When the state looks away: domestic violence from Opuz to Bălșan

For years, Nahide Opuz went to the police in Diyarbakır, in south-eastern Turkey. Her husband beat her, threatened her, stabbed her and once ran over her and her mother with a car. Again and again the cases were dropped, often after the women withdrew their complaints under threat. In 2002, as her mother tried to help her escape, the husband stopped the removal van and shot the mother dead.

In June 2009 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Turkey had failed to protect the mother's life and had failed to protect Nahide from serious ill-treatment. Then it went further than ever before. The passivity of the authorities, the Court said, was discrimination against women. Domestic violence was no longer a private family matter. It was a human rights violation for which the state could be held responsible.

The Romanian chapter

Eight years later the same reasoning reached Romania. Angelica Bălșan, a mother of four, was assaulted by her husband again and again. In 2007 and 2008 she called the emergency services, filed criminal complaints and asked the police for protection. She said she feared for her life. Little was done. The authorities treated her as if she had provoked the violence and the violence as not serious enough to be a crime.

In 2017 the European Court found that Romania had violated the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment and the prohibition of discrimination. The Court spoke of an insufficient commitment to take appropriate action against domestic violence.

What has changed

Romania ratified the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention on violence against women in 2016. In 2018 the law on domestic violence was amended so that the police can issue a provisional protection order on the spot, for five days, when there is an imminent risk to a person's life, safety or freedom. During those days the case can go to a judge for a longer protection order. There is also a free national helpline for victims, open day and night: 0800 500 333.

Laws change faster than habits. The questions in Bălșan, whether anyone believes the victim and whether anyone acts in time, are still asked in police stations every day.

If this is happening to you

• In immediate danger, call 112.
• Call 0800 500 333, free and open 24/7, for advice and to find a shelter.
• Ask the police for a provisional protection order. If they do not issue one, they must explain how to request a protection order from the court.
• Keep evidence: photos, medical certificates, messages, names of witnesses.