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How do we really perceive domestic violence?

by Rossana Favero-Karunaratna

Every initiative to campaign towards the recognition of domestic violence as crime that must be eradicated is very welcome. Yet, every effort must have an impact not only on victims and perpetrators but the entire community and the State.

The Inter-American Convention on Eradication of Violence against Women constituted a big step forward for the eradication of violence against women at all levels.

The Convention known as "Belen do Para" was signed in 1994 in Brazil and compromises all states of the region to join efforts and assume responsibility before its citizens.

Duties of the States

Article 7

The States Parties condemn all forms of violence against women and agree to pursue, by all appropriate means and without delay, policies to prevent, punish and eradicate such violence and undertake to:

a. refrain from engaging in any act or practice of violence against women and to ensure that their authorities, officials, personnel, agents, and institutions act in conformity with this obligation;

b. apply due diligence to prevent, investigate and impose penalties for violence against women;

c. include in their domestic legislation penal, civil, administrative and any other type of provisions that may be needed to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women and to adopt appropriate administrative measures where necessary;

d. adopt legal measures to require the perpetrator to refrain from harassing, intimidating or threatening the woman or using any method that harms or endangers her life or integrity, or damages her property;

e. take all appropriate measures, including legislative measures, to amend or repeal existing laws and regulations or to modify legal or customary practices which sustain the persistence and tolerance of violence against women;

f. establish fair and effective legal procedures for women who have been subjected to violence which include, among others, protective measures, a timely hearing and effective access to such procedures;

g. establish the necessary legal and administrative mechanisms to ensure that women subjected to violence have effective access to restitution, reparations or other just and effective remedies; and

h. adopt such legislative or other measures as may be necessary to give effect to this Convention.

The States Parties agree to undertake progressively specific measures, including programs:

Article 8

a. to promote awareness and observance of the right of women to be free from violence, and the right of women to have their human rights respected and protected;

b. to modify social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, including the development of formal and informal educational programs appropriate to every level of the educational process, to counteract prejudices, customs and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or superiority of either of the sexes or on the stereotyped roles for men and women which legitimize or exacerbate violence against women;

c. to promote the education and training of all those involved in the administration of justice, police and other law enforcement officers as well as other personnel responsible for implementing policies for the prevention, punishment and eradication of violence against women;

d. to provide appropriate specialized services for women who have been subjected to violence, through public and private sector agencies, including shelters, counseling services for all family members where appropriate, and care and custody of the affected children;

e. to promote and support governmental and private sector education designed to raise the awareness of the public with respect to the problems of and remedies for violence against women;

f. to provide women who are subjected to violence access to effective readjustment and training programs to enable them to fully participate in public, private and social life;

g. to encourage the communications media to develop appropriate media guidelines in order to contribute to the eradication of violence against women in all its forms, and to enhance respect for the dignity of women;

h. to ensure research and the gathering of statistics and other relevant information relating to the causes, consequences and frequency of violence against women, in order to assess the effectiveness of measures to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women and to formulate and implement the necessary changes; and

i. to foster international cooperation for the exchange of ideas and experiences and the execution of programs aimed at protecting women who are subjected to violence.

An appropriate attitude of those who are in charge to implement policies and enforce the law is a key issue. There have been cases in other countries where the ones who were in charge of institutions were also perpetrators of violence at home. At the same time there is a need to implement Programmes to help the professionals involved, such as lawyers.

In Lima, Peru there have been successful initiatives to introduce sessions of relaxation to professionals in order to release tensions and frustrations.

Working in cases of violence in the community can be distressing and also affect your personal life. You must separate your personal life from your work; being these cases so demanding emotionally, it is necessary to focus on the correct approach in order to benefit the person who is suffering violence.

She must be in charge of her life and be able to take her own decisions. Suffering domestic violence may distort that capacity and therefore a dangerous dependency on the professional in charge of the case can occur.

When handling domestic violence cases the perpetrators sometimes threatened me. In a couple of cases they came with weapons to the counseling session. You must need to control your natural fear in order to conduct the session. In another case, after trial, the abusive husband followed me in his car for a long time.

A campaign to eradicate violence when society itself is immersed in a culture of violence is a long term effort. It must be able to be sustained by the State through effective measures to eradicate impunity at all levels, promote a culture of peace and tolerance among its members, especially the most vulnerable of the society. And first of all we must be sure that the ones in charge of implementing the different actions, really believe in what they are saying.