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The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

24. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

09.03.2013   

 

 [1]

In the previous reports «Human rights in Ukraine» (2011, 2009-2010, 2008), information concerning gender-related violence was presented mainly in the context of the problem of domestic violence, which remains a widespread violation of human rights in Ukraine in 2012, as well. But the year 2012 was choke-full of events that indicated other forms of gender-based violence are just as prevalent, in particular, physical and sexual violence against women outside family.

Issue of terminology[2]

The UN Declaration (December 20, 1993) on the Elimination of Violence against Women outlines the foundation for definition of gender violence. According to article 1 of the Declaration, violence against women means the following:

«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».

Article 2 of the Declaration establishes that the international community acknowledges the pervasive nature of the forms of violence against women. The definition includes (but is not limited by): physical, sexual and psychological violence, happening both within family and publicly, including beating, sexual violence against girls, dowry- related violence, rape in marriage; female genital mutilation and other traditional practices that harm women; violence outside marriage; violence related to exploitation, sexual harassment and intimidation at work and in educational institutions; forced pregnancy, abortion and sterilization; trafficking and forced prostitution; violence by, or with the connivance of, the government.

The development programs, in particular those of UNFPA, use the following definition, which can be applied in the Ukrainian context:

«Gender-based violence is violence involving men and women, in which the female is usually the victim; and which is derived from unequal power relationships between men and women. Violence is directed specifically against a woman because she is a woman, or affects women disproportionately. It includes, but is not limited to, physical, sexual and psychological harm (including intimidation, suffering, coercion, and/or deprivation of liberty within the family, or within the general community). It includes that violence which is perpetrated or condoned by the state".

(UNFPA, Gender Theme Group, 1998)

General situation concerning violence against women

Domestic violence. Every year, the number of persons on the police register for committing acts of domestic violence grows (tables 1 and 2).

 Table 1.

Year

2010

2011

6 months of 2012

In total, individuals who are being registered by the police for violence in family

104,892

109,468

111,094

Number of women

7,212

7,920

8,283

Number of men

97,260

101,105

102,149

 

                     Table 2.[3]

Year

Registered in the current period

Issued official warnings on inadmissibility of committing violence in the family

Issued restraining orders

Found persons that committed administrative offences, stipulated by article 173-2 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences

Number of persons fined

2010

44,088

50,750

2,706

58,209

29,890

2011

87,540

98,597

5,026

104,039

67,202

6 months of 2012

47,219

51,363

2,239

54,719

30,873

 

According to the data of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine[4], during 9 months of 2012, 84, 989 applications concerning violence in the family have been submitted, of them from women – 71, 714. The number of persons on the police registers for committing violence in the family amounts to 110,057 persons.

Physical and sexual violence against women. 2012 made the problem of sexual and physical violence against women highly visible. The case of Oksana Makar (Mykolayiv) was the epitome of the issue. The young woman was raped by three men, who tried to burn her alive after the act. Immediately after the police was notified, all three suspects were detained but later two of them were released. Such a course of events caused a huge uproar in the society. As a result of wide public engagement, the case was under a lot of scrutiny from the authorities and the pre-trial investigation was commenced on it. Makar died on March 29, 2012[5].

Another case was that of Oleksandra Popova. In the course of a household quarrel, an 18-year girl was severely beaten by a 22-year citizen Kosinov. The girl spent 72 days in a coma. The Leninsky Court of Mykolayiv convicted the man for 12 years in prison[6].

There are a lot of cases concerning rape. In the period of 2009-2011, the law enforcement agencies received more than 7,000 applications and reports about cases of rape, but only 2,071 criminal cases were opened.[7] During 9 months of 2012, the law enforcement agencies registered 1,584 such applications and reports, concerning which 440 criminal cases were opened for crimes committed that fall under article 152 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine «Rape», and in 993 cases opening a criminal case was denied for applicants. The total of 363 cases was referred to the court.[8] According to the data of the State Court Administration of Ukraine[9], as of the beginning of 2012, there were 263 cases under article 152 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine in courts, during 6 months of 2012 another 214 cases concerning rape made it to courts. The courts hearings were held for 242 cases, of them in 207 convictions were made, and 250 persons were convicted.

