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

• Author: Vesna Simovic-Zvicer
• Pages: 70-76

70

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

According to the UNDP research conducted within the IPA 2010 programme, 65.8 % of

women in Montenegro are experiencing some form of violence by their spouses and/or

partners. In the last five years there has been a significant increase in the number of

reported cases of domestic violence, which indicates the visibility of the phenomena itself

and the improvement of a framework that encourages victims to report perpetrators and

take steps to leave the violent situation. For example, in 2009 there were 481 reported

cases; while in 2014 there were 1 249 cases, according to the official reports.

Unfortunately, in recent years, the number of murders of women, most often a wife or

partner, has increased, and these are commonly committed by persons who have been

reported and brought in more often due to domestic violence.82

The basic report of the Group of Experts on Combating Violence against Women and

Domestic Violence (GREVIO) for Montenegro from 2018 contains a systematic assessment

of the measures taken by the national authorities in Montenegro with regard to all aspects

of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention and Suppression of Violence against

Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention). The GREVIO committee notes

that the greatest attention in legislation and policymaking is devoted to domestic violence,

and that measures that deal with other forms of violence against women have yet to

achieve the same level of comprehensiveness, in particular on issues of forced marriage,

rape and persecution. The report notes that the committee is concerned that despite the

introduction of standardised procedures provided for in the Protocol on the Treatment,

Prevention and Protection against Domestic Violence, and extensive training efforts, law

enforcement officials, judges and social workers, by their attitudes and prejudices,

diminish the significance of violence, violating the trust of women in the authorities in

charge of the prevention and protection of this offence.83

According to the Annual Report on the Work of Minor Offences Courts in the area of the

Law on Domestic Violence Protection in 2019, the courts had 2 059 cases (1 972 in 2018

and 1 790 in 2017), of which 1 220 were dealt with by the misdemeanour court in

Podgorica, 485 by the misdemeanour court in Budva and 354 cases by the magistrate

court in Bijelo Polje. Of these cases, 1 487 cases were completed (1 563 in 2018 and 1 366

cases in 2017) or 72.22 %, of which 814 were in the misdemeanour court in Podgorica,

402 were in the misdemeanour court in Budva, and 271 were heard by the misdemeanour

court in Bijelo Polje. The cases were completed as follows: 534 fines (521 in 2018 and 443

in 2017), 121 prison sentences, 238 suspended sentences, 109 reminders, 15 educational

measures, 13 cases were rejected, in 51 cases the procedure was stopped, in 360 cases

the acquittal was passed, while 46 cases were resolved in a different way. In addition, 438

protective measures were imposed (408 in 2018 and 302 in 2017), including: removal

from an apartment or other living space –69; prohibition of access –134; prohibition of

harassment and arrest – 175; compulsory psychiatric treatment and addiction treatment

– 31; compulsory psychosocial treatment –22 (8 in 2018); and referred to an educational

institution –3.

82 Montenegro Government (2017) Plan of activities for achieving gender equality in Montenegro (2017-

2021), available at: http://www.mmp.gov.me/en/library/strategije?alphabet=lat.

83 GREVIO (2018) Baseline Evaluation Report on legislative and other measures giving effect to the provisions

of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic

Violence (Istanbul Convention) Montenegro, available at: https://rm.coe.int/grevio-

reportmontenegro/16808e5614?fbclid=IwAR2VBn5O235bINHaGMhDo054E-

7vi4pL691uFy0LEm9MEhxNRkdSPn27Dww.