A year after its deployment throughout the country, the anti-reconciliation button has already been used numerous times by victims of domestic violence.
A little over a year ago, the anti-reconciliation button was deployed throughout Belgium to protect women victims of domestic violence. It is a button, the size of a coin, hidden on the protected person and connected by Bluetooth to their smartphone, allowing them to discreetly notify the Police Information and Communication Center. This can in turn alert the police zone concerned, with a view to emergency intervention. The intervention team is then informed of the context, the perpetrator’s background, his personality, etc. to facilitate its operation.
“Our objective is that the number of feminicides decreases each year in Belgium. The anti-reconciliation alarm is one of the tools that (…) can help us by allowing rapid police intervention“, declared Marie-Colline Leroy, Secretary of State for Gender Equality.
More than a year later, we learned that 348 victims of violence have used this button, according to our colleagues at Sudinfo who also specify that 209 people are currently wearing this button. “Domestic violence will still kill people in Belgium in 2025. And we know that one in five women experience violence at the hands of their (ex-)partner in their lifetime. This device constitutes an important protective measure in the fight against femicide as well as infanticide.“, declared the Secretary of State today.
-“An evaluation of the device establishes that 9 out of 10 women feel significantly safer after receiving a mobile anti-approach alarm“, then specifies the office of Marie-Colline Leroy.
This device is given by the police to victims presenting “a risk to their lives after assessment of the risks by the police and the prosecutor, the latter taking the final decision whether or not to grant the AMR (mobile anti-reconciliation alarm)”, can we read on the website of the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men.
The number to know
If you suffer violence, are the perpetrator or witness, there is a helpline number: 0800 30 030. It is available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and calls are anonymous.
anti-reconciliation button belgium femicide domestic violence domestic violence
