued in 2012 and includes a definition of primary prevention of violence against women and girls. A new National Action Plan against Violence against Women will be implemented for 2025-2029. A budget for primary prevention activities exists, but programmes are mainly project-oriented. For instance, in Hessen, three ongoing prevention programmes are #coolermove, Alle gegen K.O.-Tropfen, and HeRoes (2020–2024).

Primary prevention activities conducted in Germany include feminist self-defence trainings, empowerment activities for girls and women, primary prevention programmes targeting men and boys, school-based prevention programmes, training for prevention practitioners, bystander intervention training, and self-care activities. An evaluation of prevention activities was published in May 2025 within the study ‘’Analysis for the Needs of Prevention of Gender-Specific and Domestic Violence’’. It analysed prevention programmes related to gender-specific and domestic violence, as well as the expectations of practitioners working in prevention. A wide variety of activities and programmes are organised by NGOs, including women’s centres and shelters, which strengthen support structures for women and address risks of violence.

1. 2,720 is the number of family places. One family place in Germany corresponds to one bed for the woman and 1.54 beds for children. This is based on Germany’s average birth rate. Data from WAVE Country Report 2023. ↩︎
2. Data from WAVE Country Report 2023. ↩︎