Measures to prevent domestic violence were considered at the Government session chaired by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov. Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Igor Lepekha, Akims of Zhambyl region Yerbol Karashukeyev and Turkestan region Darhan Satybaldy made reports on this issue.

The Culture Minister reminded that the head of state constantly raises the issue of tougher punishment for any kind of domestic violence, including crimes against minors. He calls for special attention to improve the effectiveness of prevention of domestic violence in the family. Today's statistics in this area are disappointing. Over the past 4.5 years, 869 people have died from domestic violence. 2086 cases of serious harm to health have been registered. That is why special attention is paid to comprehensive preventive measures.

"First. Today, to provide comprehensive assistance to families, 68 Family Support Centers are functioning in the regions, of which 19 provide temporary accommodation. This is a practice in demand from 2019 to provide citizens in need of assistance with a set of services on the principle of "one window". Along with psychological, social and legal assistance, the Centers also provide comprehensive support to strengthen the institution of the family," Aida Balayeva said.

Only since the beginning of this year the centers have provided more than 100 thousand consultations. However, it should be recognized that at the moment the activities of the centers are not homogeneous. In this regard, the Ministry is developing a project of a unified Concept for family support centers. The objective of the project is to standardize the activities of the centers. Another important direction of the project is to build interdepartmental cooperation in the work to remove the family from a disadvantaged social environment. From next year, unified approaches in work will be implemented in all Family Support Centers.

"Second. The basic level of prevention is the conscious creation of a family. Together with the UN Population Fund we have launched a pilot project in Astana and Shymkent cities on free premarital counseling and training of citizens applying for marriage registration on family planning and family psychology, reproductive health, family budget planning and other important issues. In case of successful results, we will consider introducing such an option in all regions," she informed.

In addition, an interactive manual "Happy Kazakhstan Family" has been developed. It is aimed at raising awareness of couples entering into marriage on the issues of preserving positive family traditions and spiritual and moral values. The manual will be placed in the form of a thematic video in the e-Government system and will become a mandatory option for citizens applying for marriage registration online. 

"Third. Currently, 156 social projects are being implemented in the country within the framework of family policy for the amount of 469.3 million tenge. 40% of the allocated funds are directed to the prevention of domestic violence, 25% - to promote family values among young people, 10% - to support reproductive health among the population, 15% - for preventive work with poor families, 10% is used for other purposes," Balayeva said.

The Ministry of Culture and Information is implementing a pilot project on psychological work with aggressors within the framework of grant funding. According to the minister, the project is aimed at preserving families, reducing the level of crimes in the family and domestic sphere, improving the moral and psychological climate in families with the involvement of experts from crisis centers.

"First of all, we set the task to improve the qualifications of specialists. To date, 70 employees of crisis centers, 280 inspectors of the group for the protection of women from violence, as well as district inspectors of 5 regions have undergone educational trainings on working with aggressors. As a second stage, psychological and legal consultations for aggressors have been organized," the Minister explained.

The next important direction is the activity of the National Commission on Women's Affairs and Family and Demographic Policy under the President of the country. A specially created sector within the Commission, which brings together experts in the field of security and countering violence, is working in this direction. It includes well-known lawyers, members of Parliament and public figures. With the Commission's support, the One Stop Service Center for Victims of Violence had been opened in Almaty to provide free first legal and psychological assistance to victims of violence. Citizens from all regions of the country can apply.

"With the participation of members of the Commission an Algorithm of prompt response to the facts of violence against children has been developed. For 9 months of the current year the National Commission organized more than 1.5 thousand consultations on the facts of domestic violence, suicide. Those who applied were provided with prompt legal assistance with the involvement of experienced lawyers, psychologists and other specialists," Balayeva said.

Every year the Commission, together with the non-governmental sector, organizes an action "16 Days without Violence". From November to December, individual preventive work is carried out with persons prone to committing offenses, law-explanatory work is carried out, and there is wide coverage in the media. The Ministry of Culture and Information is conducting information and awareness-raising work to promote traditional family values and prevent domestic violence. Promotion of the topic in the media and social media is quite active. For example, 15,500 articles were published in the mass media and 4,000 informative entries were made in social media as part of the information work on the topic. TV channels are filming series promoting the theme of family values. 

"In order to promote family values, the Ministry is constantly working with experts and parent associations, including the Fathers' Union and the Mothers' Council under the ANC. Sixth. From yesterday, a 24-hour single state contact center 111 started its work. The call will be free of charge for city numbers and cellular operators. Qualified psychologists and lawyers have been engaged to help Kazakhstanis in a difficult situation. The Single Helpline is included in the list of state emergency services along with the numbers: 101, 102, 103, etc. This will allow to promptly help citizens, preventing possible offenses and crimes," the speaker emphasized. 

