Centrs MARTA

MARTA Centre:

• develops public awareness of the principles of gender equality by maintaining a high-quality dialogue with state institutions, the media and society;
• is involved in the integration of gender equality principles in the content of education and in educational institutions;
• in order to prevent violence against women, monitor the implemented legal provisions on the introduction of temporary protection, criminalization of persecution, as well as work on the improvement of other relevant laws, including the signing of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence;
• advocates legislation to punish sex buyers in the fight against the sexual exploitation of women and girls by ending the blaming of exploited persons;
• develops effective models for victim identification and rehabilitation to reduce trafficking;
• provides expertise for increasing womens economic activity, reducing labor market segregation and social inequality, reconciling private and working life;
• advocates the need for legal protection in unregistered relationships.

Achievements of the MARTA Centre:

• criminal sanctions for stalking;
• promoting development and implementation of the community coordinated response model for victims of violence in Latvia;
• excluding compensation from income list therefore it is not taken into consideration in cases of social assistance decisions;
• women and girls who have been involved into prostitution are no longer penalised;
• police are required to notify local social service entities about cases involving domestic violence or potential risk of domestic abuse;
• to ensure continuous support for abused women during the state of emergency caused by the global pandemic in a manner that is safe for clients, institutions and organisations that provide social rehabilitation services to adult victims of abuse are allowed to work with clients remotely until the state of emergency is lifted, if client agrees and feels safe;
• victims can apply for temporary protection orders in any Latvian court regardless of the place the incident occurred. These changes allow victims to break free from controlling partners and their influence on responsible services, offering the safety required to report the case properly;
• obligatory social rehabilitation for perpetrators of domestic violence in cases where temporary protection order has been applied;
• access to social rehabilitation programme for minors who are victims of human trafficking and reside in state or municipally funded social care or social rehabilitation institutions;
• police can separate violent persons from persons in need of protection without a written application.