Ulaanbaatar, 26 May 2016 – Recently, the Law to Combat Domestic Violence (LCDV) was passed by the Mongolian Parliament in an important decision that addresses violence against women and girls, which the UNFPA has been supporting alongside government and civil society partners since 2007. Domestic Violence (DV) is considered as one of the most serious, prevalent and persistent human rights violations in Mongolia.

The law is extremely important because:

• One out of 5 families has a violent relationship; one out of 5 women suffers from psychical violence; and one out of 2 children and one out of 4 elderly are victims of violence;
• Eighty people lost their lives, and 3,299 people were injured due to domestic violence during the last 5 years (as of 2015).
• One out of 3 children living under the care of welfare institutions ran away from home due to domestic violence;
• One out of 5 divorces is due to domestic violence;
• 88.3 percent of domestic violence is against women and 64.6 percent is against children;
• 79 percent of victims of domestic violence suffer physically and/or psychologically from health conditions aggravated or caused by violence; and
• In 2015, there were 1,356 cases of domestic violence registered and the number of domestic violence cases reported to the police increased by 26% from the same period of the previous years (Information technology center of the General Police Authority).

The LCDV was approved in 2004, but why did it have to be revised? That is because the implementation of the 2004 law was limited as different laws and regulations were not consistent with each other, leading to lack of coordination between Government agencies that were supposed to provide integrated services to DV survivors. The 2004 law did not guarantee government funding to support the promulgation of the law either. But above all, the 2004 law did not recognize DV as a crime, and thus there was no means to end the behaviours of perpetrators.

UNFPA Mongolia thus supported a wide range of initiatives to revise the 2004 law, and get it approved by the Parliament. It was also to get related laws amended and approved to ensure that the legal system in relation to domestic violence is consistent. These include: 1) the Criminal Code; 2) the Petty Offence Law; 3) the Law on Investigation of Criminal Offences; 4) the Code on Law Enforcement Proceedings; and 5) the Court Execution Law.

First, every year, the “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” was organized, which led to the ground-breaking statement by the President in December 2013 calling on the state to accelerate action to end DV. Mongolia has become the 64th country in the entire world where the United Nations “Commit” initiative was signed by the head of state, fully committing the country to ending violence against women and girls. Subsequently, UNFPA Mongolia helped to set up a working group to revise the 2004 LCDV and ensure the integration of the voices, views and suggestions of not only MPs and Government partners but also those of civil society, women and young people to the final version of the revised LCDV. Here, partnerships with the Parliamentary Women’s Caucus, key male and female MPs, civil society representatives, and national gender champions played an important role to advocate for the approval of the revised LCDV.

Second, UNFPA Mongolia helped and closely worked with civil society organizations. For instance, every year, the CSO Forum was organized on the International Women’s Day, which was tied to an advocacy event for high level officials to get the revised LCDV approved by the Parliament. Strong partnerships with CSOs, namely the National Center Against Violence (a pioneer in the provision of protection services to DV survivors since 1995) and MONFEMNET (an NGO focused on human rights advocacy, particularly for women and girls) were beyond valuable in advocating for comprehensive legal reform to end violence against women and girls. CSOs also provided expert input in revising the 2004 LCDV, bringing in different perspectives, technical suggestions, and best practices to the discussion table.

Third, it was a strong belief of UNFPA Mongolia to continue to engage the general public. UNFPA Mongolia capitalized on the momentum of the public outrage at the well-publicized, tragic case of a 4 year-old girl murdered by her step-mother in 2015, strongly calling on decision makers for the criminalization of DV and related legal reform to end violence against women and girls.

Lastly, UNFPA Mongolia brought in young people in this process. It is estimated that 40% of victims of violence are young women aged 15-34, and thus UNFPA Mongolia considered it essential to involve young women and men to address this issue. UNFPA organized “Orange Sessions,” public concerts with Mongolia’s young musicians, where the youth echoed the message to support an end to violence. This helped raise awareness of violence against women and girls, also advocating for the approval of the revised LCDV. In addition, “Orange Days” were marked on every 25th of the month, and on 25 December 2014, even Members of the Parliament demonstrated their unity with the cause through wearing orange ties and scarves.

With the approval of the revised LCDV, which criminalized domestic violence, UNFPA Mongolia hopes that the issue of cultural impunity on domestic violence is also addressed. There exists the prevalent, traditional perception that DV is a private family matter, something better settled within the confines of the family without external involvement. The approval of the revised LCDV was one important step to reduce reluctance of some high level decision makers and gain public support through advocacy measures, so as to end violence against women and girls in the country.

Soon a new partnership will be officiated between the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and UNFPA to join forces and address violence against women and girls in Mongolia. It will be a landmark project first to conduct a long-awaited study to understand the level of violence against women and girls, second to carry out comprehensive public communications, and lastly to ensure the expansion of integrated services provided to victims of violence through the one-stop-center model (which has already been tested with UNFPA support in the past years in Ulaanbaatar, Zavhan, Bayanhongor, and Gobi-Altai.) The project will work closely with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Population Development and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Health and Sports, as well as with other national partners.

By: A.Esguerra/ B. Oyun