But an even larger number of rapes stays in shadow because women are afraid to ask for protection, are unable to counteract violence by themselves, and they do not believe that the existent legal system is going to protect them. And the available official statistics prove how complicated it is to bring these cases to logical conclusion and to punish abusers through courts. Also, the society shows different attitudes to such manifestations of violence. A lot of people believe it is the victims who are guilty for what happened to them[10]. Spousal rape is not an additional qualifying attribute and is not considered as a separate crime.

Another issue here is that specialists, in particular, social workers, as well as victims themselves, fail to identify the problem.

The indicators concerning murders of women, rape of women and girls are available but their numbers do not reflect the actual situation in the society, as these data are collected not on all indicators[11].

Sexual violence against girls is not considered as a separate problem, just as a general problem of violence against children.

Sexual harassment of women, in particular, at the working place, is another wide-spread phenomenon in Ukraine. During 10 months of 2012, the National «hotline» on prevention of violence and protection of children’s rights received 7 calls (6 from women, 1 from a man) with complaints concerning sexual harassment at the working place; mostly this is ‘vertical’ harassment, that is, the superiors harassing their subordinates[12]. But there is no official statistics. This is connected both with lack of effective legislation in this sphere (in particular, impossibility to prove the fact of sexual harassment), concealment of facts, and with prevalence of consolidated gender stereotypes, due to which the victims fail to identify the problem and consider sexual harassment to be a «normal» phenomenon[13].

Bulling and other kinds of violence. The notion of «bulling» is not covered in the national legislation, so, correspondingly, there is no information about the number of persons, in particular women, who encounter it.

There is no data on violence among migrant women and female refugees available. There is no information about the number of women in Ukraine, who underwent genital mutilation procedures.

Gender violence committed by or with the connivance of the state. This type of violence till now has been and still is outside the attention of both the state and the public, that is why the road to development and implementation of practical steps in this sphere will be a long one.

The Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to participant countries concerning protection of women against violence, adopted on April 30, 2002, emphasizes the necessity to criminalize violence being committed by or with the connivance of the state[14].

77. to criminalize all forms of physical, sexual and psychological violence being committed or allowed by the state or officials, no matter where it is happening, but especially in prisons and detention centers, psychiatric institutions, etc.;

78. to criminalize all forms of physical, sexual and psychological violence being committed or allowed in the situations where the responsibility for what happened can be vested in the state or in the third person, for instance, in boarding schools (orphanages), centers for senior citizens and other institutions.

New international documents and activity at the international level. Ukraine’s signing in 2011 of the Convention of the Council of Europe No. 210 on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence will influence positively implementation of the governmental policy on combating violence. The Convention contains provisions concerning eradication of both the usual forms of violence against women, like physical and sexual violence, stalking, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and the issues that are not very widespread but still do exist in Ukraine, in particular, women’s circumcision, forced marriages, ‘honor’ crimes. In connection with this, the legislation will require the corresponding analysis as to its compliance with the provisions of this Convention and significant updating.

On June 7, 2012, in the Verkhovna Rada a round table discussion «Prevention of violence: harmonization of the Ukrainian legislation with the standards of the Council of Europe»[15] was held to clarify the plans concerning its ratification, which facilitated invigoration of work in the direction of preparation of a correct translation of the Convention[16], what is a precondition for its ratification. In particular, there was no consensus as to translation of the phrase «domestic violence». After the official translation was received, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine got an assignment from the Cabinet of Ministers to conduct the analysis of compliance of the Ukrainian legislation to provisions of the Convention and within one month to prepare the amendments to the legislation (the specified time span shows the lack of understanding of the topic and shallow approach to ratification of the Convention and to harmonization of the legislation with its provisions). The existent assessments of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine concerning compliance of the Ukrainian legislation to the provisions of the Convention No.210 are incomplete and require additional work. In September 2012, the «La Strada-Ukraine» Center created the public expert working group to work on the issues of compliance of the legislation of Ukraine to the provisions of the new Convention No. 210 and prepare recommendations on improvement of the legislation; this group sent proposals to the Ministry of Social Policy concerning support of this work and inclusion of representatives of different Ministries and departments.

