During the session that ended, Parliament modified 11 laws on the combing and prevention of violence so as to align Moldova with the international norms. Under the voted amendments, the victims of domestic violence will be more protected by the emergency restraining order that will enable the police to immediately remove the aggressor from the family’s dwelling for a period of up to ten days and to impose interdictions so as to prevent new violent. The assessment is made by UN Women, IPN reports.

Maria Scorodinschi from Drochia, who us a survivor of domestic violence and who helps other women to overcome this situation, said that such a law gives the victims power and courage to go on and to gain confidence because the aggressors put terrible fear in the victims and these take no measures.

Another amendment to the law enables the victims to benefit from free state guaranteed aid and a telephone line will be set up to provide counseling to persons 24 hours a day.

The new legislative provisions broaden the definition of violence. Thus, the pursuing of the victim by the aggressor is also considered an act of violence.

Work on the amendments started three years ago through the cooperation of the Government, civil society and experts. A key element in this process was the dialogue between the survivors of violence, the NGOs and members of Parliament within the Public Forum “Woman counts”, which was staged in 2014, 2015 and 2016 by UN Women Moldova.

“We make a call for common and coordinated actions between the development partners and the women who survived domestic violence, men and boys who support life without violence,” said UN Women Moldova Country Representative Ulziisuren Jamsran.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 63% of the women were subject to at least one form of domestic violence during lifetime.