European Judicial Cooperation and Protection of Gender-Based Violence Victims, Fact or Fiction?

Year 2020, , 95 - 115, 05.05.2020

Raquel Borges Blázquez

https://doi.org/10.26650/JPLC2020-0007

Abstract

Judicial cooperation between EU member States shows us the limits of the EU. These limits are not only encountered by the European legislator; national legislators and judges encounter them too. The existence of different legal systems complicates mutual recognition. The difficulties during the creation process of the Directive 2011/99/EU on the European Protection Order show us how much the EU needs to be built still. During the negotiations there was a real political will and the member States had the necessary sensitivity to propose the creation of protection measures at a European level. What failed was the lack of previous harmonization which exceedingly complicates mutual recognition and the refusal from the member States to let go of their last redoubt of national sovereignty. Gender-based violence victims find an additional problem: the non-existence of a gender concept in the EU. We must ask ourselves if we are building the EU in a proper way. Throughout this article we will discuss the creation of a European Criminal Law with gender-based violence victims as an example. At the end we propose several measures in order to fight against ignorance and fear towards using mutual recognition instruments.

Keywords

European protection measures, judicial cooperation, criminal law

References

• Avilés Palacios L, ‘La perspectiva de género como técnica jurídica e instrumento necesario para una justicia igualitaria’, in AAVV, Análisis de la Justicia desde la perspectiva de género (Tirant Lo Blanch 2018) 279318.
• Barona Vilar S, ‘Justicia penal desde la globalización y la postmodernidad hasta la neomodernidad’ (2018) 27 Rev. Boliv. de Derecho 20-53. - Proceso penal desde la historia. Desde su origen hasta la sociedad global del miedo (Tirant Lo Blanch, Valencia, 2017).
• Bergalli R and Bodelón González E, ‘La cuestión de las mujeres y el derecho penal simbólico’ (1992) 9 Anuario de Filosofía del Derecho 43-74.
• Calvo D, What is the Problem of Gender? Mainstreaming Gender in Migration and Development Policies in the European Union, University of Gothenburg, 2013, 20-28.
• Carrasquero Cepeda M, ‘Orden Europea de Protección: Un paso adelante en la protección de las víctimas’ (2014) 2 CEJJ 91-114.
• De Luis García E, ‘El Derecho a una investigación efectiva en la jurisprudencia del TEDH’ (2019) 27 Rev. Boliv. de Derecho 494-515.
• Etxebarría Estankona K, ‘El reglamento (UE) 606/2013 relativo al reconocimiento mutuo de medidas de protección en materia civil. Algunas cuestiones sobre su aplicación’, in Katixa Etxebarría Estankona, Ixusco Ordeñana Gezuraga and Goixeder Otauza Zabala (dirs.), Justicia con ojos de mujer. Cuestiones procesales controvertidas (Tirant Lo Blanch 2018) 385-408.
• Fantuzzo J W, Mohr W and Noone M J K, ‘Making the Invisible Victims of Violence Against Women Visible Through University/Community Partnerships’ in Robert A. Geffner, Peter G. Jaffe and Marlies Sudermann (eds.), Children exposed to domestic violence. Current Issues in Research, Intervention, Prevention and Policy Development (HMTP, 2000).
• García Rodríguez M J, ‘Aplicación de la Orden Europea de Protección a las víctimas en el sistema de justicia penal español a través de la ley de reconocimiento mutuo de resoluciones penales en la Unión Europea’ (2015) 37 Revista General de Derecho Procesal.
• Garrido Carrillo F J and Faggiani V, ‘La armonización de los derechos procesales en la UE’ (2013) 16 Revista General de Derecho Constitucional 2-7.