On October 17, 2023, in Prilep, we organized the third forum with practitioners from the Basic courts, Social Welfare Centers (SWCs), and CSOs, aiming to discuss the challenges and opportunities for improving civil legal protection for women who suffered domestic violence. The focus was placed on addressing the specific needs of women in each phase of the process for issuing temporary measures of protection (TMP) including proposing, issuing, executing, and monitoring TMPs in domestic violence cases.
Representatives from SWCs emphasized systemic issues and specific barriers that hinder the effective proposal and monitoring of IPMs, such as the lack of human resources and inadequate distribution of expertise, the absence of continuous education on dealing with these matters, delays in confirming victim status, lack of consent from victims to proceed with the process, delayed submission of case data by the police, and insufficient cooperation with the Public Prosecutor's Office responsible for processing cases where IPMs have been violated. Another highlighted problem was the inability to refer victims to NGOs that are not licensed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (due to guidelines received from the ministry), despite these NGOs effectively providing assistance and support to victims in their communities.
The basic civil judges shared their experiences regarding collaboration with SWCs, the duration of the process, and the presentation of evidence, emphasizing the need for discussions among practitioners to standardize practices and enhance the effectiveness of protection provided to victims of domestic violence through this preventive mechanism.
CSO representatives highlighted the most common problems faced by women who have experienced domestic violence, as well as the need to improve cooperation, educate practitioners, and hold accountable those who behave negligently or harmfully. ESE elaborated on proposals to improve various aspects of the procedure based on practitioners' experiences and the specific needs of women who suffered domestic violence. A special focus was placed on improving communication methods during the initial reporting of domestic violence, increasing the number of proposals for issuing TMPs, and improving the system for monitoring their implementation by SWCs; and increasing the information that the civil law judges are providing to the women involved in this procedure regarding the exemption of payment of court costs according to the Civil Procedure Code and utilizing secondary legal aid under the Free Legal Aid LAW.
The event was positively evaluated by practitioners, who believe that such activities in the future could contribute to improving the protection and support system for women who have experienced domestic violence.
