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

• Author: Romina Bartolo
• Pages: 49-50

49

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

Convention

10.1 General (legal) context

10.1.1 Surveys and reports on issues of violence against wom en and domestic violence

A research study entitled Full Cooperation: Zero Violence - Barriers to Help-Seeking in

Gender-Based Violence Against Women was published in 2018. The main objective of this

study was ‘to gain a better understanding of the barriers b eing faced by survivors of

gender-based violence against women when seeking help as w ell as difficulties

encountered by professionals when delivering a service to the survivors ’.51

The study presents a list of 32 recommendations, which are categorised in accordance

with the four Ps of the Istanbul Convention: prevention, protection, prosecution and

integrated policies. The recommendations include:

‘Awareness campaign s, specialist t raining, promotion of gender sensitivity in the justice

system, the provision of handbooks and training to first responding officers and

investigators, better legal provision, addressing the gap between service availability and

accessibility, specialist services in Gozo [one of the Maltese islands], mechanisms for more

effective inter-agency collaboration, gender-mainstreaming in areas of policy, and further

research’.52

10.1.2 Overview of national acts on violence against women, domestic violence and issues

related to the Istanbul Convention

The main legislation is the Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violen ce Act (Chapter

581 of the Laws of Malta). Other national acts in place are the Criminal Code (Chapter 9

of the Laws of Malta), the Civil Code (Chapter 16 of the Laws of Malta ) and the Victims of

Crime Act (Chapter 539 of the Laws of Malta).

10.1.3 National provisions on online violence and online harassment

Section 208E of the Criminal Code provides that:

‘whosoever, with an intent to cause distress, emotional harm or harm of any nature,

takes or discloses a private sexual photograph or film without the consent of the

person or persons displayed or depicted in such photograph or film shall on

conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term of up to five years or to a fine (multa)

of not less than four t housand euro (EUR 4 000) and not more than eight thousand

euro (EUR 8 000), or to both such imprisonment and fine’.

If a person discloses the sexual photograph or film – where it is taken with the consent of

the pe rson or persons displayed or depicted i n such photograph o r film – solely to the

person or persons displayed or depicted in such photograph or film, this does not give rise

to a criminal offence.

Moreover, if the disclosure was necessary for the purpose of p reventing, detecting or

investigating a crime; or the disclosure is authorised by a court or tribunal in the course

of judicial proceedings, there is no criminal offence, provided that wh ere authorisation is

51 Naudi, M., Clark, M. and Saliba, H (2018) Full Cooperation: Zero Violence - Barriers to Help-Seeking in

Gender-Based Violence Against Women, University of Malta. Available at:

https://meae.gov.mt/en/ZeroViolence/Documents/Full%20Cooperation%20-%20Zero%20Violence.pdf.

52 Naudi, M., Clark, M. and Saliba, H (2018) Full Cooperation: Zero Violence - Barriers to Help-Seeking in

Gender-Based Violence Against Women, University of Malta, p.13. Available at:

https://meae.gov.mt/en/ZeroViolence/Documents/Full%20Cooperation%20-%20Zero%20Violence.pdf.