National network to end violence against women and domestic violence and the Association for criminal law and criminology of Macedonia, in cooperation with Ministry of Justice and Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, on October 24, 2013 organized annual counseling on “Preventing and combating all forms of violence against women and domestic violence “. The event was held at the premises of the MASA at 10am.
Convention of the Council of Europe on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) is the most comprehensive international document to address this serious violation of human rights. The objective of the Convention is to create zero tolerance for all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence across Europe and represents a major step towards creating safe living space. The prevention of violence, protection of victims and prosecution of perpetrators are the grounds of the Convention.
Hence, the main objective of the consultation was the presentation of the benefits of ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, as well as presentation of the steps needed to be undertaken before it’s ratification in order to achieve greater use value of the Convention and possible legislative changes that follow.
The introductory speech was held by prof. d-r Trpe Stojanovski – president of Association for criminal law and criminology, Ms Elena Dimushevska – executive director of the National network to end violence against women and domestic violence and d-r Dominika Stojanoska from local office of UN Women in Skopje.
This was followed by a panel discussion, where the opening was by academic professor d-r Vlado Kambovski from Faculty of law “Justinian I”. Then, prof. Ljupcho Arnaudovski from Faculty of law “Justinian I”- presented his study on topic “Criminological approach to acts of violence”, so as Ms. Elena Dimushevska from National network to end violence against women and domestic violence – “Role of NGO’s in pre- ratification period of the Istanbul Convention”, prof. d-r. Nikolina Kening- “Media portrayal of victims of violence”, prof. d-r. Tatjana Velkova from Faculty of Law -“Domestic Violence- Prevention and Suppression”, doc. prof. Stojanka Mirceva from the Faculty of Safety – “Urgent measures for women victims of violence”, d-r. Bogdancho Gogov from Faculty of Safety – “The need for harmonization of national laws related to the Convention”, and doc. Dr. Alexandra Deanoska Trendafilovska, and Sofia Spasovska from the Ministry of labor and social policy, had their theme addressing to the audience.
At the end there was a discussion and final conclusions followed by closing of the annual counseling.
In order to enhance the availability of the studies presented at the counseling Revue was printed and distributed to all interested parties. Revue can be downloaded [Download not found] here. Furthermore, the publication contain the Pre ratification action plan.pdf (243 downloads ) “The Path from sighing to ratification” of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which was drafted by a working group within the National network to end violence against women and domestic violence.
This activity is part of the project “Advocacy for promotion of policies/ strategies to prevent all forms of violence against women” implemented by the National network to end violence against women and domestic violence with support from the local office of UN Women in Skopje.
