International Policy Framework

This chapter describes the international policy framework and efforts made on the international and European level to further the fight against violence against women and domestic violence. The respectivenational legal frameworks and organisational context of front-line responder services are discussed in-depth in the following chapters. The IMPRODOVA project followed a bottom-up approach in itsinvestigation of ground-level practices of cooperation of frontline responder services, which are, however, only meaningfully understood when interpreted in the governing national legal and policy framework.While numerous international policy documents relate to domestic violence, the ratification of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in 2011represents perhaps the most significant attempt to institute a comprehensive policy framework in this field. The "Istanbul Convention" includes the first legally binding, international, and wide-reaching set ofnorms to combat violence against women in general and domestic violence specifically.

Frontline Response to High Impact Domestic Violence in Bulgaria

According to the NGO Women Against Violence Europe, an estimated 30 per cent of women in Bulgaria suffer from domestic abuse every year. Thirty-five women were murdered in the context of domestic violence in 2018. The mistrust of law enforcement and the justice system inherited from the communist regime discourages victims from seeking assistance from the police and the judiciary. The issue of violence against women surfaced in the government's agenda due to the debates around the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, which was ultimately rejected. The country policies are characterised by a lack of change in the legal frameworks, a lack of official data, a lack of sufficient financing from the state budget, and a lack of established procedures for handling domestic violence cases. Ineffective coordination between institutions, the failure to make official statistics publicly available, the lack of a national register of acts of domestic violence, the requirement of proof of systemic violence to initiate criminal proceedings, and the lack of resources to support NGOs are all obstacles that result in a high number of acts of domestic violence that goes unaddressed by the courts. NGOs are at the forefront of the fight against domestic violence.

Frontline Response to High Impact Domestic Violence in Finland

Finland is committed to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). The Convention entered into force in Finland on August 1st 2015. The Current Government Programme of the Prime Minister also includes several initiatives to better combat domestic violence. In 2020, 10,800 incidents of domestic violence and intimate partner violence offences were reported to the authorities. The number of reported offences decreased by 1,2 per cent from 2019. Among all the adult victims of domestic violence and intimate partner violence, 75.2 per cent were women, whereas 78.1 per cent of suspects were men. In 2020, there were in total 29 shelters for victims of domestic violence in Finland. There are several NGOs supporting victims of domestic violence and providing perpetrator programmes in Finland. When discussing the good practices of cooperation, ‘Anchor’ ('Ankkuri') teams shall be mentioned. 'Anchor' teams are multi-agency teams working in several police departments in Finland. These teams often consist of police officers, social workers, and psychiatric nurses. The Anchor model supports the well-being of children and adolescents and prevents juvenile crime and violent radicalisation.

Ratification and Consequences of Sexual Offenses in the Criminal Code of Georgia

This paper will discuss the issues of qualification of crimes against Sexual Freedom and Inviolability considered by Chapter 22 of Criminal Code of Georgia, which were made in the Criminal Code of Georgia after the Parliament of Georgia ratified the Council of Europe Convention on “preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence” (Istanbul Convention) adopted on May 11, 2011. Georgia signed this Convention on June 19, 2014. This paper will discuss the relative aspects of qualifying circumstances and disposition of rape and other related corpora delicti and their understanding in a new manner. The article will study the pros and cons that resulted in the fundamental changes made to the Criminal Code of Georgia on May 30, 2018, after the ratification of the “Istanbul Convention”. The concept prevailing, in theory, provides a new definition about what problems were solved and what contradictions arose from the new changes. In court practice, there still prevails the view that in order for the action to be assessed as rape, it is necessary for a woman to carry out “selfless” resistance to the offender. However, there are frequent cases when no signs of resistance are found on the victim’s body. Given the above, as evidence of the absence of consent is not often established to a high standard by the investigation (for example, in the event of a threat of violence), the case ends with the acquittal of the accused. The article will present recommendations on making changes in some components of the action by the Parliament of Georgia in the future. Based on the scientific literature and the legislation, both, main and additional qualifying elements considered by the disposition of the given Articles will be discussed in detail.

