Violence against women and domestic violence in relation to the Istanbul Convention

• Author: Genoveva Tisheva
• Pages: 69-74

69

10Violence against women and domestic violence in relation to the Istanbul

Convention

10.1General (legal) context

10.1.1Surveys and reports on issues of violence against women and domestic violence

Bulgarian society has a deeply rooted notion of gender difference where there are still

traditional gender roles without a real sense of gender inequality. Bulgarian society as a

whole still denies the existence of a power imbalance between men and women as well as

the prevalence of violence and abuse. Many women are silenced by social and cultural

norms and endure violence and cruelty in their homes. In the last year and a half, over 55

women died – about 40 in 2018 alone – at the hand of their intimate partners or relatives

but the protests and declarations against these cases of femicide were silenced by certain

conservative circles, even openly by persons in positions of power. Out of 138 intentional

murders in Bulgaria, according to official data of the Ministry of Interior, over 40 were the

murders of women in an intimate and close relationship.80This all happened and was

endured in the context of fierce opposition of these circles – political, religious, media

circles –to the issue of violence against women and to the ratification of the Istanbul

Convention. The term ‘gender’ and related notionsof ‘gender equality’ and ‘gender-based

violence’ were rejectedз distorted and debased by these political and ideological circles. It

can be noted that leading social scientists and women’s rights experts mention the link

between the increased number of murdered women and the failed ratification of the

Istanbul Convention –it is an issue of a culture condoning violence against women and

impunity for such acts of violence.

Every fourth woman in Bulgaria is a victim of domestic violence. More than 70 % of women

who are being abused at home do not seek help and medical assistance. Between 4 % and

10 % of the domestic violence victims seek justice, an estimated 900 000 women in

Bulgaria suffer from domestic abuse every year. Also, according to the author, there is a

severe lack of adequate support services for victims, and Bulgaria does not fulfil the Council

of Europe recommendation of safe accommodation in specialised women’s shelters.

Moreover, the absence of specific provisions criminalising domestic violence and marital

rape, until recently, at the end of 2018, called for reforms in the legal framework to ensure

the protection of victims of such violence.

All forms of GBV are known in Bulgaria and are encountered often – domestic violence/

physical, sexual, psychological, financial economic violence/, sexual violence, sexual

harassment, early and child marriages, stalking, etc. The main groups of more vulnerable

women and girls identified also through the work of NGOs, are Roma women and girls,

women and girls with disabilities, and women and girls seeking international protection.

As main groups of victims of multiple discrimination, they were identified through the work

of the Alliance for Protection from GBV.81

There is a National Study on Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, conducted and

published with the support of the teams of Partners Bulgaria Foundation, Center for the

Study of Democracy and Human Rights Academy, Norway: National Study on Domestic

and Gender-Based Violence (DGBV) and Elaboration of Victims Support Model (VSM).82

The results and findings from this study confirm the trends mentioned above, and namely:

80

https://www.novinite.com/articles/194972/Dramatic+Increase+in+Murders+of+Women+in+Domestic+Viol

ence+in+Bulgaria.

81 The NGO is a registered network of 11 NGOs all working in the field of GBV in Bulgaria.

82 Policy Brief, 2016, available in English at: http://www.csd.bg/artShow.php?id=17883 and Domestic and

Gender-Based Violence: Victims Support Model. (Practical advice for victims and guidelines for work of

professionals in the area of domestic and gender-based violence), 2016, available in English at:

http://www.csd.bg/artShow.php?id=17885.