Employees of shelter for domestic violence victims tell about law gaps

Problems of domestic violence victims have aggravated after the decriminalization of this violence; moreover, rapists very often manipulate victims of family conflicts, employees of shelters for domestic violence victims have stated in their comments on the incident that happened at the Makhachkala centre for the protection of motherhood and childhood. According to their version, the legislation on the protection of mothers' and fathers' rights in Russia is defective.

In May this year, Makhachkala policemen launched an inquiry into a man's attack on the "Warm House on the Mountain" Maternity and Childhood Protection Centre, in which his wife, who suffered from family violence, was hiding with their children.

The main reason for women's quitting their families together with children is in "disgraceful" relations with their relatives – a husband, a cohabitant, and sometimes a father or a brother, said Kira Vasilieva, the head of the "Nadezhda" (Hope) public movement, which provides help to victims of domestic violence in the Krasnodar Territory and throughout Southern Russia.

"Sometimes, the point is not in physical violence, but in sexual violence, and psychological or economic pressure," she has noted.

"Earlier, there used to be a good article about punishment for grievous bodily harm, but now, only after the second incident of beating, a husband's act becomes a criminal offense," Ms Vasilieva has complained.

"The most widespread reason is violence from a husband or a partner. We should note the deficit of shelters for women-victims of violence," said Andrei Sinelnikov, a deputy director of the "Anna" Moscow Crisis Centre for women-victims of domestic violence.

The most frequent reason for a woman's quitting her home with children and moving into a shelters is that a man beats a woman with young children and even pregnant women, said Elena, the administrator of the "House for Mom" – a shelter for women with children in the Moscow Region.