On 11.11.2015, in EU Info Center in Skopje, regional conference on “Protection and support to women victims of gender based violence – current situation and good practices” was held, organized by National Council for Gender Equality, within the project “Coordinated Efforts – Towards new European standards in the protection of women from gender based violence” in which National Network to End Violence against Women and Domestic Violence is a local partner.
The welcoming address was followed by two panels: Legal framework prerequisite or guarantee for adequate protection of victims of gender-based violence and Acceptance and accommodation of victims of gender based violence – analysis of the situation in the Republic of Macedonia, with speeches by representatives from civil society organizations, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and Inter-municipal Center for Social Work in Skopje.
In the last panel, representatives from partner organizations from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Austria had their own presentations on the situation and progress in their own countries. The topic of the panel session was “Implementation of the standards for the protection of victims of gender-based violence contained in the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence”.
In order to improve the legislation and the system of protection, the following were the recommendations:
1. Republic of Macedonia must ratify the CoE Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, since the Convention establishes a comprehensive framework, policies and measures to assist and protect victims of gender-based violence and domestic violence;
2. In the relevant laws of the Republic of Macedonia it is necessary to introduce definitions of violence against women, domestic violence, victims of violence against women and domestic violence, gender and gender-based violence in accordance with the definitions provided for in the Convention;
3. Developing comprehensive and coordinated policies to prevent and combat all forms of violence covered by the Convention;
4. Providing adequate financial and human resources for the adequate implementation of integrated policies, measures and programs for preventing and combating all forms of violence against women, including those implemented by non-governmental organizations;
5. Regular collection of disaggregated statistics on cases of all forms of violence against women covered by the Convention;
6. Conducting research on all forms of violence covered by the Convention;
7. Change in the definition of rape in the Criminal Code and the Law on Criminal Procedure;
8. Trainings for relevant professionals dealing with victims or perpetrators of all acts of violence covered by the Convention;
9. Establishment and sufficient territorial distribution, availability and functionality of shelter centers for women victims of all types of violence against women and their children and free and 24 hour national SOS helpline for victims of gender-based violence according to the standards of the Istanbul Convention, whose sustainability is guaranteed by pre-defined funding;
10. Establishment of crisis centers for conducting professional treatment for victims of rape or referral centers and support for victims of sexual violence whose sustainability is guaranteed by pre-defined funding;
11. Real recognition of the non-governmental sector as a responsible actor and partner in the implementation of the activities, in particular through the provision and allocation of financial means for implementation;
12. Developing Programs for perpetrators of violence available on the whole territory of the Republic of Macedonia;
13. Facilitating victims’ access to free legal aid;
14. In the area of laws regulating migration and asylum it is necessary to supplement them in terms of recognizing victims of crimes within the scope of the Convention and enabling independent legal status regardless of the duration of the marriage or the relationship, i.e. victims of all forms of gender-based violence to be provided with the right to residence as their personal right;
15. It is necessary that in the national laws gender-based violence against women to be defined as the basis for obtaining refugee status or a person under subsidiary protection;
16. Laws that regulate this area need to foresee indicators for early detection of cases of violence against women, and to establish rules for gender sensitive conduct of civil servants with women victims of violence.
