Definitions of violence against women
Violence against women is a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against them and refers to all acts of gender-based violence that lead to or will lead to physical, sexual, psychological, or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats, extortion, or arbitrary deprivation from freedom, whether occurring in public or private life.
Gender-based violence against women is violence directed against a woman because she is a woman or is disproportionately affecting her.
Domestic (domestic) violence is all acts of physical, sexual, psychological, economic violence that occur within the family or household between former or current spouses or partners, regardless of whether the perpetrator shared or still shares the same residence with the victim.
Intimate partner violence is violence by an intimate partner, whether they live together or not, and involves a pattern of controlling behavior that includes psychological, physical, emotional, verbal, sexual, and/or economic abuse.
Gender discrimination is any difference, exclusion or restriction based on sex that has the consequence or purpose of endangering the recognition, realization or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms on the basis of equality between women and men in political, economic, social, cultural , civil or other field.
Specialized services for women victims of violence. The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), ratified by the Republic of Northern Macedonia in December 2017, distinguishes between general and specialized support services
General support services refer to services provided by public institutions such as social work centers, health centers, and employment agencies and provide long-term assistance, but are not designed exclusively to meet the needs of victims of violence, but serve the general public population.
Specialized support services create and offer a set of services that should respond to the specific needs of victims of various forms of violence against women and, accordingly, are not open to the general population. Although these specialized services can be managed and funded by the state, they are mostly provided and provided by non-governmental organizations working in this field.
