Press Release, 23.04.2020

The Yabloko party insists that the government should take immediate measures to prevent the upsurge of domestic violence. Such measures include immediate reaction of the police to reports of violence, provision of a sufficient number of shelters for victims, hotel rooms inclusive, and cancellation of liability for violation of the isolation regime for victims.

The statement of the Yabloko Bureau runs that the number of cases of domestic violence against women, children and the elderly has significantly increased in the situation of the coronavirus pandemic and self-isolation. However, in Russia the situation is especially threatening: domestic violence is decriminalised, the law on the prevention of domestic violence has not been adopted; the number of shelters for victims of violence is catastrophically insufficient, some of them are closed due to a pandemic. The police in the situation of the coronavirus are even less ready to intervene in family conflicts than before.

The Yabloko party supports the demands of lawyers protecting victims of domestic violence and insists on taking immediate measures to prevent domestic violence as follows:

– provide a sufficient number of shelters to accommodate victims of domestic violence, regardless of whether they have registration or Russian citizenship. This requires compiling a register of all premises, including free hotel rooms, which can be used as temporary accommodation of victims;

– develop special measures to support victims when they apply for medical, legal and psychological aid, including the possibility of receiving such aid via the Gosuslugi (state services) portal and to widely inform the population about these measures;

– distribute information materials aimed at preventing violence by persons prone to aggression;

– create coordination centres on the basis of NGOs working in the field of protection of victims of violence, which will be able to quickly and effectively respond to domestic violence and assist victims in receiving free medical, legal and psychological aid;

– cancel the liability for victims of violence for their compelled violation of the quarantine and self-isolation regime or other restrictive measures;

– the authorities must publicly demonstrate support for victims of domestic violence;

– police must immediately respond to any reports of domestic violence and protect victims, not abusers and prevent any manifestations of domestic violence.

“Urgent adoption of all these measures can prevent the upsurge of the number of victims of domestic violence in Russia,” runs the statement of the Yabloko party.