RUSSIA: Calls to tackle domestic violence

Summary: Proposed measures to combat domestic violence call for restraining orders to be issued against offenders without first having to open a criminal case.

[4 July 2012] - Russia's Public Chamber is calling for the introduction of restraining orders in a bid to tackle the country's appalling record of domestic violence.

The grim statistics show that more than 10,000 women in Russia are killed by their husbands or family members every year; 26,000 children fall victim to parental abuse; and another 2,000 children and teenagers commit suicide. Tens of thousands run away from home just to avoid domestic violence.  

These shocking figures motivated Russia's Public Chamber to seek the introduction of restraining orders against offenders.

A group of experts has proposed a new concept – to introduce special court regulations on domestic violence, unlike before, when a criminal case had to be opened against a domestic tyrant, making it a complex and lengthy procedure.

The new rules, if put into a law, would imply that police would no longer be able to dismiss domestic disturbance calls and would have to issue a protection order.

Violating the order would land the aggressor behind bars for a minimum of 15 days, and recurrent violations would lead to a criminal lawsuit. 

The second step would be filing a lawsuit while enclosing a police report and eyewitness evidence. 

The draft bill is based on a relevant UN model. At the same time, there are those who say the problem is more complex and relations between a husband and wife can’t always be sorted out by an order. Psychological terror without the use of physical force would also be difficult to bring into the criminal code, and the victims themselves don’t always ask for help. And although it is hard to assess the depth of the crisis family relations are in, human rights activists are convinced – with 40 per cent of violent crimes in Russia being committed at home, the problem has stopped being private and needs action. 

Further Information:

• CARIBBEAN: Discussing domestic violence (6 June 2012)
• DPACIFIC: Women suffer domestic violence in terrible silence (24 November 2011)
• GENDER VIOLENCE: “Man up” to end violence against women (9 January 2012)
• JORDAN: Gov't must act to end violence against women, UN rights expert says (25 May 2012) 
• EUROPE: Protecting women and girls from domestic violence with new convention (5 September 2012)
• CRIN's Forms of Violence pages on **Domestic violence** and **Psychological abuse** 
• More on children's rights in Russia