European Union

ALMATY, 25 March 2010 – The round table titled "Domestic Violence. A Joint Response of Governmental and Public Institutions” starts tomorrow in Almaty. The event is organised by the EU-funded project supporting the activities of law enforcement agencies in combating domestic violence.

The participants of the round table will review a number of questions related to the implementation of the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence, early prevention of domestic violence and intervention mechanisms, and provision of timely assistance to the victims of violence. Practical recommendations to the protocols and instructions concerning the actions aimed at combating domestic violence will be also discussed.

The EU-funded project “Strengthening of Law Enforcement Agencies for Combating Violence against Women” has been implemented since June 2008 by the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries, Hivos (the Netherlands), and Podrugi Crisis Centre (Kazakhstan). The European Union has granted more than 180,000 euro for realisation of the initiative.

"Unfortunately, violence against women and children still remains a serious social problem. The official data demonstrate quite high rates of domestic violence. However, since there are many unregistered facts of violence against women, we can say that the official statistics does not necessarily reflect the actual situation", said Nadezhda Gladyr, the President of Podrugi Crisis Centre.

The main goal of the project is to improve access for the victims of violence to legal, psychological, and social assistance. As experience shows such assistance is highly sought in society. For more than ten years of Podrugi Crisis Centre's operation, about 18,000 persons resorted for help to the Centre. 314 women and 430 children who faced a real danger to their lives and health took cover at the Shelter of the Crisis Centre.

Furthermore, the project also deals with empowerment of the law enforcement agencies and improvement of the quality of the legal and professional assistance they provide to the victims of domestic violence. To the date, Podrugi Centre has already conducted a specialised training for law enforcement officers in 73 district police stations in Almaty. Local police officers were trained in identification of reasons and factors leading to domestic violence, understanding the aspects of gender inequality aggravating the violence in families. This knowledge will help police officers to determine the domestic violence hazard level in each specific case and, accordingly, take early conflict prevention measures.

In the course of the project the civil and criminal legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan regulating family relations and marriage related issues were also analyzed.

Tomorrow's round table will be attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Public Security Office of the Department of Internal Affairs, District Department of Internal Affairs, Inspectors for Organizing Work of Internal Affairs Departments for Protection of Women from Violence, District Police Officers, representatives of the City Commission for Women Affairs, Family and Demographic Policy, NGO representatives, and experts at law.

Mass media representatives are kindly invited to attend the round table on 26 March 2010 at 09:30 at the following address: 127/1 Gogol Street, Almaty, "KazZhol" Hotel, "Baiterek" conference hall.

For further information please contact Mrs. Nadezhda Gladyr, President of Podrugi Crisis Centre at: +7 (727) 298 46 77, podrugi@alnet.kz or Ms. Xeniya Udod, EU Delegation Press Assistant at: +7 (7172) 971149, xeniya.udod@ec.europa.eu