The issues of violence against women have been reflected in the state report and reports from non-governmental organizations within the framework of the second round of the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review[17]. In the process of the hearing of the state report, which was held on October 24, 2012, the countries – participants of the session gave Ukraine a series of recommendations concerning improvement of protection of human rights in Ukraine, among which as improvement of investigation of all acts of violence against women and of domestic violence[18].

The Action Plan of the Council of Europe for Ukraine for the years 2011-2014[19] includes the project directed at prevention of and counteraction to violence against women and preparation for ratification of the Convention No.210. As of the end of 2012, the plan of the project has been developed, but the implementation is yet to commence.

Legislation of Ukraine. The previous reports addressed the issues of legislative securing of counteraction to violence in the family[20]. In 2012, some amendments have been made at the level of regulations but no significant improvements to the legislation.

On June 20, 2012, the Ministry of Social Policy and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine adopted the joint Order No. 371/549 «On making amendments to the order of the Minister of Ukraine in the issues of family, youth and sports and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine as of September 7, 2009, No. 3131/386»[21]. By the new Order, the Instruction concerning the procedure of interaction between departments (sections) in the issues of family, youth and sports, the children’s services, the centers of social services for family, children and youth and corresponding divisions of agencies of internal affairs in charge of prevention of violence in the family was brought in technical compliance with the provisions of the administrative reform. In particular, the words «the Ministry of Ukraine in the Issues of Family, Youth and Sports» are replaced with the words «the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine», and «departments (sections) in the issues of family, youth and sports» are replaced with «structural divisions in charge of implementation of the governmental policy concerning prevention of violence in the family». The Order was registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on July 10, 2012, under No. 1158/21470.

On July 4, 2012, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued the Command No. 430-р «On Making Amendments to the Action plan within the National Campaign “Stop Violence!” for the period till 2015»[22], and on July 11, 2012, adopted the Decree No. 617 «On Making amendments to the Procedure of consideration of applications and reports on acts of violence in the family or actual threat of such acts»[23]. But these amendments are also merely technical and make no changes in the content of either the Procedure of consideration of applications and reports on acts of violence in the family, or the Action plan within the campaign «Stop Violence!», they are only about the new names of the authorized agencies.

On September 17, 2012, the Ministry of Social Policy issued Decree No.581 «On approval of recommendations on conducting of the annual event «16 Days against Violence»[24]. The title of the Decree somehow lost the word ‘gender’ from the name of the world-wide event (which exactly about eradication of gender violence). Such approach of the Ministry of Social Policy can be connected with the existent anti-gender movements in the country and the Ministry’s concerns about possible criticism from them. This also shows that the Ministry of Social Policy, which is a specially authorized central body of executive power in the issues of securing of equal rights and opportunities for women and men, is reluctant to express the official position concerning the gender policy of the state. The Action «16 Days against Violence»’s major task in 2012 is to attract the public’s attention to the burning topics for the Ukrainian society – including eradication of violence in the family, counteraction to trafficking in human beings and cruel treatment of children, gender-based violence and securing of equal rights for women and men; to encourage partnership between governmental agencies, state institutions and non-governmental organizations in addressing the issues of violence in the family and protection of women’s rights in Ukraine; to conduct informational campaigns to raise awareness of the population of Ukraine in the issues of prevention of violence in the family, cruel treatment of children and to promote in the consciousness in all strata of the population concerning zero tolerance towards violence; to conduct local or regional events, public hearings in the issues of prevention of violence in the family, gender-based violence and trafficking in human beings; to support representatives of social institutions concerning popularization of the social effect and results from asking for held in the situation of domestic violence; to promote establishment of the violence-free ideology in the Ukrainian society.

