Custody of Children and Court Trials The Civil Procedure Code of 2018, in particular Chapter 22, identifies the peculiarities of proceedings for family disputes. Especially Article 203 defines the obligation of the courts to act based on the necessity of ensuring the child’s best interests. The experience of organizations dealing with domestic violence shows that before the determination of the children’s place of residence by the court, those children who continue to live with the abuser are deprived of the right to see their mother and the latter is deprived of her visitation rights. Even in cases when the child is an infant, the child from his/her mother even during the breast feeding period. The legal obligations continue to remain problematic within the judiciary. Court hearings are delayed unnecessarily or not enough importance is given to the best interests of the child. Judges approach the issue with subjectivity and display gender stereotypes in their judgement. After 2018, several petitions were submitted to the courts requesting that temporary custody of the child be given to the mother (away from the abusive father) until the court made a final decision. In some cases the judges granted the petitions and in other cases they didn’t, stating that the case is not well-founded. These varying court decisions speak to the subjectivity of the judges and lack of procedural norms. Lawyer of Women’s Support Center NGO
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