The Council of Europe has released a groundbreaking report on the digital dimension of violence against women in the Republic of Moldova, authored by Carlotta Rigotti, post-doc researcher at eLaw.
As part of the "Supporting the Implementation of the Istanbul Convention in the Republic of Moldova" project, this report, supported by women's rights lawyer Doina Ioana Străisteanu, sheds light on the Republic of Moldova's efforts to address the digital dimension of violence against women. Overall, the study underscores several deficiencies in safeguarding women against online and technology-facilitated violence, demonstrating the necessity for enhanced educational programs, training initiatives, preventive measures, and rehabilitation programs for offenders.
Furthermore, it reports a dearth of information regarding the digital dimension of violence against women and highlights that the existing support services may not adequately address victims' specific needs, such as the swift removal of intimate content from social media platforms and search engines. Ultimately, the legal framework of the Republic of Moldova for criminal offenses demonstrates a number of restrictions, with limited provisions concerning psychological violence, stalking, and image-based sexual abuse. Regardless, the suggestions for the criminalization of various online and technology-facilitated violence forms are presently under examination by the national digital violence working group, established by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. These proposals will be evaluated for potential inclusion in the revised Law 45/2007 on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
The study is available open access here.
