New Council of Europe report authored by Carlotta Rigotti
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, postdoctoral 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 highlights a number of shortcomings when it comes to safeguarding women against online and technology-facilitated violence, demonstrating the necessity of enhanced educational programmes, training initiatives, preventive measure, and offender rehabilitation programmes.
The report also identifies a dearth of information regarding the digital dimension of violence against women and highlights that 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 Republic of Moldova's legal framework for criminal offences demonstrates a number of restrictions, with limited provisions concerning psychological violence, stalking and image-based sexual abuse. In spite of this, the suggestions for the criminalisation of various online and technology-facilitated violence forms are currently under review by the national digital violence working group established by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. These proposals will be assessed for potential inclusion in the revised Law 45/2007 on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence.
Open access to the study is available here.