According to the information of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, in 2012 the work on improvement of the Law of Ukraine «On prevention of violence in the family» was resumed, the updated version of the Law was developed and submitted for consideration of the Cabinet of Ministers[25]. As of November 1, 2012, no draft laws on this topic have been submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. No public discussions in this regard have been organized.

On May 31, 2012, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the Concept of the State Targeted Social Program for Support of Family till 2016[26], which, among other things, emphasizes gravity of the problem of domestic violence, which leads to divorces and is one of the preconditions of proliferation of crime in the society[27]. The Concept specified that violence in the family is especially dangerous because it harms children, who are immediate victims of violence and witnesses to its manifestations, and when they grow up they apply this negative experience in their own families. Violence in the family is a public problem, which has to be addressed at the level of the state. According to the approved Concept, the Program for Support of Family till 2016 is designed along three directions – formation of the positive image of family; promotion among young people of the responsible attitude to marriage and parenthood so that they have wanted children; securing of social support for families in hardships and families on the brink of hardships, to help them preserve family, avoid children being taken away from their families, combat violence in the family, and to provide necessary social services by conducing effective preventative work. The Program is supposed to be implemented by governmental agencies and bodies of local self-government, as well as non-governmental organizations. It is planned that the Program will be funded at the cost of the state budget and local budgets, as well as from other sources. As of November 1, 2012, the draft Program was not brought up for public discussion.

It is still an issue with the Ukrainian legislation that it lacks a definition of the gender-based violence. No regulations concerning protection of women from other forms of violence have been developed.

Weak institutional mechanism for prevention of violence in the family as precondition for violation of human rights. The problems of degradation of the institutional mechanism have been reflected in the previous reports[28] and in sections of the Report on women’s rights and counteraction trafficking in human beings. In 2012, more staff changes took place at the level of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine. The Department of family policy was reformed into the Department of gender policy and children’s recuperation, and the Department of adoption and protection of children’s rights – into the Department of family and children, which incorporated the Department of family policy (the issue of counteraction to violence in the family). But the issues of violence against women still receive little to no attention.

Because of the weak institutional mechanism and close to nonexistent interaction between the agencies and institutions, charged with the tasks of implementation of the governmental policy on prevention of violence in the family and eradication of gender-based discrimination, the activities in this sphere lack in effectiveness, especially in regard of protection of victims of violence. Another issue is that of discrepancies and lack of cohesion in statistical data of agencies and institutions, charged with taking measures to prevent violence in the family, in particular, the Ministry of Social Policy and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (each agency keeps their own reporting systems, which are not harmonized with each other). There is no system in place for regular training of officers of law enforcement agencies, judges, and social workers concerning the effective provisions of the legislation in the sphere of combating of domestic violence and gender-based violence. In 2012, the number of cases has grown when it is denied that violence in the family is violation of human rights[29]. Because of weakness of the institutional mechanism for prevention of violence in the family, the state has failed to adequately respond to these movements.

The correctional programs for abusers, introduced by the law in 2009, are not operating. Very few persons are referred to these programs, and even fewer complete these programs. For instance, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 9 months of 2012, ____ abusers have been referred to the correctional programs (in 2011, 3,742 persons were referred there)[30]. According to the data of the Ministry of Social Policy, there are 2,414 such persons, of them 569 completed these programs (in 2011, 4,240 persons were referred, 396 completed such programs).

