In addition to the 450 cases of women victims of violence managed by the House of Women, in its first year of pilot operation, "The House of Women" said on Thursday the President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, who noted that "it is in this context, but also in the context of our wider policy, that the Council of Europe cites Cyprus as an example, welcoming the targeted measures we have taken".
In his address at the inauguration of "The House of Women", which was read on his behalf by the Minister of Energy, the President of the Republic said that "it would be desirable that there would be no need for the state to ensure the adoption of policies to deal with any form of violence and abuse".
He added that "while they exist, however, it is a moral responsibility and obligation and, as is clearly evidenced by what I have said, our priority is to protect and support any individual subjected to such incidents."
As President Anastasiades said, "by demonstrating in practice the obligation, but also the will we have in this direction, in addition to the existing legislation and the implementation of relevant manuals and procedures, we have adopted a coherent set of policies, remaining fully committed to its implementation".
He noted that "a milestone in our efforts was the ratification by law, in November 2017, of the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence".
The President of the Republic said that "since then, our efforts have not been limited to simply ratifying the Convention, on the contrary, aiming at the full harmonization of Cyprus with the provisions of the Convention, I note that, among other things, the House of Representatives in recent years has proceeded to pass a series of laws".
These are the Law on the Prevention and Combating of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, the Protection from Harassment and Harassing Stalking Law, the Law on Establishing Minimum Standards on the Rights, Support and Protection of Victims of Crime and the Law on Combating Sexism and Online Sexism and Related Matters of 2020.
President Anastasiades said that "at the same time, the inclusion of the concept of femicide in the Criminal Code is underway", noting that "these are three pieces of legislation, through which a comprehensive, extensive and modern network of preventive actions and repressive measures is being established, laying the foundations for the care and provision of specialized protection and practical support to victims of gender, domestic and intimate partner violence".
In his address, the President of the Republic said that "the Government, recognising the important and effective work carried out by the Association for the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Family, has entrusted it with the management of the Pilot Programme 'Women's Home', fully subsidising the first two years of its operation from the State Aid Plan of the Social Welfare Services, with an amount of more than €726,000".
About "The Women's House", the President said that "it is a space to which all women victims of violence, together with their minor children, have access, without any discrimination, as well as the House which brings together all relevant services, providing, through a multidisciplinary approach, criminal investigation, psychological, social, counselling, legal and medical support for both women victims of violence and their dependants".
He added that "in this way, the possibility of re-traumatisation, re-victimisation and stigmatisation" of violence against women is reduced while "at the same time, taking into account that the increasing trend in the rates does not concern the cases but the confession of the incidents, any fears and scruples about reporting them are addressed".
He concluded by stating that he is "absolutely confident that, through the ongoing actions and synergies being promoted for the best possible operation and implementation of the programme, further conditions will be created for our country to become one of the pioneers of the European Union in dealing with the phenomena."
Source: CNA
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