Parliament has passed the draft law aimed at enhancing the protection of women victims of violence

About two years after its drafting, the draft of an essential law for the protection of victims of gender-based violence and domestic violence was approved today in its final reading.

How the victim protection mechanism will be improved, in practice, after the entry into force of the new legislative act:

1. The action of the emergency restraining order shall extend beyond the victim's home. Currently, the emergency restraining order provides protection to the victim and other family members only in their home.

2. The circumstances in which the woman may request protection have been more clearly defined. The new law includes the definition of "violence against women" - any act of gender-based violence that causes or may cause women physical, sexual or psychological suffering, including the threat of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of freedom, committed in the public sphere or private.

3. The empowered persons and professionals required to ensure confidentiality shall be mandated to report to the competent authorities on acts of domestic violence which endanger the life or health of the victim or on the imminent danger of such violence.

4. The protection measures that the police can apply in relation to the perpetrator have been listed:

• obligation to leave the joint dwelling temporarily or to stay away from the victim's home;

• prohibition to approach the victim, excluding also any visual contact with the victim and/or children;

• prohibition of any contact, including by telephone or by any other means of communication, with the victim and/or children;

• prohibition to keep and carry a weapon.

5. Children who are victims of crime, domestic violence, sexual offenses, regardless of income, have the right to qualified legal assistance.

In particular, victims of domestic violence and sexual violence are entitled to the free-of-charge services of a lawyer: when the perpetrator is detained, in the process of filing and examining the request for protection measures and at the stage of filing a complaint and legal actions.

The draft law is based on the analysis of the compatibility of national legislation with the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) and was developed in 2018 by the Center for Women's Rights.