The Added Value of and Resistance to the Istanbul Convention: A Comparative Study in 27 European Member States and Turkey

One of the major achievements in tackling violence against women (VAW) is the adoption of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on VAW and Domestic Violence. The Istanbul Convention (IC) is a legally binding instrument tackling violence from a gender perspective, with a comprehensive set of measures. Although 21 European Union Member States (MS) and Turkey have ratified the Istanbul Convention and the European Union itself signed it, opposition towards gender equality has also risen. This paper reviews a study tendered by the European Parliament (the EP study), which aimed to understand the implementation of the Convention, its added value and arguments against its ratification. The EP Study grouped the 27 European Union MS and Turkey into those that have and have not ratified and implemented the IC. The EP study was based on four strands of data collection: 1) a literature review focusing on the impact of and arguments against ratification; 2) a legal mapping of the legislation to compare the criminal codes and support services of each country with relevant articles of the Convention; 3) national data collection to identify challenges in the implementation of the Convention and good practices; 4) a stakeholder on-line consultation. The study was conducted in 2020. The EP study found that ratification of the Convention triggered amendments to existing legislation and/or the adoption of new legal measures, but that legislative changes are less extensive in countries that have not ratified the Convention. Most European Union MS have adopted gender-neutral approaches to laws and policies, thus failing to acknowledge the gendered nature of violence against women and domestic violence. Seven of the European Union countries (BG, HR, LT, LV, MT, RO, TU) refer to physical, psychological, economic and sexual violence in their definitions of domestic violence, while nine countries (AT, BE, CZ, DK, EE, FI, FR, IE, LU) do not define domestic violence. Remaining challenges in the implementation of the Istanbul Convention include a lack of sustainable national action plans, and insufficient funding for specialist support services. Resistance to the Convention is evident even in countries that have ratified it, in response to proposed legislation on same-sex marriage, adoption or sexuality education in schools. Non-ratifying countries and countries with high resistance to the Convention often display victim-blaming public attitudes to intimate partner violence, stronger gender stereotypes and a stronger resistance to same-sex marriage/rights. The paper concludes by suggesting recommendations. The cut off date for data collection was 16 September 2020 and therefore legal and policy developments after that date were not included in this paper. This includes Poland and Turkey announcing their withdrawal from the IC in respectively July 2020 and March 2021. However, given the focus of this paper is on understanding the reasons behind resistance against the IC and on the differences between countries that ratified and those that did not, this paper contributes to a better understanding of how progress has been made following the IC, and points to the added value of the IC.

Regulatory and legal environment of counterfeiting and prevention of domestic violence against women

The article analyzes the legal support for combating and preventing domestic violence against women. The statistics show that in 2020 the bodies and institutions entrusted with the functions of implementing measures to prevent and combat domestic violence received 211,362 complaints about domestic violence, of which – 2,756 from children, 180,921 – from women , 27 676 – from men. It is concluded that the ratification of the Istanbul Convention is still open, which currently helps all signatory states to effectively combat a wide range of phenomena, including psychological violence, physical violence, sexual violence, especially rape, forced marriage, forced abortion, forced abortion, forced abortion. genitals, crimes in the name of so-called «honor», harassment, sexual harassment, etc. In addition, the need to ratify the Istanbul Convention has been and continues to be insisted on by the world community, as by signing this Convention, Ukraine has committed itself to ratifying it in the future. It is determined that the normative-legal provision of prevention and counteraction to domestic violence against women consists of a set of international covenants, declarations and conventions, normative-legal and by-laws normative-legal acts. It has been found that the number of reports of violence against women is increasing every year, so the legislator should work to prevent any forms of domestic violence by amending the legislation governing preventive measures. Keywords: violence, women, gender equality, Istanbul Convention, domestic violence, combating violence, domestic violence, gender equality

Between rights and values. On the polish noncompliance with the Istanbul convention

Data provided by the Police of the Republic of Poland reveal that nearly 250,000 persons are affected by domestic violence annually. Between 400 and 500 women die as a result thereof. The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence of 2011 (Istanbul Convention) is a result of joint efforts undertaken by European States in order to protect women and other victims of domestic violence. The paper elaborates on the impact of the Istanbul Convention on the domestic practice in the Republic of Poland. The aim of this part is to outline the practical importance of the treaty. I present amendments made to the Polish legal system since ratification of the Treaty and discuss the impact of the Istanbul Convention on the Polish legal system, and practice. The paper discusses the findings of the research against the theoretical background, by use of the main assumptions of Integrated Theory by Oona Hathaway.