What assistance is provided to victims of violence. The Law «On prevention of violence in the family» does not provide for obligatory establishment of crisis centers. They have to be established by local state administrations on submission of the specially authorized body of executive power, but there is no procedure for identification of the needs of the region. As a matter of fact, there is virtually no funding for activities in the sphere of prevention of gender-based violence, in particular, for provision of assistance to people who suffered from such violence. This leads to non-observance of the legislative provisions. As a result, more and more complaints on inactivity and actions of different governmental agencies are received at the National «hotline» on prevention of violence and protection of children’s rights. During 9 months of 2012, it received calls from 8,001 persons, of them 68.8 % women and 31.2 % men. In the total amount of calls, 12.3 % з are about violence in the family, of them: 51.9 % – about physical violence, 35.0 % – psychological violence, 7.6 % – economic violence and 5.5 % – sexual violence. Extreme cases of domestic violence are reported in 0.8% from the total number of calls.

According to the data the Ministry of Internal Affairs, during the period of 2010 – 6 months of 2012, the law enforcement agencies issued referrals for rehabilitation in specialized institutions to 390 victims of domestic violence (table 3).

                                                                                                       Table 3[31]

Year

2010

2011

6 months of 2012

Number of victims of domestic violence, who were referred to specialized institutions for rehabilitation

114

170

106

According to the data The Ministry of Social Policy[32], the number of persons covered by the social services in regard of violence in the family in 9 months of 2012 amounts to 9,593 persons (not disaggregated by sex or age). The monitoring of specialized institutions for victims of violence in the family[33] showed that in many cases these people are not identified as victims of violence and are classified as «those in hardships».

Violation of the rights of people who suffer from violence in family. Violence in family relates to many human rights, in particular, a right for life, a right to be free from inhumane treatment, a right for respect to personal life, personal sanctity and so on. Victims of violence face double violation of their rights, including because of lack of response and low effectiveness of activity of governmental agencies, which have authority to protect citizens from violence in the family. In 9 months of 2012, the National «hotline» received about 200 complaints on ineffectiveness or inactivity of governmental agencies. Most complaints are about systematic breeches by officers of law enforcement agencies (71.2 %): they do not respond to complaints and do not come when called, while emphasizing that violence in the family is a problem of this separate family and does not require addressing by law enforcement agencies; protection of the abuser’s rights (the husband is a co-owner of the house or a father of the child, so his detention, arrest, or issuing a restraining order against him may violate his rights), «hanging» calls usually are left without response, and in case of physical violence other forms of violence, especially psychological, are left unnoticed. Other complaints include 7.1% – on the Ministry of Health Care, 10.6% – on the Ministry of Social Policy, and 5.1% – on the Ministry of Justice. Here are several examples of complaints received by the National «hotline»:

 «The woman has been suffering from her husband’s physical violence for 13 years already. They have a child of 11 years. The woman is trying to escape the husband but he finds her and lives with her by force. The police do not want to do anything, as he has the right to live together with his child. What can be done?»

 «A woman has been living with her husband for 3 years. They have a little daughter. The husband started to beat both the wife and the daughter. What can be done? She already called the police, but the police do not act. They tell her that these are just light traumas so she just should get a divorce».

 «I have been living with my husband in a civil union for a year and a half. At first we had relationships like in a fairy-tale, but later everything changed – he started to drink often and humiliate me, even beat me several times. I called the police, but they told me that these are my family issues and I should take care of this myself. Tell me what to do?»

It is still problematic to protect the rights of persons, who suffer from domestic violence, but formally they do not comply with the description of a family member as stipulated in the Law of Ukraine «On prevention of violence in the family». These people can be former spouses or relatives who do not live together. Officers of law enforcement agencies address such cases formally and fail to apply other norms of the legislation to protect the rights of victims of such violence.

«The actions of citizen M. comply with the definition of the administrative offence as specified in article 173-2 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences of Ukraine (committing violence in the family, failure to observe the restraining order or failure to complete the correctional program) only formally. So, in compliance with the effective legislation of Ukraine, M. cannot be brought to responsibility as he does not run the household together with M., you are not connected by shared home and you have no mutual rights of moral and material nature.

