NEW YORK – The Safety of Women: Penal Mediation in Greek Domestic Violence Legislation panel on the United Nations on March 12 traced the historical development of domestic violence legislation and highlighted global perspectives on prison reforms and judicial responses as part of a comprehensive technique to cope with home violence. The panel also reviewed provisions of the Penal Mediation clause in Greek law and discusses how VIA-STOP, a nonprofit NGO primarily based in Kavala, Greece, implements this program to shield girls and kids. Theoretical implications from the home violence literature consisting of energy and control, coordinated community reaction, and restorative justice about the penal mediation program had been tested as well. The panel concluded with a verbal exchange approximately challenges in implementation, and they want for research, training, and standardization of the mediation application to uphold women’s protection.
Part of the 63rd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 63) on the UN, the panel turned into hosted by the Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN with the American Society of Criminology (ASC) Division on Women and Crime (DWC). CSW sixty-three runs from March 11-22. Moderator and panelist Dr. Sheetal Ranjan, DWC Chair on the American Society of Criminology and Associate Professor at William Paterson University in New Jersey, welcomed all those in attendance and introduced Ms. Maria Theofili, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Greece to the UN, who gave the outlet feedback. The panelists were Ms. Marina Chrysoveloni, Deputy Minister of Interior in price of Gender Equality; Dr. Sevaste Chatzifotiou, Associate Professor in Democritus University of Thrace; Ms. Kalliopi Mingeirou, Chief, Ending Violence Against Women, UN Women; Ms. Xeni Dimitriou, The General Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Greece; and Ms. Eleni Fotou, Forensic Psychologist and Founding Partner of VIA-STOP all spoke eloquently about the fantastic modifications in Greece regarding domestic violence legislation as well as the beautiful consequences similar modifications and applications could have for other countries across the globe. Deputy Minister of Interior in charge of Gender Equality Marina Chrysoveloni highlighted the troubles going through gender equality and the progress being made in Greece. Dr. Chatzifotiou supplied insights into the modifications in Greek domestic violence legislation over time while Mineiro spoke about the consequences globally for enhancing the fame of girls in terms of improvement goals. Mineiro also stated it turned into an honor to be on a panel together with her fellow Greeks while Amb. The file stated that the board turned into additionally all women. Dr. Ranjan talked about that she is from India; however, has a Greek spirit.
General Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Greece Xeni Dimitriou spoke in Greek approximately the home violence regulation. Fotiou translated Dimitriou’s comments after which spoke nearly the VIA-STOP application for domestic violence offenders which suggests such positive outcomes that there are no offenders many of the contributors. Dr. Ranjan visited Kavala to look this system in movement and the early degrees of her research are very promising however greater studies is wanted to expand a sustainable and standardized software that may be carried out in different international locations. More records approximately VIA-STOP is available on-line: viastop.Gr. Deputy Minister of Interior in a rate of Gender Equality Marina Chrysoveloni shared her complete comments from the event. The entire text follows: “First of all, I would love to cordially thanks for the invitation to participate in today’s occasion. Since the 1970s, gender equality has constituted a wonderful factor of public policy at global and European level – and in Greece, considering 1981, with the established order of the General Secretariat for Gender Equality because of the in a position governmental body for gender equality guidelines. It is the Greek Constitution itself that recognizes the necessity for the State to take measures to promote noticeable equality between ladies and men (Article 116, par. 2). On the alternative hand, the multidimensional phenomenon of violence against girls, this systematic violation of human rights, impedes any try of improvement, peace and gender equality in all societies. Although most societies forbid violence, in reality, the phenomenon is often blanketed up or tolerated. Only in Europe, greater than 1/three of girls had been victims of violence sooner or later in their lives, mainly bodily and sexual, and in keeping with the World Health Organization, the instances of violence towards ladies outnumber the 35% of women population worldwide. Ladies and Gentlemen, the prevention and combating of violence in opposition to women in Greece have historically been top precedence for the General Secretariat for Gender Equality of the Ministry of Interior. In our modern National Action Plan for Gender Equality 2016-2020 we have integrated the previous complete and coherent «National Program on Preventing and Combating Violence towards Women» applied because of 2010. The Program refers to all kinds of gender-primarily based violence, is being co-funded by the E.U. And includes a network of 62 systems: -the national low-value bilingual SOS telephone helpline 15900 and the applicable email cope with (in Greek and English) which operates 24 hours/day and 365 days/year. -40 Counseling Centers and 21 shelters throughout Greece. The offerings supplied by way of those systems are free of charge and consist of psychosocial aid, felony and labor counseling, emergency haven and, where vital, legal resource in cooperation with local Bar Associations. Our purpose is to empower girls victims of violence and help them regain shallowness, consequently enabling them to make sound decisions for their future, and ultimately advantage independence of their non-public and expert lives. During the current duration, the target institution of all offerings has been elevated to encompass apart from women sufferers of gender-based violence, additionally ladies victims of a couple of discrimination (refugees, unmarried dad and mom, Roma and many others.).
In parallel, a public focus campaign is being applied and consists of seminars, meetings, informational material in numerous languages, TV and radio spots, social occasions, publicity on public delivery, a website and a Facebook page in addition to banners in web pages. Since the release of the Program, about 25,000 women have been served within the Counseling Centers, and approximately 1,500 women and kids have been accommodated within the Shelters. Over the closing five years, the trend is upward for all structures (with a small lower in 2018). The worsening of the financial disaster can partially define this boom (in particular for the duration 2012-2015 the increase become almost five times better). Of route, the launching of the public attention campaigns of our national Program on Violence towards Women additionally shed light on the difficulty. After that, women started to recognize the problem, to have a look at their alternatives and gradually the wide variety of incident reviews in our systems began to upward thrust. As according to rules on gender-based total violence, important factors ought to be mentioned.
On the one hand, in 2018, Greece ratified by way of national Law the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on stopping and fighting violence against girls and home violence. Introducing amendments to the common felony framework [just like the present regulation on home violence and the Greek Penal Code), the new management underlines the responsibility of the country to absolutely address gender-based violence in all its bureaucracy and to take measures to prevent violence against girls, defend its sufferers and prosecute the perpetrators. The Convention also emphasizes on prevention of gender-based violence via specialized education and focus applications, and specialized measures are envisaged to defend women-sufferers of violence to save you their secondary victimization, to protect youngsters witnesses of abuse and to set up a mechanism for the monitoring of its implementation. On the opposite hand, an invoice on Substantive Gender Equality and on preventing gender-based violence is now geared up to be submitted to the Hellenic Parliament and turn out to be countrywide law. It is the first strive in Greece of drafting a horizontal bill, aiming at the advent of all the one’s instances that would lead to the achievement of sizeable gender equality and the elimination of gender inequalities in all sectors of public, social and economic life. A bankruptcy is dedicated to info at the GBV network of structures operation and financing. Ladies and gentlemen, The hassle of gender-based violence is more comprehensive than what the numbers display. Most of the time there may be underreporting of instances, so the actual dimensions of the trouble aren’t apparent. What is wanted is to combat stereotypical perceptions, encourage reporting of gender-based total violence incidents and fight fear and non-disclosure of all forms of violence against girls. How to do this? With synergies, coordinated and move-sectoral action of public and non-governmental groups, countrywide movement plans with a holistic method, awareness raising campaigns and visibility of the problem now not handiest in mass media however additionally in social media, interventions in training modules and ultimate however now not least with continuous training of subject professionals.