The seventh point noted interdepartmental cooperation. After all, the causes of domestic violence lie in different spheres. In this regard, a roadmap is being implemented to revise the policy on the prevention of domestic violence, legislative strengthening of measures to protect the rights of women and children, as well as to promote family values.

The Road Map envisages systemic measures in such areas as preventive measures; expansion of infrastructure: secondary, tertiary rehabilitation, reintegration; staffing; improvement of legislation; information and awareness-raising work. 

The Roadmap activities cover the competence of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Labor and Social Protection, Healthcare, Education, Culture and Information in the field of domestic violence prevention. They are aimed at strengthening interdepartmental cooperation between central and local State bodies. 

The prevention of domestic violence is under the special control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Deputy Head of the Ministry Igor Lepekha told about it in his report. Within the framework of realization of the President's instructions the Ministry of Internal Affairs together with the deputies of the Parliament introduced legislative amendments to toughen responsibility for domestic violence.

First of all, on May 19, amendments to the Criminal Code came into force. For the most widespread domestic crimes, a qualifying feature "committing an act against a person who is materially or otherwise dependent on the perpetrator" was introduced. Now the infliction of serious or medium harm to health in the domestic sphere entails imprisonment up to 6 years. This made it possible to isolate debauchees for the period of investigation.

Second, administrative legislation was amended as of July 1, 2023. The terms of arrest have been increased. For first-time offenses 5, 10, 15 days are appointed, and in case of repeated offenses up to 25 days. Previously, for such offenses, the court often appointed from 1 to 3 days.

"The procedure for reconciliation has been tightened. Now it is possible to reconcile only once and only in court, previously there were no restrictions. Moved from the declarative to the revealing nature of registration of domestic offenses. Previously, without the victim's statement, the police had no grounds to bring the debauchees to responsibility. For this reason, 60% of appeals remained unanswered. The amendments made it possible to initiate administrative proceedings on the fact of committing domestic violence. Today, 92% of reports are drawn up administrative protocols," the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said. 

At the same time, the final legal assessment is given by the court. As a result, for the last 3 months the number of domestic tyrants has increased 4 times. If in the second quarter of this year 7 thousand of such persons were brought to responsibility, in the third quarter their number amounted to 27 thousand. Accordingly, the number of those arrested has increased 2 times.

"In general, the society is forming a process of intolerance of domestic violence and inevitability of punishment for its commission. Thus, if at the end of the half-year there was an increase in domestic crimes, as a result of the measures taken in the first nine months of this year there was a tendency to their reduction. At the same time, the number of murders and infliction of serious harm to health has decreased," Lepekha said.

The Ministry has also intensified preventive work. 51 thousand administrative protocols were drawn up with regard to the debauchees. More than 13 thousand persons were arrested by court decision, 11 thousand special requirements were established. Sixty-eight thousand protective orders have been issued for the safety of victims. All such persons are placed on preventive registers and are subject to enhanced police monitoring. Eight thousand sub-accounted persons have been prosecuted for violating the restrictions.

"It should be noted that the majority of crimes in the home, about 80%, are committed in a state of intoxication. However, a serious problem is the issue of isolation of drunken debauchees. There are only 35 Temporary Adaptation and Detoxification Centers, popularly known as "medical detoxification centers", with 880 beds in the country. All of them are located in regional centers and cities of republican significance. And in single-industry towns, where this problem is most pressing, there are none at all," the general shared the problem. 

Practice shows that already in the first half of the day the sobering centers are completely filled. Whereas the main bulk falls on the evening and night time. For example, in Ust-Kamenogorsk there is only one such institution for 20 beds. Police officers brought 9 thousand offenders to them, but only 5 thousand were placed there. Similarly, in Pavlodar there is only one sobering-up center for 24 beds. The country as a whole needs 31 more such facilities for 582 beds. 

"Another problem is the issue of compulsory treatment of chronic "alcoholics". This procedure is extremely bureaucratized. And the number of specialized medical institutions is also insufficient. Due to the lack of available beds, court decisions on compulsory treatment of 800 people are not executed. I ask regional akims to pay attention to these issues," Lepekha said. 

The Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs also added that the problems of domestic violence cannot be solved by force alone. With this in mind, the agency has developed a draft Concept of ensuring public safety. It provides for a separate section on the consolidated solution of the problems of domestic violence prevention. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the government agencies concerned and the Ombudsman for Children's Rights, has also developed a number of legislative measures. These include mandatory psycho-correctional training for batterers; restrictions on cohabitation with victims of violence; and the imposition of community service penalties. These proposals were considered at a meeting of the Public Chamber of the Majilis of Parliament on September 26, 2023.

#Government session #Ministry of Culture #Ministry of Internal Affairs