Preventing Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (MK0194)

Brief Description of the Commitment

The commitment is aimed at raising public awareness and educating practitioners from competent institutions for the prevention of domestic violence. Namely, in addition to the legal regulation of domestic violence since 2004, women still do not recognize separate forms of domestic violence, such as psychological and economic, and are not familiar with the legal protection mechanisms. Hence the need for continuous systemic education of practitioners from the police, courts, PPO, SWCs, health facilities and other institutions that are involved in the protection system. Despite the fact that the NAP for the implementation of the Istanbul Convention 2018-2023 and the Law on Prevention and Protection from Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. /04 and RSM No. 24/21) single out prevention as a priority area of action, which does not include the allocation of funds and the implementation of preventive measures. Vulnerable groups of women, such as women living in rural areas, women with disabilities, and members of ethnic minorities, are particularly affected by such situations. The commitment envisages the implementation of a comprehensive national campaign to inform the public, and especially vulnerable groups of women, about the nature of domestic violence and the legal obligations of the institutions responsible for reporting violence against women and domestic violence, as well as the education of practitioners from these institutions.

Problem Definition

1. What problem does the commitment aim to address?

Insufficient prevention of domestic violence, due to insufficient public understanding of the nature of domestic violence and legal mechanisms for protection, as well as the necessity of further education of practitioners from the police, basic civil and criminal courts, public prosecutor's offices, Social Work Centers (SWCs) and health institutions. Domestic violence is a serious social problem that is the result of gender inequality and discrimination against women in our society. The high representation of gender stereotypes and prejudices that require a subordinate role of women in relation to men in the family and society is the main reason for the emergence and persistence of domestic violence. The prevention of violence against women and domestic violence has been singled out as a priority area in all relevant documents at international level that have been ratified by our country, including the European Council’s Convention on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). For the effective handling of domestic violence, it is necessary to improve public awareness of gender equality, the nature and characteristics of domestic violence, as well as the legal mechanisms within the civil legal and criminal legal system of protection established since 2004. Namely, criminal legal protection is provided through the incrimination of acts of domestic violence and the application of a stricter punishment policy to perpetrators, while civil legal protection of victims of domestic violence is provided through the imposition of temporary measures for protection against domestic violence. Despite this legal regulation, in practice there is still a lack of effective protection for women who have suffered domestic violence. This situation is due to the failure to provide the necessary budgetary and human resources for the implementation of the institutions' legal obligations, as well as the failure to overcome long-term systemic problems, including insufficient information to the general public, as well as the need for systematic education of the practitioners from the competent institutions that are involved in the protection system. There is no implementation of a comprehensive national campaign to inform the public, especially the vulnerable categories of women, about the nature of domestic violence. Women still do not recognize separate forms of domestic violence (psychological and economic violence) and are not familiar with the criminal procedure for crimes committed as a result of domestic violence. The same applies to the procedure for imposing temporary measures for protection against domestic violence. Women are not familiar with their legally guaranteed rights in the procedures that lead them to solve problems arising from domestic violence, such as divorce, custody and alimentation for children, division of property, compensation for damage, etc. Due to the costs related to domestic violence and the unfavorable financial situation, the victims are not able to seek an effective judicial resolution of the mentioned problems, and at the same time, they are not aware of and do not use the right to exemption from paying costs in the proceedings in accordance with the Law on Civil Procedure and the right to free legal (secondary) legal aid according to the Law on Free Legal Aid. It is precisely for this reason that it is necessary to establish a systematic continuous education of the practitioners from the institutions that are involved in providing aid and support to the victims. In this regard, existing empirical research and official statistics on reported cases of domestic violence show that in the last 20 years there has been a continuous trend of high representation of domestic violence. Research on violence against women in the Republic of North Macedonia shows that 44% of women have experienced psychological violence from an intimate partner, and 60% believe that domestic violence is quite widespread in the country. 48% of the women in the country think that domestic violence is a private matter that should be dealt with at home, compared to women from countries across the EU. Even two-thirds are not sufficiently informed about what to do in case of violence, while only 2% of those who have suffered domestic violence reported it to the police (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - OSCE 2019, Report on Violence against Women in North Macedonia, Women's Well-being and Security). The statistical data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on domestic violence in the period 2017-2023 show a trend of continuous increase in the number of reported cases on an annual basis. In 2022, the highest number of cases were recorded, i.e. 1117 crimes, 366 misdemeanors and as many as 4421 complaints as a result of domestic violence. This trend will continue in 2023, i.e. in the period from January to September 2023 (9 months) a total of 841 crimes, 245 misdemeanors and as many as 3776 complaints were recorded (Ministry of Interior, Domestic Violence Statistics for 2017-2022 and quarterly statistical data for 2023). This commitment includes measures to overcome the justified systemic deficiencies in dealing with domestic violence in the field of prevention, through planning and implementation of activities to improve understanding by the general public and mandatory education of practitioners from competent institutions and allocation of the necessary resources for their implementation herein.

