Requirements of the Istanbul Convention in Domestic Criminal Law and Court Practice

Abstract

This paper analyses harmonization of the criminal law of the Republic of Serbia with the requirements of the Council of Europe on prevention and combating of violence against women and domestic violence—The Istanbul Convention—ten years after the Republic of Serbia signed it. The focus is on newly introduced criminal offenses (female genital mutilation, stalking, sexual harassment and forced marriage) and implementation of new incriminations in practice. The authors also reviewed the criminal offense of domestic violence, its non-harmonization with the requirements of the Istanbul Convention, observed deficiencies concerning the description of the offense, and its implementation in practice (taking into consideration official statistical data and results of relevant researches). The focus is also on certain legal solutions with relation to criminal-legal respond to violence against women, primarily domestic violence (family-legal and administrative-legal solutions). The goal of the paper is to map the deficiencies and suggest the ways for their overcoming which would be in accordance with the requirements of the Istanbul Convention and provide a better, comprehensive respond to violence against women in Serbia.