At the same time, we inform you that if you have any claims of civil nature against M., in compliance with articles 297 and 299 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, you have the right to appeal to the local court as to addressing the issue of protection of your dignity, honor and sanctity of your reputation.»

From the answer of the Section of Public Security, the Chief Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Lugansk region to the complaint on the instance of violence.

The rights of victims of violence in the family are violated in courts of Ukraine, as well. Victims of domestic violence that suffered light traumas or battering or torture have to apply to court by themselves according to the procedure of private prosecution. In most cases such persons compose their applications by themselves but these applications have to comply with the requirements for the prosecution conclusion, which is usually composed by the investigators and prosecutors with education in law. It is not surprising that victims of violence make mistakes in these applications. Judges review such cases rather formally, do not explain to the victims of domestic violence the mistakes in their applications and refuse to accept them and open a case[34]. When criminal cases on domestic violence are considered in court, the sentences are rather short or are replaced with probation[35]. In 2012 there was a huge scandal about the sentence of 15 months in prison Rovenkivsky city court of Lugansk region gave to an ex-police captain, who cruelly murdered his wife – a police senior lieutenant herself, and threw their little son to a side of the road[36]. Such inadequate conviction of the court of the first instance shocked Ukraine[37]. The court of appeal of Lugansk region cancelled the decision of the first instance and gave him a life sentence[38].

A positive shift in the society is the spreading of awareness that violence is not just a problem of families in crisis, it happens in well-off families as well, as it does in the families of officers of law enforcement agencies; this topic gets more mass media coverage (for instance, the scandal with the nephew of Hanna Herman[39]).

Activities of non-governmental organizations concerning counteraction to gender-based violence. NGOs act as key subjects of activities to combat violence in the family in Ukraine. In 2012, their activities were concentrated on providing assistance to victims of such violence, in particular, monitoring of special agencies and institutions that provide assistance to victims of violence in the family[40], operation of the National «hotline» on prevention of violence and protection of children’s rights, whose consultants provide informational, psychological and legal counseling. People call there also to get consultations concerning resolution of psychological problems, problems of interpersonal relations, counteraction to violence and cruel treatment of children, establishment of custody over children, divorce and issues related to it, gender discrimination, etc. The National «hotline» is an effective mechanism for provision of social assistance and further referral of persons who suffered from violence. In 2012, the «La Strada - Ukraine» Center has been working on 15 cases concerning violence in the family and gender-based violence (psychological and secondary legal assistance, facilitation in obtaining a temporary shelter, etc.). In 9 cases, secondary legal assistance has been provided. In 2012, the «La Strada - Ukraine» Center helped to prepare and submit a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, the first of the kind from Ukraine, on behalf of Natalia M. and her little son (violations of their rights and of the norms of the Convention – articles 3, 8, 13 and 14).

As the system of assistance to victims of violence in the family is far from perfect, in 2012 the non-governmental organizations initiated several projects on development of the optimal model of providing assistance and protection to victims of domestic violence. The International Charitable Foundation «Ukrainian Foundation for Public Health» continued implementation of the project «Freedom from violence: expansion of rights and opportunities of girls and women in hardships»[41]. In 2012, a draft program for girls (14-18 y.o.) and women, who survived violence or belong to the risk group, has been developed – it will be piloted in Kyiv, with further elaboration based on proposals from the experts – participants of the program[42].

The Ukrainian Women’s Fund together with the «La Strada - Ukraine» Center launched the project «Providing assistance to victims of violence in family and prevention of proliferation of domestic violence», which aims to support non-governmental organizations (in 10 regions), which provide services to victims of violence in the family, and create the unified methodology for providing assistance to victims of violence[43]. The International Renaissance Foundationtitytn away  with each other, within the framework of the program «Supremacy of Law», supported several projects, directed at building of NGOs’ capacity to provide services to victims of violence in the family and legal empowerment of women, who suffered from domestic violence[44].