2. What are the causes of the problem?

One of the main reasons for such situations is the "neglect" of the prevention of domestic violence by the state, despite the fact that policies and laws impose an obligation to allocate budget funds for the implementation of activities to raise public awareness and educate practitioners from the institutions involved in the protection system. The NAP for the implementation of the Convention of the Council of Europe 2018-2023 and the Law on prevention and protection against violence against women and domestic violence single out prevention as a priority area of action, but the allocation of financial resources and the implementation of the foreseen preventive activities towards the general and professional public are missing. Namely, article 27 of the Law on prevention and protection from violence against women and domestic violence, states that the competences of the state administration bodies, LSGUs and legal entities exercising public powers will be implemented by providing financial resources within the departmental budgets. Article 34 of the Law regulates the obligation to adopt a program for preventive measures and activities and conduct a campaign and establish a system for regular publication of data on prevention of violence. The law also provides for explicit individual obligations to create prevention policies and provide financial resources for their implementation by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (Art. 17), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Art. 18), the Ministry of Health (Art. 19), the Ministry of Justice (Art. 20) and Local SelfGovernment Units (Art. 21). The justification for this commitment is greater if it is taken into account that international bodies for monitoring the implementation of standards for women's human rights, such as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at the United Nations (UN), continuously indicate the need to undertake preventive actions by the state. The need to intensify and diversify the activities for raising public awareness is also emphasized in the first report on the evaluation of the RNM by the Expert Group of the Council of Europe on combating violence against women and domestic violence - GREVIO, the body for monitoring the implementation of the Convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence of the Council of Europe (Istanbul Convention) Commitment Description 1. What has been done so far to solve the problem? Until now, the state's approach was mainly declarative and consisted of the adoption of strategies, policies and laws without providing the necessary preconditions for their implementation in practice. Although the prevention of domestic violence, i.e. the need to undertake activities to raise public awareness and educate practitioners by competent institutions, is recognized as one of the priority areas of action in policies and laws in the field of gender equality, violence against women and domestic violence, however, the effective implementation of the planned goals, measures and activities in this field is still missing. All the more so that the explicit legal obligations for providing financial resources from the Law on prevention and protection against violence against women and family violence, explained earlier, are not implemented either. The efforts so far in the field of raising public awareness and educating practitioners have been undertaken mainly at the initiative of international and civil society organizations, which were declaratively supported by the competent ministries and institutions. However, the limited coverage of the population with these campaigns (especially the population from rural areas) and their dependence on donor support directly reflects on the impact they have at national level.

