Article 3 lit. a of the Convention defines violence against women in greater detail and it identifies as a human rights violation “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life”. Standardised processes and guidelines to clinics regarding how allegations of sexual assault by hospital personnel should be dealt with do not seem to exist. The question of how victims, especially women and girls, can be better protected preventively still requires fundamental discussion. Analyses are necessary The NPM will deal with this in greater depth before concrete recommendations are issued. It has also requested the assistance of the Human Rights Advisory Council in this matter. A working group under the auspices of representatives from the Federal Ministry of Health has already been established.  Protection of women and girls against exploitation, violence and abuse must be comprehensively guaranteed in accordance with the provisions of international law and Austrian regulations.  Competent professional support for alleged victims must be guaranteed, while suspicions are being investigated, but additionally when allegations are made against hospital staff. 2.2.2.2. Application of the Istanbul Protocol in Austrian hospitals There were media reports regarding the case of a Viennese woman who filed a complaint stating that on New Year’s Eve 2014 she was thrown to the ground at a petrol station by intervening law enforcement officers for no good reason. She further alleged that subsequently she had been handcuffed and her feet had been shackled and that she had also been kicked in the back. She was then held for several hours at a police station. Complaint regarding alleged police brutality After this incident, criminal and administrative penalty proceedings were initiated against this woman, without, however, concurrently pursuing her allegations of abuse efficiently, e.g. by questioning police officers in this regard, seeking witnesses or securing medical evidence to support her allegations. The party affected also expressed her criticism that, as a victim of police brutality, she had not received the level of support from the hospital where she went immediately after being released from police custody that she had expected as an alleged victim of violence. Documentation of injuries in hospital Enquiries in this regard by Commission 4 at the Vienna General Hospital showed that the woman’s statements about the sequence of events were not credible. Rather, the following entry can be found in 51