Preventing and Combating Domestic Violence: International Legal Approaches in the Context of the Application of Security Measures

The article examines international legal approaches to preventing and countering domestic violence, including in the context of the existence of the institution of restrictive measures. It was established that today in the field of human rights protection, states bear not only negative obligations – not to prevent the exercise of certain human rights, but also positive obligations – in particular, to take measures to prevent and counter domestic violence, to investigate all manifestations of domestic violence as situations that require close attention and pose a serious danger. The author draws attention to the fact that international institutions proceed from the postulate that the criminal-legal response to manifestations of domestic violence should not be limited in nature: it should concern not only the perpetrators of domestic violence, but also the victims, to whom security measures should be applied. In particular, the result of the work of the Council of Europe in the fight against domestic violence was the adoption on May 11, 2011 of the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which was ratified by Ukraine only this year. The so-called Istanbul Convention obliges states to take measures to ensure that adequate restraining or protective orders are available to victims of all forms of violence. The author came to the conclusion that the international community is several steps ahead of Ukrainian society and legislators in terms of awareness of the acuteness and importance of the problems of domestic violence and legal response to it. Key words: domestic violence, security measures, international legal approaches to preventing and combating domestic violence, restrictive measures, positive obligations of states to prevent and combat domestic violence, the Istanbul Convention.