The FINANCIAL — EU Advisory Mission guides police in enforcing law combating domestic violence in UkraineEU Advisory Mission guides police in enforcing law combating domestic violence in Ukraine
On 19 July, the EU Advisory Mission (EUAM) Ukraine completed a three-day training activity for the country’s police on the prevention and combating of domestic violence.
The EUAM initiative is a response to the signing in January 2018 of a new law on combating domestic violence by the country’s President. This, according to the EUAM, represented the first significant and concrete step taken by Ukraine towards criminalisation of domestic violence following the country’s commitment in 2011 to the Istanbul Convention, which obliged signatories to take measures to combat violence against women.
The challenge now facing law-enforcement officers in Ukraine relates to interpretation and familiarisation with the law, recognition and understanding of domestic violence and how to handle domestic violence cases, including practical police measures that are needed to intervene and respond.
Representatives of the non-governmental sector and social services attended the seminar to present real-life case studies and outline the scale of the problem. Participants also studied cases of domestic violence in Nordic countries, and the police response there.
This was the third in a series of 10 training activities that the EUAM will carry out across Ukraine for police and the Ministry of Internal Affairs Academy, with the focus on the 22 ‘model’ police stations selected under the EU’s ‘Support to Police Reform in Ukraine’ project.
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