PROTECTION OF VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: A PRACTICAL DIMENSION

The article is devoted to the study of practical aspects of protection of victims of domestic violence in Ukraine. Domestic violence is understood as a pattern of behavior between people in any relationship that is used to gain or retain power and control over the person with whom they are in a personal relationship. Victims of domestic violence can be members of a couple, as well as a child or other relative or any other family member. The COVID‑19 pandemic has been shown to have a sig‑ nificant impact on the spread of the threat of domestic violence. Isolation can identify or exacerbate vulnerabilities due to the lack of established social support systems, reduced economic well-being of families, and psychological and social difficulties. In general, pandemic restrictions have made life difficult for victims of domestic violence. A systematic analysis of guarantees for the protection of victims of domestic violence made it possible to identify the following positive reforms: strengthening regula‑ tion; intensification of public authorities' functioning in the field of combating and preventing domestic violence; strengthening of methodological, explanatory and informational activities, which has a dual focus: the legal awareness of victims is intensified and the professionalism of specialized bodies is increased; coordination of system coordination of public and state sphere in the researched sphere. However, the analysis of statistical reports, court decisions, monitoring of public organizations, scientific works of experts indicate that there are a number of problems in the field of protection of victims of domestic violence, so the authors propose a set of measures to help solve the problem. These include: ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention); measures to increase the level of legal awareness and legal culture; the need to improve the skills of police officers in the preparation of administrative materials; changes in established case law on the elimination of ineffective penalties; implementation of positive practice of foreign countries on the implementation of re-education programs for offenders by court decision; maintaining the Unified State Register of Cases of Domestic Violence.