A/HRC/35/30/Add.3
all the provinces; for example, the autonomous city of Buenos Aires applied its own law on
domestic violence.
56.
Article 26 of the Law on violence against women sets out urgent preventive
measures and provides that, at any stage of the proceedings, the intervening judge may
order one or more of the following preventive measures: prohibit the alleged perpetrator
from approaching the woman’s place of residence, work, study, recreation or habitual
attendance; order the alleged perpetrator to cease all acts of disturbance or intimidation
directly or indirectly carried out against the woman; order the immediate restitution of
personal effects to the petitioner, if necessary; prohibit the alleged aggressor from buying
and possessing weapons and confiscate those in his possession; provide security measures
at the woman’s home; order any other measures necessary to ensure the safety of the
woman, to stop the situation of violence and to avoid the repetition of any act of
disturbance, intimidation, aggression or mistreatment. The judge may impose more than
one measure at a time and shall set the duration of the measures according to the case.
57.
However, other laws were not fully in line with those provisions of the Law on
violence against women. For example, article 2 of Law No. 24.417 on protection against
family violence states that a judge may prohibit the perpetrator from accessing the home
and the places of work or study of the victim, but makes no mention of other places, such as
the homes of relatives or places of recreation, which leaves the woman vulnerable if she is
somewhere that is not explicitly provided for in the law.
58.
Article 32 of the Law on violence against women provides that, in the event that the
perpetrator fails to comply with the measures ordered, the judge may evaluate the
suitability of modifying or extending them or ordering others. In the event of a new breach
by the perpetrator, the judge can apply any of the following sanctions: issue a warning to
the perpetrator; inform the perpetrator’s organization, institution, syndicate, professional
association or workplace of his violent behaviour; order the perpetrator to undertake
therapy with a view to modifying his violent behaviour. If the non-compliance consists of
disobedience or another offence, the judge shall draw it to the attention of a judge with
jurisdiction in criminal matters. Article 239 of the Criminal Code 57 provides for
imprisonment of 15 days to one year for a person who resists or disobeys a public official in
the legitimate exercise of his functions or the professional who is providing him or her with
assistance, whether at his or her request or under a legal obligation. Although article 239 of
the Criminal Code could be invoked as a basis for detention and prosecution of individuals
violating protection orders, the violations were often interpreted by civil judges as atypical
conduct rather than as a crime, so that they were neither reported nor prosecuted.
59.
Despite the existence in law of a variety of preventive measures, the Special
Rapporteur received numerous reports that the enforcement of protection orders was weak
and that, after obtaining a protection order, victims did not receive adequate assistance from
the police and were therefore revictimized.
60.
The Special Rapporteur was informed that, in numerous cases, police officers
refused to take reports from victims of domestic violence; victims had to report instances of
violence several times before obtaining a restraining order; some cases of violence were
still reported by the police as a family conflict and no lethality risk assessment was
conducted; the police did not provide adequate assistance and information about shelters or
restraining orders to victims of domestic violence; and investigations were halted when a
victim withdrew her statement.
61.
The Special Rapporteur also received reports that women often had to file several
complaints for different incidents of domestic violence and initiate legal proceedings in
different courts — for example, the family court, the court of justice of the peace to obtain
protective measures, the criminal court for threats, injuries, attempted murder or murder —
without any connection necessarily being made between the cases. Reportedly, the Supreme
57
14
Argentina, Criminal Code, Law No. 11.179 of 21 December 1984, last amended 19 December 2012.
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