JusMin Gorghiu: Government approves bill on extension of protective order to all forms of violence

The Government has approved the bill on the extension of the protective order to all categories of victims and all forms of violence, in addition to domestic violence, Justice Minister Alina Gorghiu announced on Thursday.

"At the initiative of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Government has approved (...) a revolutionary bill, a bill that protects victims of violence, not only those who are part of families, against aggressors. It is the law of the protective order, an initiative that Romanian society greatly needs in order to be able to combat violence and that provides the necessary legal framework for professionals, for police officers, for magistrates, prosecutors, judges, to prevent serious cases of violence, many of them publicly debated in Romanian society," said Gorghiu, at the Victoria Palace of Government.

According to her, through the bill, the Government says "no to violence at any level, regardless of the status of the person".

"The bill is the result of two years of public consultations, debates with representatives of associations, public institutions, associations and foundations in Romania concerned about the issue, and aimed at identifying the most effective, most appropriate means, tools to expand the categories of beneficiaries of the provisional protective order and the protective order, currently limited to victims of domestic violence. Basically, this bill will extend the protection order to all categories of victims in need of protection and to all forms of violence, regardless of the relationship between the victim and the aggressor," explained the Minister of Justice.

She said that, until now, the protective order legislated in 2012 and the provisional protective order legislated in 2018 only protected victims of domestic violence.

"With this extension proposed by this law today it goes beyond the perimeter of the family, the protection becomes general. (...) The victim, as such, will be protected regardless of who the aggressor is. Also, from now on, the law will refer to all forms of violence, the competent authorities will intervene not only in the case of physical violence, but also in acts of online harassment, multiple phone calls, repeated or unlawful stalking of a woman or surveillance of their homes and so on," said Alina Gorghiu.AGERPRES