Protection orders have become a central instrument in protection against interpersonal
violence. The Istanbul Convention on violence against women and domestic
violence of 2011 includes a specific obligation to provide protection orders
and emergency barring orders. European Union has recognized the cross-border
effect of protection orders. The Finnish Protection order Act was enacted in
1998 and amended in 2005 to include emergency barring orders. The purpose of
this article is to evaluate the protective function of the orders.

The article lifts up the main results of the study by Rantala et al. in 2008, that is, the
serious violence leading to protection orders, the attrition after intermediate
protection orders in cases of serious violence and the frequent breaches of orders.
The new data comes from the POEMS-study (Protection Orders in European Member
States; a Daphne-study with Suzan van der Aa, Tilburg University as main
partner). The re-examination of the Finnish victim interviews underlines the
long lasting violence before the order is filed for. The victims underlined the
need for support from the police in the acute situation and from the shelters,
victim services and legal aid during the procedure. All had had difficulties in
enforcing the order, especially against on-line stalking. The article concludes
with recommendations, such as more ex-officio initiative and co-ordination with
criminal procedure in serious cases of violence and electronic monitoring of
the orders.