Non-governmental organizations again joined the annual World-wide campaign «16 Days against Gender Violence», which in 2012 is taking place under the motto « From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World»[45].

In 2012, the non-governmental and international organizations in Ukraine were participating in implementation of the all-Ukrainian social project «Let’s Do It Together!», which was tied in to the European Football Championship-2012. Its framework included the campaign «Red Card», to attract attention to the social problems, including those of domestic violence, sexual exploitation, disdain to women’s rights, etc. These negative phenomena received a red card from well-known Ukrainian sportspeople and showbiz stars: footballer Andriy Shevchenko, strongman Victor Virastiuk and singers Ani Lorak and Gaitana.

A serious problem in operation of non-governmental organizations is unstable funding and lack of financial support from governmental agencies and local self-government.

Recommendations [46]

1. To conduct analysis of the national legislation of Ukraine in the sphere of counteraction to gender violence as to its compliance to international standards, in particular, to the provisions of the new European Council convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence. Based on the obtained results, to develop and to make comprehensive amendments to the national legislation, especially in the parts with the definition of gender violence, prevention, counteraction and providing services to victims. To develop and to adopt a separate program for prevention of gender violence in Ukraine.

2. To adopt governmental standards concerning provision of services and organization of preventative work in the sphere of counteraction to violence in the family on the national level, whose outline is being already developed together with NGOs and international organizations.

3. To guarantee the governmental support to operation of «hotlines», establishment of shelters and NGO-based assistance centers for women concerning assistance in cases of violation of women’s rights, gender discrimination, gender-based violence, in particular, violence in the family, and trafficking in human beings.

4. To develop provisions concerning the state order from non-governmental organizations of services directed at prevention of violence in the family and provision of assistance to victims.

5. To turn the attention of law enforcement agencies to necessity to address the situations of violence in the family, witnessed by children, timely respond and take special measures as to prevention of violence in the family.

6. To introduce into advanced training curricula for officers of law enforcement agencies, judges, social workers, and medical specialists the topics concerning combating gender violence in the family.

7. To secure the opportunity to introduce at the local level correctional programs for persons, who committed acts of violence in the family through training of personnel for such work and engagement of a wider circle of organizations to such work alongside with the crisis centers.

8. To establish under the Ministry of Social Policy the intersectoral working group as to harmonization of the Ukrainian legislation with the provisions of the Convention of the Council of Europe on eradication of violence against women and domestic violence, which should include representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the Ministry of Health Care, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the State Migration Service of Ukraine, people’s deputies of Ukraine, scientists, independent experts, representatives of non-governmental and international organizations.

9. To develop and introduce the training programs as to formation of the violence-free behavioral model among children and youth through institutions of secondary and higher education.

10. To conduct regular informational and educational campaigns among the wide public, directed at eradication of gender-based violence in Ukraine

11. To harmonize the keeping of statistics by agencies and institutions, vested with the task of implementation of the governmental policy on prevention of violence in the family.

 


[1] The section was prepared by specialists from the International women’s advocacy center «La Strada – Ukraine» – K.Levchenko, M.Yevsiukova, T.Bugayets, O.Kalashnyk, K.Cherepakha, I.Mydlovets, Ye. Setpaniuk, and from the Informational-Consulting Women’s Center – O Syslova.

[2] Механізм моніторингу and протидії ґендерному насильству і дискримінації (Аналітичний звіт) / За заг. ред. О.Суслової – К.: СПД Москаленко О.М., 2009 – с. 10 –11.

[3] The tables were composed based on the statistical data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

[4] Letter from the Department of Family and Children of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine as of October 18, 2012 No. 3223/0/57/12-зв.

