Ukraine participating in European convention combating violence against women and domestic violence

Ukraine participating in elaboration of European convention combating violence against women and domestic violencePhoto: change.org

Ukraine participating in elaboration of European convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence

Two days ago at 18:01 | Interfax-Ukraine

Ukraine is participating in a fourth plenary sitting of the Council of Europe Ad Hoc Committee on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (CAHVIO), which is taking place in Strasburg, France from February 22 through February 24, 2010, the press service of Ukraine's Justice Ministry has reported.

Justice Minister Mykola Onischuk said the Ukrainian delegation, consisting of representatives of the Justice Ministry, is participating in the discussion and assessment of a new draft of the European convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence.

The future convention, which is being elaborated at the initiative of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), is aimed at creating effective mechanisms to tackle gender violence.

The Council of Europe Ad Hoc Committee on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence was created under the aegis of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The committee includes representatives of member states of the Council of Europe, as well as international and European organizations.

The Facts About Domestic Violence

The Facts on Reproductive Health and Violence Against Women

Violence against women and girls is a global epidemic that affects the health and economic

stability of women, their families, and their communities. Violence affects every aspect of

women’s lives – from their personal health and safety, to the safety of their families, to their

ability to earn a living. While domestic violence is a global problem, women in developing

countries face particular challenges. Intimate partner violence against women has serious

consequences for maternal mortality and child survival in addition to having detrimental effects

on a nation’s social and economic growth.

• The United Nations Development Fund for Women estimates that at least one of every

three women globally will be beaten, raped, or otherwise abused during her lifetime. In

most cases, the abuser is a member of her own family.1

• Sexual violence is a pervasive global health and human rights problem. In some

countries, approximately one in four women and girls over age 15 may experience sexual

violence by an intimate partner at some points in their lives, and rates of sexual abuse by

non-partners range from one to 12 percent over the course of a woman’s lifetime.2

• A 2005 World Health Organization study found that of 15 sites in ten countries –

representing diverse cultural settings – the proportion of ever-partnered women who had

experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime ranged from 15

percent in Japan to 71 percent in Ethiopia. At least one in five women reporting physical

abuse had never before told anyone about it.3

• In the same study, four to 12 percent of women who had been pregnant reported having

been beaten during pregnancy, and more than half of these women had been kicked or

punched in the abdomen during pregnancy. Women who reported physical or sexual

violence by a partner were also more likely to report having had at least one induced

abortion or miscarriage than women who did not report abuse. 4

• Violence and the threat of violence against women contributes to the spread of

HIV/AIDS. Numerous studies indicate that violence dramatically increases the

vulnerability of women and girls to HIV/AIDS by making it difficult or impossible for

them to abstain from sex, get their partners to be faithful, or use a condom. Women

account for half of all people living with HIV worldwide, and nearly 60 percent of HIV

infections in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last 10 years, the proportion of women among

people living with HIV has remained stable globally, but has increased in many regions.5

• The U.S. State Department reports approximately 800,000 people are trafficked across

borders around the world each year, which does not include the millions of people

trafficked within their own countries. Worldwide, four in five trafficking victims are

women and girls, and up to half are minors.6

The Facts on International Gender-Based Violence

• An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the

consequences of female genital mutilation or cutting, with the majority of these instances

taking place in Africa and the Middle East.7

• Sexual violence and rape have been used during armed conflict to torture, injure and

degrade women, and have been a feature of recent conflicts around the world, including

those in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Darfur region of Sudan, Rwanda, and the

former Yugoslavia. In 2008, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution

that declares rape and sexual violence to be weapons of war, and demanded an end to

sexual violence against civilians in armed conflicts around the world. The resolution

says, in part, that sexual violence is being used as “a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate,

instill fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate” civilians in certain ethnic groups and

communities. 8

• Domestic and sexual violence in the United Kingdom costs the country £5.7 billion per

year, including costs to the criminal justice system, health care costs, housing and the loss

to the economy.9 In the United States, the health care cost of intimate partner rape,

physical assault and stalking totals $5.8 billion each year, nearly $4.1 billion of which is

for direct medical and mental health care services. Lost productivity from paid work and

household chores and lifetime earnings lost by homicide victims total nearly $1.8

billion.10

Where It All Began - Video

Nation stepping up efforts to combat domestic abuse

Tetyana Rudenko, an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe domestic abuse project coordinator

February 11 at 22:22 | Kateryna Grushenko

The good news is that Ukrainians – with the help of non-governmental organizations and more effort from law enforcement – have started combating the long-ignored problem of domestic abuse. The bad news is that, although domestic abuse may not be more widespread than in other countries, the victims in Ukraine are unprotected still by weak legislation, enforcement and awareness.

