Gaps in the law to protect women from domestic violence because legal overlaps and wide interpretations

Al Akhbar newspaper published a report on the implementation of the domestic violence bill number 293 and which was endorsed some four months ago whilst focusing on the trends followed by judges.  According to the report, some 16 cases have resorted to the law of which 11 were lodged by Kafa and 5 by lawyer Brigitte Chalabian, the director of Justice without Borders.  According to Leyla Awada, lawyer at Kafa, the emerging problem related to the gaps and differences amongst judges in requesting protection orders, hence the difficulty in setting up a standard mechanism for women victims of violence to resort to.  Awada added that verdicts also differ depending on the judge’s background and mindset regarding the different forms of violence against women and its relation to power.  She also notes that the law does not clearly defines a number of terms leaving this to the judge’s discretion and interpretation as the categories of VAW included in the law did not clearly stipulate what the penalties should be.
Chalabian noted for her part that the biggest problems will arise once there will be requests for continuance and in cases of divorce as there will be an overlap in three laws namely: the domestic violence bill, the law to protect underage children and personal status laws.  She wondered what will happen if there are differences between religious and civil courts noting that the law has given religious courts the prerogatives of appealing civil laws.  Thus, the domestic violence would have only protected women from violence but not for example from being separated from their children.

Source: Al-Akhbar 2 September 2014