The Human Rights in Democracy Centre (HRDC) has released a new report on women’s access to justice in domestic violence cases at the Tirana District Court in the capital of Albania. The report revealed some problematic practices, including a high rate of dismissal of cases involving requests for protection orders and a clear judicial preference for reconciliation between women and their abusers.
To compile the report, HRDC staff monitored hundreds of civil and criminal domestic violence cases handled by the Tirana District Court in 2016 and 2017. In addition to outlining their findings in detail, the report’s authors make several recommendations for improving the approach of the Tirana Court, the police and social service organizations to domestic violence cases. The authors hope that their recommendations will lead to better outcomes for domestic violence survivors, including the prevention of future acts of violence and improved access to essential services such as shelter, medical care and legal aid.
The full report is available for download at the link below.
Compiled from: “Respect Of The Rights Of Victims/ Survivors Of Domestic Violence In The Judicial Process;” Findings and recommendations from the monitoring of judgments of Tirana District court, Human Rights in Democracy Centre (2017).