PS Calls on Susko to Address Violence Against Women

Bratislava, November 25 (TASR) - The opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party has called on Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer-SD) to form a working group, staffed by experts from several ministries, to deal with the issue of violence against women and to present specific measures with which the Justice Ministry plans to help abused women, female MPs Beata Jurik and Zuzana Stevulova (PS) stated at a press conference on Monday. According to Jurik, Susko already has on his table a proposal, drafted by a working group a few years ago, on how to address violence against women. "We urge you to reform the working group, staffed by experts from several ministries, to which lawmakers and representatives of the civil sector should also be invited," said Jurik. She claimed that PS, wishing to be helpful to the ministry, has already been working on such a proposal and wants to share it. Jurik pointed to an EU directive that supersedes and updates the Istanbul Convention in the context of violence against women. "The government now has about two years to implement this directive in our law. I'm asking: what are we waiting for?" In addition, PS has submitted an amendment to the Penal Code at the current parliamentary session to redefine rape and statues of limitation, to add to the Penal Code domestic violence, abuse of a close person, cyber-violence and the murder of a woman. "This is the very first time that someone in Slovakia has proposed adding the murder of woman to the Penal Code. We find it to be of specific importance because without such a definition it is not possible to set up an effective system to prevent this worst of situations that can arise in the sphere of gender-based violence," added Jurik. mf/df