[5] http://rbc.ua/

[6] http://ua.for-ua.com/ukraine/2012/09/17/174239.html

[7] Letter from the Department of Informational and Analytical Support of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine as of October 22, 2012 No.16,1К-197 зі .

[8] Ibid.

[9] Letter as of October 23, 2012 No. інф/К-238/12.

[10] Чому суспільство вважає, що жертви зґвалтування самі в цьому винні? /               http://pravda.com.ua/columns/2012/03/31/6961852

[11] The statistical data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Court Administration of Ukraine often do not accord with each other.

[12] According to the data of the International Women’s Advocacy Center «La Strada-Ukraine».

[13] The data of the Informational-Consultative Women’s Center.

[14] Механізм моніторингу and протидії ґендерному насильству і дискримінації (Аналітичний звіт) / За заг. ред. О. Суслової – К.: СПД Москаленко О.М., 2009 – с. 58.

[15] http://la-strada.org.ua/ucp_mod_news_list_show_292.html ;

 http://portal.rada.gov.ua/

[16] The official translation of the Convention 210 appeared in July of 2012.

[17] The link to the report is on La Strada web site.

[18] http://ohchr.org/

[19] http://coe.kiev.ua/uk/DPAInf(2011)17E%20Action%20Plan%20Ukraine.pdf

[20] http://helsinki.org.ua/index.php?r=a1b7

[21] http://zakon1.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/z1158-12

[22] http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/430-2012-%D1%80

[24] http://mlsp.gov.ua/

[25] http://portal.rada.gov.ua

[26] http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/325-2012-%D1%80

[27] But the program was supposed to be approved as early as at the beginning of 2011, as the previous program ended in 2010. So, for two years, no such program was effective in the country.

[28] http://helsinki.org.ua/index.php?id=1332334988 ; http://helsinki.org.ua/index.php?id=1298365038

[29] http://pokrov.lviv.ua/?p=2601 ; http://pokrov.lviv.ua/?p=1291

[30] The Report on the state of counteraction to violence in the family during 6 months of 2012 and 12 months of 2011 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The data on the number of people, who completed the correctional programs, was unavailable.

[31] According to the statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

[32] Letter from the Department of family and children of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine as of October 18, 2012, No. 3223/0/57/12-зв.

[33] It was conducted in 2012 by the «La Strada-Ukraine» Center together with the Ministry of Social Policy with the support from AVON. The monitoring’s goal was to obtain information about specialized agencies and institutions, which operate in different regions of the country, as they are the bodies to which the consultants of the National «hotline» on prevention of violence and protection of children’s rights refer people, who call from different regions or requie a shelter in Kyiv. The monitoring gave a clear picture of the actual situation with shelters, opportunities to provide and receive assistance. The monitoring visits have been made to 50 agencies and institutions.

[34] Судовий розгляд справ, пов’язаних з вчиненням насильства в сім’ї в Україні: проблеми відповідності міжнародним стандартам та шляхи вдосконалення. Науково-практичний посібник для суддів / Євсюкова М.В., Хриcтова Г.О., Шаповалова О.А. та ін. / За заг. Ред.. Шаповалової О.А., Павлиш С.О. – К., 2011. – с. 110-111.

[35] Ibid, p. 105

[36] http://ntn.ua/uk/news/courts/2012/06/21/8172

[37] http://tsn.ua/

[38] http://lot.lg.ua/

[39] Oleg Bokalo violently assaulted his pregnant wife, two girls who tried to protect her and a police officer – a woman-investigator. A criminal case was opened against Bokalo under part 4, article 296 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – hooliganism. [http://zik.ua/ua/news/2012/07/23/360083]

[40] http://la-strada.org.ua/ucp_mod_news_list_show_301.html

[41] http://healthright.org.ua/project9_1

[42] http://healthright.org.ua/node/221

[44] http://irf.ua/

[45] http://gender.at.ua/news/2012-12-10-1047

[46]Рекомендації минулих доповідей залишаються актуальними.

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