Police in the nation of 46 million people registered 93,000 domestic violence perpetrators in 2009, triple the number of 2003. More than 90 percent of the cases, as they are worldwide, involve women and children who are victimized by men. But the increase detected in official numbers is taken not as a sign that the problem is increasing, but rather that families are more actively reporting abuse and seeking help from authorities.

“Domestic violence is not on the rise in Ukraine, but it’s starting to show its true face, and both victims and those helping them are teaming up more effectively to combat it,” said Oleksandr Musienko, senior inspector of the social security department at the Interior Ministry.
Domestic violence is defined as deliberate actions of physical, sexual, psychological or economic abuse against one member of the family by another that causes moral, physical or psychological damage.

Overall, the number of registered cases is much smaller than in the United States, with 300 million people and 5.3 million of cases of domestic abuse registered annually. America, however, has a longer tradition of officially reporting these cases than in Ukraine, where many instances go unreported.

Activists and law enforcement officers are stepping up efforts to encourage victims to speak out and promise to push legislation to protect them – hopeful signs that a long-ignored problem is finally being confronted.

Surveys show that 68 percent of women say they have been victimized. The trauma leads some victims to commit suicide. Nearly 1 in 4 murders stem from domestic violence. Often, the perpetrators get away with a small fine of Hr 70 ($9).
But society is slowly becoming more responsive to victims.

“In previous years, victims had to run away and hide while the violator didn’t realize his fault, and had full command of family property,” said Gennadiy Mustafaev, a psychologist at Kyiv’s Desniansky center for family and women affairs.

A law on the prevention of domestic violence was adopted in 2001 and amended in 2008. It allows police to issue an official warning to suspect and to detain the perpetrator until a court hears the case. The violator, however, can return home after paying a small fine. Shelters have popped up in recent years giving abused women and children shelter for up to three months.

In many cases, alcohol and drugs are used by the male abusers. “Many of the perpetrators have a problem with alcohol and substance abuse, and end up selling family property, sometimes even apartments,” Mustafaev added.

The amended version of the law excludes victim behavior from the mitigating circumstances, closing the “she provoked me” loophole that the perpetrators often used.

“Accepting that ‘she provoked me’ [as a mitigating circumstance] is like accusing someone who had his cell phone stolen of keeping it in the wrong place or forgiving rape if the girl was a wearing a mini-skirt. It won’t be tolerated anymore,” said Tetyana Rudenko, an OSCE domestic abuse project coordinator.

Prior to 2001, no law on domestic violence existed and perpetrators had the status of “hooligans” rarely punished even for disorderly conduct. “The law is still far from perfect and we are assisting Ukraine to adopt the international experience,” said Rudenko.

During a recent conference, she produced examples of how Austria and Spain tackled their domestic abuse problems.

In Austria, if a policeman arrives on a domestic violence call, he or she can confiscate the keys to the house from the abuser and issue a restraining order for 7-10 days, prohibiting the accused perpetrator from approaching the house. In Spain, special courts deal with domestic violence and family matters. But experts are cautious on whether such solutions help or trigger further problems in Ukraine, where the police and courts are themselves notoriously corrupt.

“I’m not saying that these practices should be immediately applied to Ukraine, but the approach when the rights of the victim are prioritized is crucial,” said Rudenko.

Starting in 2010, correction programs for domestic violence perpetrators aimed to modify their abusive behavior will kick in on the national level. They are designed to substitute ineffective punishments, such as a small fine or public service, with psychotherapeutic group trainings and individual visits with psychologists.

Ukraine’s law enforcement officials are also starting to notice that improved training, teaching police on how to better deal with domestic abuse cases, can also make a difference. And so, they recently launched a two-room training room in Dnipropetrovsk, where officers test strategies with actors who imitate families experiencing domestic abuse problems.

“One of the two scenarios goes like this: A father returns home drunk, curses, picks on the family members, and it all blows up into a big fight. Then, neighbors call police, two officers arrive and try to handle the situation,” said Musienko.

The lessons learned from this center and as well as generally known methods, Rudenko said, will soon be disbursed via video-based training materials.

Kyiv Post staff writer Kateryna Grushenko can be reached at grushenko@kyivpost.com