2. What solution are you proposing?

The planning and implementation of comprehensive preventive activities by the competent ministries and institutions involved in the domestic violence protection system will directly contribute to the recognition of violence and will encourage women to report it, while at the same time enabling the improvement of actions by practitioners from competent institutions. The focus will be on intensifying the implementation of legal obligations regarding the prevention of domestic violence by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is the leading ministry for the implementation of the planned activities, taking into account that the police is the entry point in the criminal-legal system for protection against domestic violence, and also has a very significant role in the implementation of the emergency protection measure "removal of the perpetrator from the home" and “restraining orders", as well as in relation to the temporary measures of protection that make up the civil legal system of protection. The Ministry of Justice will be actively involved in the implementation of the planned activities, and other entities will be invited to join the working group, such as the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, LSGUs and others. The starting point for the implementation of the commitment is the preparation of a Plan by competent ministries for prevention of domestic violence, which will cover two priority areas of action: 1.Raising public awareness, especially for vulnerable groups of women, about the nature of violence against women and domestic violence, the mechanisms for protection of legally guaranteed rights, through a comprehensive national campaign in urban and rural areas, using "traditional" and alternative channels for communication with the public. 2. Improved capacities of practitioners from the police, civil and criminal judges and public prosecutors to deal with domestic violence, through the organization of initial and continuous trainings, including other types of educational events. For each of the priority areas, specific measures, indicators, commitment leads and the necessary budget funds for their implementation will be specified therein. Planning will be based on the experience and needs of women who have suffered domestic violence and the practitioners themselves involved in the protection system, thus promoting evidence-based planning. Preparation of the plan and preparatory activities for its implementation undertaken in 2024, implementation will begin starting from 2025. It is significant to note that the commitment foresees the continuation of the activities regarding domestic violence contained in the current NAP for OGP 2021- 2023, such as regular publication of data on the reported cases and measures undertaken to protect the victims.

3. What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment?

1. Raised level of public awareness regarding the nature, characteristics and consequences of domestic violence, as well as legal protection mechanisms. The commitment should result in the recognition of domestic violence, mandatory reporting to institutions, familiarity with legal protection mechanisms, such as criminal procedure for crimes committed as a result of domestic violence and the civil procedure for imposing temporary protection measures, as well as legal guaranteed rights such as the right to exemption from payment of costs and the right to free legal aid in civil court proceedings. 2. The actions of the police, criminal and civil judges and public prosecutors have improved as a result of the strengthened knowledge and skills through continuous education. Practitioners will acquire appropriate knowledge and skills to improve individual aspects of their actions and ensure effective protection and resolution of specific problems of women who have suffered domestic violence.

Commitment Analysis

1. How will the commitment promote transparency?

Ø THE COMMITMENT IS IMPORTANT FOR TRANSPARENCY because: • Enables access to new information and more information for the public, victims of domestic violence and practitioners from institutions and justice • Improves the quality of information, by developing and communicating special messages for each target group • Improves accessibility to information about domestic violence through proactive involvement of the police and the judiciary

2. How will commitment help foster accountability?

Ø THE COMMITMENT IS IMPORTANT FOR ACCOUNTABILITY because: • Creates/improves rules, regulations and mechanisms for public accountability of officials, by improving the behavior of institutions and the judiciary and the public periodic publication of data on reported cases and actions taken

3. How will commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions?

Ø THE COMMITMENT IS IMPORTANT FOR CIVIL PARTICIPATION because: • Creates/improves opportunities and conditions for public participation and influence in decision-making, by planning preventive measures based on the specific needs of women who have suffered domestic violence, including vulnerable groups, such as women from rural areas, ethnic minorities and women with disabilities • Creates/improves an enabling environment for civil society by solving long-term problems at preventive level that civil organizations working for gender equality and protection from gender-based violence have continuously advocated for 20 years

Commitment Planning Milestones Expected Outputs Expected Completion Date

3.2.1 Develop a Plan for the prevention of domestic violence | Adopted Plan for prevention of domestic violence, which includes: - raising public awareness about the nature and mechanisms for protection against domestic violence - implementation of education of practitioners | Mart - October 2024

3.2.2 Promote educational materials to raise public awareness and the role of practitioners | - Drafted manual for raising public awareness about the nature of domestic violence and the procedures before the competent institutions - Development of materials (programs and guidelines for education of practitioners) | Juni – December 2024

3.2.3 Hold (two) workshops for practitioners to familiarize themselves with the prevention plan and promotionalpreventive materials | -Improved communication between practitioners on how to inform the public | January – February 2025

3.2.4 Holding four information tribunes for the general public in four cities and distributing promotional materials in 78 police stations, 27 Basic Courts, 22 Public Prosecutor's Offices, | Raised public awareness about the nature and legal mechanisms for protection against domestic violence | April–October 2025

3.2.5 To conduct two trainings for practitioners to improve their handling in domestic violence cases | Improved knowledge and skills of practitioners when acting within the framework of the criminal justice system for protection, emergency measures and temporary measures for protection against domestic violence | May 2025 – January 2026