Russia Still Has No Law on Domestic Violence. Help Change That!

Russia still has no law on domestic violence. Help change that!

More than half of all women murdered in Russia are victims of domestic violence. In 2022–2023, that share reached 67%. At the same time, Russia still has no law against domestic violence, which makes it extremely difficult to protect victims before tragedy strikes.

▶️ How to change the situation

Lawyer Polina Burlakova came forward with an initiative to adopt such a law in 2024. At the time, more than 100,000 people supported it on the Russian Public Initiative platform. But the process stalled after that.

“After a year of collecting votes, and after the expert group issued a positive decision, all that remains is to get the Russian Government to prepare draft laws and submit them to the State Duma. The problem of domestic violence affects, and may affect, the interests of absolutely any woman,” says the author of the initiative, lawyer Polina Burlakova.

▶️ What can be done right now

Send an appeal to the Russian Government demanding that it disclose what stage the draft law is at and when it will be submitted to the State Duma.

The easiest way to do this is through our Dyatel service — it is safe and will take just a couple of minutes.

You can also share the link to the appeal with friends or on social media, so that even more people can see it and sign it.

“Some people think that small actions like these do not make any difference. But it is precisely small actions by many people that lead to big results. When we unite and support one another, we can do a lot. Let’s see this through to the end and secure the adoption of legislative measures against domestic violence,” says Polina Burlakova.

You can follow news about the progress of the initiative on the Telegram channel “FemKyzlar” and on the initiative creator’s channel “Polina and Human Rights Advocacy”.

🛟 We help people in the hardest moments — and this work is impossible without you. Support OVD-Info — you can send a donation to support our work with a foreign bank card, via PayPal, or in cryptocurrency.