A/HRC/44/52/Add.1
Women on the Court’s judgment No. 13/2018 of 27 July 2018 (CCPR/C/BGR/CO/4,
para. 12);
(e)
Amend article 10 (1) of the Protection against Domestic Violence Act so
as to remove the one-month time limit and thereby ensure that protection orders can
be obtained without placing undue administrative and legal burdens on applicants,
and ensure that the provisions of the Act ease the burden of proof in favour of the
victim;
(f)
Amend article 3 (2) of the Protection against Domestic Violence Act to
remove the requirement of cohabitation for a victim to obtain a protection order;
(g)
Expand the scope of article 3 of the Protection against Domestic Violence
Act to include all cases of intimate partner violence, in order to include same-sex
couples and other contexts of violence;
(h)
In cases of domestic violence, introduce the possibility of prosecuting
“ex-officio” medium and serious bodily harm under articles 128 and 129 of the
Criminal Code;
(i)
Repeal article 152 of the Criminal Code, so as to ensure that all acts of
sexual violence against women and girls, especially rape, are defined in line with
international standards, explicitly include the lack of consent and are effectively
investigated, and that perpetrators are prosecuted and receive sentences
commensurate with the gravity of their crimes;
(j)
Revise the Criminal Code to include a rape provision based on the lack
of consent, include all forms of penetration and explicitly include marital rape;
(k)
Consider amending article 149 of the Criminal code and increase the age
of sexual consent from 14 to 16;
(l)
Repeal article 93 para 31 of the Criminal Code, under which for a
criminal offence to have been committed “in conditions of domestic violence” it must
be preceded by systematic physical, sexual or psychological violence, and remove the
word “systematic” to guarantee that victims have access to justice;
(m) Expand the scope of article 4 of the Protection against Discrimination
Act to explicitly include gender identity as a ground of discrimination and fully
recognize the equality of same-sex couples;
(n)
Amend the Family Code at article 6 by removing the exception to allow
marriage at the age of 16 years old, in order to prevent early marriages and early
pregnancies;
(o)
Urgently ensure that there are an adequate number of State-funded
crisis centres, including rape crisis centres, and other services, in line with European
Union directive 2012/29/EU, and provide support to NGOs offering shelter and other
forms of support to victims of violence;
(p)
Guarantee the effectiveness of protection orders and ensure that urgent
protection orders are issued immediately;
(q)
Establish a Femicide Watch/Observatory or entrust the Ombudsperson,
or another body such as the national coordination mechanism on violence against
women, once established, with implementing a femicide prevention watch that
includes the collection of administrative data by police and other relevant
stakeholders on:
(i)
All gender-related killings of women by intimate partners (intimate
partner femicide) and of girls, based on the relationship between the victim and
the perpetrator (for example, husbands, ex-husbands, partners);
(ii)
Family-related gender-based killings of women and girls based on the
family relationship between the victim and the perpetrator (family-related
femicide);
17
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