A Family Justice Center will be founded in the Republic of Moldova by the end of this year. The service will ensure an efficient and prompt response centered on the needs of the victim of domestic violence and violence against women, secretary of state at the Ministry of the Interior Daniela Misail-Nikitin stated in an event titled “Joint dialogue – Councilor of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, from ratification to implementation”. The event was organized by the Parliament’s commission on foreign policy and European integration in cooperation with UN Women and the Embassy of Sweden in Chisinau, IPN reports.
At the Family Justice Center, specialists will mobilize and will provide services under the same roof. “We speak about the combination of forces of representatives of the law enforcement agencies, the justice system, the social system and the health system,” stated Daniela Misail-Nichitin.
Felicia Bechtold, secretary of state at the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, said that a new public policy document on the prevention and combating of violence against women and domestic violence will be worked out in 2023. “We will work on the harmonization of the national legislation in the given areas of the Ministry, in accordance with the Istanbul Convention, will develop services in Cahul and Ungheni districts and will adopt the normative framework for victims of sexual violence,” noted Felicia Bechtold.
Veronica Mihailov-Moraru, secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice, said the ratification by Moldova of the Istanbul Convention is a major accomplishment. The steps should be reviewed so as to improve the situation. “First of all, we need to initiate a broad campaign to inform about the benefits of the Istanbul Convention as not even the legal system professionals fully realize what this Convection brings. Furthermore, greater attention should be devoted to training the professionals from the field so that these keep pace with the multiple amendments to the legislation and manage to effectively implement them. We need a campaign to teach the victims of domestic violence their rights and how they can realize these,” stated Veronica Mihailov-Moraru.
Veronica Bodrug-Lungu, the head of the Gendered Equality Platform, said the gender stereotypes should be combated. “We need very clear messages in the education system. We should work to transform the mentality by teaching campaigns. By preventing and getting rid of stereotypes, we contribute to promoting gender equality,” noted Veronica Bodrug-Lungu.
The Councilor of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention, took effect in Moldova on May 1 this year. Statistics show that each third woman in the Republic of Moldova is a victim of domestic violence.
