The National Institute of Justice hosted the event “Access to justice for women victims and survivors of gender violence”. The action to raise public awareness on preventing violence against women and girls took place on Tuesday, November 29, 2022, in the context of the international campaign "16 days of Activism against Gender-based Violence".
The event was attended by H.E. Kent D. Logsdon, Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of Moldova, Ana Revenco, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, Veronica Mihailov-Moraru, State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova, Ecaterina Popa, ad interim director of the National Institute of Justice, Dominika Stojanoska, Representative of UN Women Moldova, Andrea Cuzyova, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP Moldova, Mel Flanagan, Judge, State of Wisconsin, USA, as well as representatives of judicial institutions, civil society and development partners.
In the opening, Ecaterina Popa, NIJ ad interim director, mentioned: “The mission of the National Institute of Justice is to provide quality training to legal professionals, including this topic. The aim of the training activities is to strengthen the capacities of those working in the field when it comes to domestic violence and access to justice for victims of violence. The trainings focus on the psychological aspects of the phenomenon of violence, the adjustments made in the legislation in this sector and the way in which the litigator must act in accordance with the legal provisions. As an institution that trains the future, we will continue to make every effort so that our trainings will combat stereotypes in the system and girls and women in the Republic of Moldova will lead a life without violence.”
The event, moderated by Arina Turcan-Donţu, NIJ trainer, lawyer at the Women’s Law Center, aimed to discuss the shortcomings and solutions regarding the main obstacles, both legal and procedural, to women’s access to justice, the responsiveness of the justice system to the needs of victims of gender-based violence, as well as improving the responsiveness of the justice system in gender matters.
The activity was organized by UN Women and UNDP Moldova, in collaboration with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova, the National Institute of Justice, the National Coalition „Life without violence”, with the financial support of Sweden and the US State Department.
