OSCE trains Ukrainian social service providers on working with domestic violence offenders

Thirty representatives of social service providers from various regions of Ukraine were trained on effectively handling domestic violence cases and working with offenders, during a two-day session in Lviv in western Ukraine that ended on 2 July 2014.

The training seminar was organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine upon request of the country’s Social Policy Ministry. The course was complemented with a new training module; all participants received an updated manual on the implementation of the corrective programme, developed with the support of the Project Co-ordinator.

According to the Ministry of Interior, in 2013 more than 174,000 cases of domestic violence were registered in Ukraine and carried out by more than 92,000 offenders.

“Professional work with offenders is crucial, as it can encourage people to use other means of dealing with disagreements within the family rather than resorting to violence,” said Rene BeBeau, the Senior Project Officer of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine.  “Addressing the problem of domestic violence can create better conditions for achieving gender equality in broader society.”

This seminar is a part of broader multi-year assistance provided to Ukraine with the purpose of introducing best practices from the OSCE region into the national mechanisms of responding to domestic violence.