Comprehensive report on international standards and current practice in risk assessment
Goal of this research is to detect international standards and obligations regarding risk assessment in cases of violence against women, and to find out to what extent the current practice of relevant institutions and organizations in Slovakia meets these standards.
In first part of document, we bring definitions and explanation of important terms used in research as risk assessment, risk management and risk assessment tool. Next, we focus on analysis of international standards and obligations regarding risk assessment in cases of violence against women, and for that purpose all relevant international documents that are highlighting risk assessment and risk management as one of important elements of prevention of violence and protection of women are listed and analysed. Relevant documents that we analysed are: General Recommendations No. 19 and No. 35 to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Council of Europe Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states, CoE Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) and explanatory report; and Directive 2012/29/Eu Of The European Parliament And Of The Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA.
Third part of the document is focused on national legal frame and implementation of existing norms related to risk assessment and risk management done by relevant institutions and organizations. In this part we also examine the current legal frame in relation to violence against women in Slovakia. This is followed by a section in which we present the most important research findings on the experiences that women who survived violence had with institutions and non-governmental organizations before and during the pandemic.
The final part of the report includes conclusions and recommendations towards solutions at the system level the state needs to adopt and implement in order to protect women – survivors of intimate partner violence and their children from violence not only in short-term, in situations of immediate danger or threat, but also from the long-term, and to protect their right to a life free from violence.
This report was prepared within the project “Protection of victims of gender-based violence – response to pandemic challenges (RISKFREE)” financed by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme (CERV) of the European Commission.
