The village Ignăţei, from the district Rezina is one of those 30 key communities of the project “Protection and Empowerment of Victims of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence in Moldova” , financed by the Government of Japan through the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security. The results of the first monitoring visit to the local projects for development of social services for domestic violence victims and perpetrators, undertaken by the representatives of the UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, prove the key role of the local multidisciplinary specialists - the social assistant, medical worker/ doctor and policeman - in solving the cases of domestic violence.
An old village
Gathered at the Mayor’s office, the specialists of the multidisciplinary team, headed by the mayor of the locality Ion Balan, seem to be nervous because of the guests trying to tell in detail the situation from the village Ignăţei. Located 30 km away from the district center Rezina, we find out that it is a village like many others from Moldova- with people who left abroad, children left with no parents, youth, who left for abroad and don’t seem to will coming back. “Since the beginning of the year nine persons died, and no baby was born. I am scared when I think of the way the village ages”, says a woman who recalls that 20 years ago “Ignăţei was inhabited by 3500 people and at present it has 2500 inhabitants only”. Another woman states with sadness that “new houses are not being built in Ignatei, and given the lack of jobs and occupations, people start drinking, and many disputes and cases of family violence appear”.
“It is a shame in the village to be a teacher and beaten by husband”
The discussions are harsh when it is about a recent case of violence which took place in a community from the neighborhood. She is a teacher; he is a constructions worker in Russia. They grow up a child aged 14. It is about a family of hardworking people, nobody talked bad about them. At the beginning of January, in a conflict that emerged in the family because of the excessive alcohol consumption the man got angry and stabbed his wife by knife. It was discovered that it is not for the first time when such problems exist in this family; this woman has been facing the same situation for years. “It is a shame in the village to be a teacher and be beaten by husband”, the social assistant from the community explains somehow the silence of the woman. A story, otherwise common for many families from Moldova, where “each fourth woman was subject to physical, psychological violence and only a small part requested help because of the fear and shame”, as specialized researches show.
Happily, this time the situation has changed for this family. Differently from the previous cases when the woman simply accepted the violent attacks of his husband, this time she decided to divorce being convinced that she can’t live like this anymore. As a result of the intervention of specialists, the man was hospitalized for 40 days in the section of narcology from the district, meantime the woman got conciliation and information which helped her take the right decision. At present, as the documents are to be examined, she lives with her son in the house and her husband lives in a little house from the yard. The policeman and the social assistant visit them every day as to keep things under control.
Joint intervention of specialists is crucial
At the question how many family aggressors are registered in the community, we find out that it is about three persons. “For 20 years I have been working as a policeman in this community, but I do not record many cases when women would appeal the police. They are afraid or ashamed. Sooner they go and talk with the social assistant and I find from her the current cases of violence. Later on I go to the above mentioned family and I „scare” the aggressor. It is easier and more efficient to work within the multidisciplinary team. If one specialist doesn’t succeed, the second gets involved. This is the role of a team work”, concludes Tudor Safaleri, head of the police service from Ignăţei.
It is worth mentioning that the joint work and referring the cases of violence to the most competent specialist is the main idea of the multidisciplinary teams created within the project “Protection and Empowerment of Victims of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence in Moldova”. There are currently multidisciplinary teams in all 30 key communities of the project. All their members were trained in the field of prevention and assistance of cases of violence.
