Urgent restraining and restrictive orders as special response forms for domestic violence: international experience and national practice

The authors of the article have substantiated the importance of the prevention of domestic violence and proper response to such cases in accordance with European and world standards. The authors have analyzed international experience of introducing restrictive measures for the persons who have committed domestic violence and the differences between urgent restraining and restrictive orders provided by the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention and Combating Domestic Violence” in order to create conditions for their effective application in practice. The authors have also analyzed the content of the restrictive order regarding the abuser as established by the court procedure as a mean of temporal restriction of the rights or the assignment of duties to a person who committed domestic violence aimed at ensuring the safety of the victim. The authors have characterized the urgent restraining order as a special measure to counteract domestic violence, which is used by the authorized units of the National Police of Ukraine as a response to the fact of domestic violence and aimed at its immediate termination, elimination of the danger to the lives and health of victims and preventing the continuation or re-execution of such violence. The procedures of application of the above mentioned orders have been provided. The comparative and legal analysis of the restrictive and urgent restraining orders has been carried out. International experience of applying a protective order in combating domestic violence has been generalized; reference to the relevant regulatory acts has been provided. It has been noted that the current stage of normative and legal, organizational and law-enforcement provision for combating domestic violence in Ukraine is characterized by both significant progress and serious problems that impede the mentioned progress. These problems are largely in the field of lawmaking and require more attention to the adoption of relevant regulatory acts.