Legislation on post-hearing orders for protection should:

• Not allow officials to remove complainant/survivor from her home against her will.

• Not allow for mutual orders for protection. A mutual OFP implies that both parties are responsible for the violence and it makes both parties liable for violations of the order. Advocates found that police faced with a mutual order often did not determine who was the primary aggressor and consequently either failed to enforce the order or arrested both parties. When a mutual OFP was enforced against a complainant/survivor, the consequences were dire: the complainant/ survivor might lose child custody or her employment, or be evicted by a landlord.

See: The Toolkit to End Violence Against Women, Ch. 3; available in English;

(See also: StopVAW, The Advocates for Human Rights; Determining the predominant aggressor, below; UN Handbook 3.10.8.1; and Family Violence: A Model State Code, Sec 310.)

• Not allow officials to cite complainant/survivors for “provocative behavior.” (See: UN Handbook 3.10.8.1.)

• Orders for protection should be effective and enforceable throughout a country.

Promising practice: The law of Philippines has a provision which mandates that orders for protection are enforceable throughout the nation.

Orders for protection should be part of a national registration system so that police and law enforcement personnel can quickly and efficiently determine the existence of the order. (See: Report of the Intergovernmental Expert Group Meeting to review and update the Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Bangkok, 23-25 March 2009. IV, 16 (h))

• Legislation should not contain any references to mandatory treatment for rehabilitation of complainant/survivors. Rather, legislation should provide for counseling services for a complainant/survivor if she determines she needs them. Many domestic violence complainant/survivors do not need psychiatric counseling or rehabilitative services, with the exception of employment services.  Rehabilitation services which are offered to victims are provided only at the request of the victim. These services should never be compulsory or imposed on victims by government agencies or officials. 

• Legislation should provide that a complainant/survivor may seek a protection order without the aid of an attorney.