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Financed by the Justice Programme of the European Union

Financed by the Justice Programme of the European Union. JUSTICE FOR WOMEN – Towards a more effective rights protection and access to judicial procedures for victims of crimes LAUNCHING CONFERENCE 31 October 2018 Miriana Ilcheva, Center for the Study of Democracy

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Financed by the Justice Programme of the European Union

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  1. Financed by the Justice Programme of the European Union JUSTICE FOR WOMEN – Towards a more effective rights protection and access to judicial procedures for victims of crimes LAUNCHING CONFERENCE 31 October 2018 Miriana Ilcheva, Center for the Study of Democracy This publication has been produced with the financial support of the Justice Programme of the European Union. The contents of the publication are the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission.

  2. The Center for the Study of Democracy • Slogan: Building Bridges between Scholars and Policy Makers • Founded in late 1989, interdisciplinary public policy institute dedicated to the values of democracy and market economy, a non-partisan, independent organisationfostering the reform process in Europe through impact on policy and civil society. • CSD objectives are: • to provide an enhanced institutional and policy capacity for a successful European integration process, especially in the area of justice and home affairs; • to promote institutional reform and the practical implementation of democratic values in legal and economic practice; • to monitor public attitudes and serve as a watchdog of the institutional reform process.

  3. Rights of victims of crime • A priority area since around 2008: a landmark report on legislation policies and practices concerning victims of crime, having served as basis for the adoption of the 2012 Directive on Victims’ Rights • Factsheets on the rights of victims on the European e-Justice Portal – again prior to Directive • Around and after Directive: legal aid to victims of crime and ways to improve its provision – partners from Poland, Latvia, Italy; situation and rights of children victims of trafficking, especially from vulnerable communities

  4. Rights of victims of crime - continued • Role of NGOs in the improvement of relations between victims and authorities; • Directive-compatible practices for identification, individual needs assessment and referral of victims – with checklist • Guidelines for working with victims of trafficking and improvement of the quality and cost effectiveness of legal aid to such victims; • Assessment of completeness and conformity of Bulgaria’s transposition of the 2012 Directive • Member of FRANET: regular reporting on the rights of victims of crime and gender-based violence

  5. Gender-based violence • Protection orders throughout the EU; • First national study on factors and causes, scales and prevalence, consequences and public response to domestic and gender-based violence in Bulgaria, with a focus on the Roma community: • As the levels of awareness and willingness to share are still low, the reported prevalence is significantly lower than the real occurrence of GBV; the shares of men affected by GBV are higher than expected, women are still more vulnerable in terms of multiple, repetitive and systematic GBV, and Roma women and girls are more vulnerable than the general population; • The public actors engaged in counteraction of GBV, as well as the general public, do not possesscommon systematic statistical data and expert evaluations needed for regular monitoring: thus, need to gather, aggregate and analyse the data provided by the crisis centres; to register all complaints in a common information system between the court and police and provide anonymised data to all parties conducting monitoring and evaluation; to establish common information database for cases detected by social workers but not registered in police;

  6. Gender-based violence - continued • The prevention measures are still occasional and dependent on the good will and resources available to specific actors, awareness of GBV victimisation and perpetration is very low; • The inter-institutional cooperation lacks well established and enforced rules, distribution of obligations and mechanisms of communication; its levelin different regions of the country varies; • Lack of resources to addressing GBV: shortage of personnel and lack of specialists specifically trained to work with GBV cases as well as lack of material resources – insufficient transportation means, consumables, underfunding of the services of the crisis centers.

  7. Political and societal factors affecting Bulgaria’s struggle for the rights of women • National Programme for Countering Gender-Based Violence – but gaps in interinstitutional co-operation still exist; • Ratification of the Istanbul Convention – big public scandal, Constitutional Court decision declaring the Convention unconstitutional; • As result: much needed amendments in the Criminal Code and other legislation still to be done; • CEDAW Committee and ECHR decisions against Bulgaria for failure to protect women against violence: V.K. vs Bulgaria, Jallow vs Bulgaria, S.Z. vs Bulgaria, etc.

  8. Thank you for your attention! Questions or comments? miriana.Ilcheva@online.bg www.csd.bg

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