The Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment at the Ministry of Family and Social Policy held an online national conference on the amendment to the anti-violence legislation entitled “You have the right to...”.

The conference was opened by Anna Schmidt, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Family and Social Policy, Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment.

– The provision allowing for the immediate separation of domestic violence perpetrators from those who experienced this violence has been in force for a year and the analyses carried out clearly show that thanks to this we increase the safety of those who experience violence and who do not need to escape from home any longer – said Minister Schmidt.

Domestic violence

Further proposed amendments to the Act on preventing family violence assume, inter alia, increasing the safety and protection of persons at risk of and experiencing domestic violence, in particular, through a more individual and personal approach to the process of support and assistance; improving the functioning of the violence prevention system at central and local government levels and introducing psychological and therapeutic programmes into the provisions of the Act, thanks to which a person using violence can return to proper family relations.

– The change in the approach to these issues, in particular, increasing the catalogue to be affected by the provisions of the amended Act also determines the change in the existing name of the Act: from “on preventing family violence” to “on preventing domestic violence” – stressed Minister Schmidt.

Government support for local governments

It is also worth applying for funds under the open competition for tenders for implementing the Supporting Programme “Supporting local government units in creating a system to prevent family violence”. – We are planning to start this measure at the beginning of next year and I think that this is good financial support for performing own tasks of local governments – said Minister Anna Schmidt.

Child protection and Norwegian mechanism

The speakers at the conference assessed the current solutions in this area and also sought answers to the question: how to protect a child from violence, talked about the “Blue Cards” procedure, discussed the characteristics of the anti-violence measures on an example of the “Justice” Programme financed under the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 and presented the legal aspects of removing a person using violence from home.