Forensic medical aspects in some issues of gender and domestic violence in Ukraine

Abstract

The priority direction of any country’s state policy is to create a system that would ensure equal opportunities for all to access political, economic, social, cultural achievements, as well as guarantee respect for the personality of all members of society. Ukraine’s aspiration to reach the level of leading countries in the world requires the implementation of current international agreements of the world community. One of them was the ratification in 2022 of the Istanbul Convention, aimed at preventing violence against women and domestic violence and combating these phenomena. It is also important that Article 36 of the Istanbul Convention enshrines the obligation of state parties to take necessary measures to criminalize rape and other forms of sexual violence. At the same time, the official commentary to it clearly states that forms of violence covered by it do not disappear during armed conflict or occupation, and therefore the requirements of the Convention are applied during armed conflict and complement the norms of international humanitarian and criminal law. We conducted an analysis of cases of sexual violence, including rape, that occurred in the temporarily occupied territory in the Kyiv region in 2022, and identified the role of forensic medical examination during the investigation of these crimes. It was found that the existing forms of documenting physical injuries are inadequate and imperfect. Thanks to the initiative of the Target Group of the international human rights organization “Global Rights Compliance” and “Synergy for Justice” under the leadership of Ms. Ingrid Elliot, the authors of this message were involved in the development of standard operating procedures used in investigating sexual violence crimes in conflict conditions following the “Istanbul Protocol” and the “Istanbul Convention”. As a result of this activity, a systematic informational form for documenting physical injuries as a result of sexual violence in conflict conditions was proposed for law enforcement officers of Ukraine. In addition, we conducted a statistical analysis of reports of domestic violence victims from 2018 to 2023 based on archival data from the Regional Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination of Zhytomyr Regional Council. It was established that the highest number of reports was made by women aged 25-44 years; in terms of the severity of physical injuries, light and mild injuries with a short-term health disorder predominated, with physical manifestations of which were abrasions, bruises. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of reports remained stable and even slightly increased, and during the Russian military aggression, the number of reports decreased by almost half. In cases of domestic violence, children’s neglect was committed by the fathers of the victims.