Recent Call for Immediate Action to Strengthen the Protection of Women Experiencing Domestic Violence
The recent murder of a woman following the release of her husband from custody has once again exposed serious shortcomings in the system for protecting women who experience violence perpetrated by current or former husbands and intimate partners. This tragedy is not the result of an isolated individual failure. Rather, it highlights systemic deficiencies in the coordination and consistency of procedures among the institutions responsible for protecting victims, particularly with regard to information sharing, risk assessment and evaluation, and the implementation of protective measures. Every such failure can have irreversible consequences.
As organizations providing specialized support services for women experiencing violence, their children, and other persons at risk of domestic violence, we have long emphasized the need to strengthen the systemic mechanisms for protecting those at risk. Our proposals and recommendations are based on our daily work with women who often face a high risk of repeated and severe violence, as well as femicide, and on our practical experience with the functioning of the current protection system. They are also grounded in the obligations of the Slovak Republic concerning violence against women under relevant international treaties and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.
We firmly believe that effective protection of women and other persons at risk requires the immediate adoption of concrete measures to improve coordination among the responsible institutions, ensure the timely notification of women at risk of serious violence by a current or former husband or partner about the offender’s release, strengthen and harmonize the implementation of protective mechanisms, and help prevent further killings of women resulting from intimate partner violence.
We therefore call on the competent state authorities to adopt the following immediate and practical measures, which we consider an essential first step toward strengthening the protection of women, their children, and other persons at risk of domestic violence.
- 1. Introduce a legal obligation for all relevant institutions within the protection system (the Police, the Public Prosecution Service, the Courts, Remand Prisons, and Prisons) to promptly inform women and other persons at risk of the release of a violent offender from police detention, pre-trial detention, imprisonment, or of any change in the form of the sentence (e.g. transfer to house arrest).
- 2. Require law enforcement authorities to assess the risk of repeated severe violence and femicide against women, their children, and other victims of domestic violence during criminal investigations, as well as before any decision on the offender’s release.
- 3. Where a serious risk of continued violence or femicide exists, ensure a uniform approach to imposing appropriate protective measures (including restraining orders, exclusion orders, and other restrictions) and monitoring compliance with these measures through electronic monitoring in both criminal and civil proceedings.
- 4. Ensure effective coordination among all components of the protection system regarding the exchange of information about the offender’s release and decisions concerning sentencing and protective measures in cases of violence against women committed by current or former husbands or intimate partners, both between the responsible public authorities and within each institution itself.
- 5. Ensure that, within criminal proceedings, injured parties are informed of all protective measures imposed and of the court’s decisions.
- 6. Ensure that all components of the protection system (the Police, the Public Prosecution Service, the Courts, the Probation and Mediation Service, Remand Prisons, and Prisons) assess violence against women in its full context, taking into account its history and established risk factors. Violence perpetrated against women by a current or former husband or intimate partner must not be treated or assessed as a series of isolated incidents. Furthermore, where children have witnessed violence committed against their mother, who has the status of an injured party in criminal proceedings, the children themselves should also be recognized as victims.
- 7. Extend the prohibition on approaching within 50 metres imposed as part of the emergency removal of a violent offender from the shared residence so that it automatically applies to minor children as child witnesses of violence against women and domestic violence.
- 8. In civil proceedings, reduce the time limit for deciding on an application for an emergency protection order imposing a prohibition on approaching the person at risk to 24 hours, including the ordering of appropriate monitoring measures, in the same way as applies to emergency protection orders prohibiting entry into the home.
- 9. In proceedings concerning the care of minors, reduce the time limit for deciding on an application for an emergency protection order prohibiting contact with minor children in the context of violence against women in intimate relationships to 24 hours, and/or establish an effective mechanism ensuring that any prohibition imposed for the protection of the woman automatically applies to her children as child witnesses of such violence.
- 10. Adopt measures to ensure the broad availability of specialized support services, including the 24/7 National Helpline for Women Experiencing Violence, counselling and intervention centres, and safe women’s shelters (emergency accommodation facilities), including their legislative recognition and a stable, predictable funding system, as an essential and integral part of the protection and support system for women experiencing violence, their children, and other persons at risk of domestic violence.
- 11. Within 30 days, organize a meeting between representatives of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic, the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic, the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, intervention centres, and specialized support services for women experiencing intimate partner violence and victims of domestic violence.
- 12. Within three months, establish an interministerial working group composed of representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, and specialized support services. The working group should develop further proposals to improve the systemic protection of women at risk of intimate partner violence and victims of domestic violence, including child witnesses of such violence, and submit concrete systemic measures within a further three months.
- We are ready to actively cooperate with the relevant ministries, public authorities, and other competent state institutions in developing and implementing measures that will contribute to more effective protection for women, their children, and other persons at risk of domestic violence.
- We recognize that the system for protecting women and other persons at risk of domestic violence in Slovakia already includes a number of measures and mechanisms that provide protection in practice and constitute a solid foundation upon which further improvements can be built. At the same time, however, our daily experience as organizations providing specialized support services points to persistent shortcomings that have serious consequences for the safety of women experiencing violence, their children, and other persons at risk.
- We believe that we share a common objective: to ensure that every woman at risk of intimate partner violence, her children, and other persons at risk of domestic violence receive timely, effective, and coordinated protection and support, and that the system is capable of preventing avoidable killings.
- We are convinced that open professional cooperation between state institutions and specialized support services is an essential prerequisite for building an effective protection system capable of safeguarding the lives, health, and dignity of women, their children, and other victims of domestic violence.
- This call is endorsed by the following organizations:
- ALEJ – Counselling Centre
- Aliancia žien – Cesta späť (Women’s Alliance – Way Back), Civic Association – Counselling Centre
- Brána do života (Gateway to Life), Civic Association – Safe Women’s Shelter
- BRIEŽDENIE, Civic Association – Counselling Centre; Emergency Accommodation Facility
- BUDÚCNOSŤ (Future) – Counselling Centre
- Centre of Social Services KA – Intervention Centre; Counselling Centre; Emergency Accommodation Facility
- Centrum Slniečko, Non-profit Organization – Counselling Centre; Intervention Centre; Safe Women’s Shelter
- Fenestra – Counselling and Intervention Centre
- HANA, Civic Association – Counselling Centre; Intervention Centre
- Kanisová & Kanis Law Firm Ltd. – Intervention Centre
- LUNA, Non-profit Organization – Counselling Centre; Intervention Centre; Safe Women’s Shelter
- MyMamy, Civic Association – Counselling Centre; Intervention Centre; Safe Women’s Shelter
- National Helpline for Women Experiencing Violence
- Náruč – Help for Children in Crisis – Counselling Centre
- Pomoc rodine (Help for the Family), Civic Association – Counselling Centre; Intervention Centre
- Nádej Counselling Centre – Counselling Centre; Intervention Centre
- ŽENA V TIESNI (Woman in Distress), Civic Association – Counselling Centre; Intervention Centre
- Ženy pomáhajú ženám (Women Helping Women), Civic Association – Counselling Centre
