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Minnesota Advocates Submits Comments on Moldovan Draft Domestic Violence Law to Parliamentary Committee
10/15/2006 10:35 AM
This June, Minnesota Advocates met with ten government, social service and NGO professionals from Moldova who visited the U.S. to discuss Moldova’s draft domestic violence legislation, the Law on Preventing and Combating Violence in the Family. Hosted by World Services of La Crosse, Inc. with funding from USAID, the Moldovan delegation spent a half day at Minnesota Advocates to discuss legal advocacy on domestic violence issues, in particular with regard to the draft law. The delegates met with Women’s Program Director Cheryl Thomas and Staff Attorney Rosalyn Park, as well as Minnesota Advocates’ volunteers, including Board Chair Aviva Breen and Advisory Committee member Mary Louise Klas.
In response to a request by the delegation, Minnesota Advocates drafted comments on the bill, highlighting positive and negative aspects, while providing suggestions on ways to improve the law so as to best ensure victims’ safety and abusers’ accountability for violent crimes. These comments are now available on the StopVAW website. While the bill passed its first reading in Parliament, there were no changes made to reflect the commentary. To ensure that these comments would be taken into account for the bill’s second reading, a representative from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) contacted Minnesota Advocates and arranged for the translation of these comments into Romanian. Minnesota Advocates’ comments have now been transmitted to the Moldovan President of the Parliamentary Committee for Social Protection, Health, and Family.
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