Belarus’ civil society calls for legal tools to combat domestic violence

The Belarusian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum has issued a statement urging government structures to “undertake a transparent and inclusive process for developing and adopting a comprehensive law to protect women and men, children and elderly people suffering from violence by relatives.”

The BNP Committee stresses that Belarus still lacks specialized legislation on gender-based violence. Moreover, the recent failure to pass a violence-related bill is evidence that the country’s institutions pay little attention to the problem.

“According to the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences, 48.9% of women with a regular partner have suffered from psychological violence on his part, and 18.7% of women have experienced physical violence. Besides women, domestic violence affects children, the elderly, and men,” the BNP said.

As noted in the statement, “countries with active legislation on the prevention of domestic violence demonstrate lower rates of relevant offenses.”