Within ADRA Slovakia, in 2017 we created a professional team that intensively assists victims of domestic and sexual violence in Slovakia, regardless of gender, gender, age, social status or ethnicity. For this reason, we would welcome the Istanbul Convention, especially in relation to the protection of a specific subject, which is women, and we consider its main purpose to be to ensure the protection of women from violence. However, we would point out that we must not neglect the male victims of such crimes, who are also one of our target groups. Our approach and perception is not entirely identical to a gender-based approach. We see violence as a multidisciplinary problem and approach our work with it as such. Therefore, we do not consider it necessary to ratify the Convention, which divides society along divisive lines, but we propose that parts of the Istanbul Convention be incorporated into Slovak legislation.
ADRA Slovakia is of the opinion that first of all it is necessary to focus on the current national legislation in order to achieve the enforceability of victims' rights, taking inspiration from the provisions of the Istanbul Convention. In this regard, we point in particular to the modifications of the obligation by Istanbul for the CID and the court to act quickly and without delay to use preventive means of victim protection. In our legislation, this means the blanket performance of urgent and non-repeatable restraint actions, whenever suspected violence shows signs of illegality, thus ensuring immediate protection of victims from the rapist.
For example, we also draw your attention to the creation of a coordinating national authority, that would realistically represent a link between the state and the non-governmental sector. It would ensure coordination, harmonisation of the approach to the victim also on the part of all state bodies, and would promote a holistic approach to the perception of the victimological aspect of the victim's survival. It would have a strictly legally defined remit and at the same time be staffed by real experts in the field with long experience. We do not condemn the Istanbul Convention in its comprehensiveness; we are even inspired by its provisions in our own practice, that is to say, in our concrete work with victims.
Practice is important
We see a way forward in incorporating some of the provisions of the Istanbul Convention into existing legislation, in particular with regard to increasing the flexibility and speed of civil and criminal proceedings Ensuring immediate preventive protection of victims during the proceedings and investigations from start to finish. We therefore call on society to focus first and foremost on listening to the victim of domestic and sexual violence and then understanding what the victim is experiencing, why they are acting as they are, and taking this into account in the legal and moral assessment of the act itself and of the victims. The victim has rights which are given in law, but we cannot interpret and interpret them correctly in the wording of the specific case, and that is where we see the error. Unless this rigid social perception is changed, even the Convention itself will not help us; on the contrary, it may divide society itself, which we do not consider appropriate.
ADRA Slovakia is a professional humanitarian and development organization, a member of a network of 130 ADRA offices worldwide. For 25 years we have been helping in Slovakia and abroad. Since May 2017, we have been providing free legal aid to people in need and building ADRA KIT - Crisis Intervention Team for Victims of Violence. Find out more here: www.adra.sk/pomoc-obetiam-nasilia-kit/
The Istanbul Convention was adopted by the Council of Europe in 2011. It is an international treaty on combating violence against women. To date, 11 EU Member States have not ratified the Istanbul Convention. According to data from the European Commission, in EU countries, the one in three women victims physical or sexual violence after the age of 15, more than half of women have experienced sexual harassment and one in 20 women have been raped.
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