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Access to justice for women victims of violence

International and regional instruments

Efforts to fight violence against women can take many forms and access to justice, or lack thereof, for such violence varies greatly depending on the justice system. International and regional instruments are increasingly used as the basis for national legislation and policies to eradicate violence against women.

The Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Eradicate and Punish Violence Against Women – also known as the Belém do Parà Convention, for instance, has been applied by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in its first case of domestic violence to condemn Brazil in the Maria da Penha case. This led the Brazilian government to enact in 2006 the Maria da Penha Law, the country’s first law against domestic violence against women.There is also, for instance, the South Asian Agreement on Regional Cooperation’s (SAARC) Protocol to End Trafficking in Women and Children.

Examples of measures put in place

As violence is often committed by a family member, women first started by lobbying their governments to set up shelters for domestic violence survivors. The Julia Burgos Protected House established in Puerto Rico in 1979 was the first shelter in Latin America and the Caribbean for « battered women ». In 2003, 18 out of the 20 countries in the region had legislation on domestic or family violence, and 11 countries addressed sexual violence in their laws. Legislative measures to protect victims can include restraining orders, which can be found in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Venezuela, Turkey, the United States and many western European countries for instance.

Courts can also be allowed by law (Germany, 2001) to order the perpetrator to leave the home so that victims do not have to seek shelter. Countries were urged to repeal discriminatory legislation by 2005 following the review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2000. Egypt, for instance, abolished a law that exempted men from rape charges when marrying their victims. However, the goal of antiviolence legislation is often to keep the families together, regardless of the best interests of women, which perpetuate domestic violence.

Innovative measures have been pioneered in a number of countries to end violence against women. In Brazil and Jordan, women’s police stations have been introduced, and one-stop shelthers were created in Malaysia and Nicaragua.

The challenges women still face in accessing justice

There can be a de jure or de facto lack of criminalization of violent behaviors.

* Lack of criminalization. Female Genital Mutilation is still legal in a number of countries for instance. In Pakistan, the use of acid in attacks on women was not a crime until the Criminal Law Act 2011 provided for the first time the levy of prison sentences and fines for such attacks. There are instances where crimes against women are also categorized as minor offences.

* Challenges in making a case in court. The burden of proof can be placed on the victim. For instance in the Philipines, before a change in law in 1997, rape used to be described as a crime against chastity and a woman had to prove she did not consent to losing her virginity. It can also be difficult to make a case of sexual assault in court when members of the judiciary, in some instances, continue to take evidence of a struggle and injury as determinative medical evidence. On the other hand, there are measures like the 2012 law in Brazil that allow for cases to be filed even without the representation of the victim.

* Existing laws are insufficient and have no effect in practice. Some laws on domestic violence, for instance, conflict with other provisions and ultimately contradict their goals. In Ukraine, a law on domestic violence also provides that the police can arrest the victim for « provocation ». Legal frameworks can also be flawed when laws that integrate protection do so in isolation, notably in relation to immigration laws. Undocumented women in countries where they would have, in theory, access to justice, don’t in practice for fear of being denounced and deported. The CEDAW Committee recommends that a State authority’s obligation to report undocumented persons be repealed in national legislation.

Limitations of these measures

Measures to address violence against women range from access to legal-aid to the provision of shelters and hotlines for victims. Despite advances in legislation and policies, the lack of implementation of the measures put in place prevents significant progress in eradicating violence against women globally. This failure to apply existing laws and procedures is often due to the persisting issue of gender stereotyping.

The barriers that women face in participating in the justice system as lawyers, law enforcement officers etc. also plays an important role in perpetuating a lack of concern for women victims of violence. In war and post-conflict times, women are often denied a seat at the negotiation table despite the role they may have played in peacebuilding processes, thus preventing issues such as sexual violence to be pushed forward on the agenda.

Measurement of the impact of these measures is also difficult due to a lack of data and coordination of efforts between policy-makers and implementing partners.

Research Proposal October 21, 2013 Gender and International Affairs IA039 Professor: Elisabeth Prügl Group 5

“Violence Against Women” Research Proposal Gender and International Affairs IA039 Elisabeth Prügl Group 5 [1]

This proposal aims to outline our plan to improve the existing entry on Violence Against Women on Wikipedia. We observed that there is a need to improve and expand some existing sections in the entry, as well as incorporate the other related and essential subtopics. Overall, the entry seems to focus the issue in a broad and universal sense. However, while some very important issues related to violence against women (which have gained much media attention in recent years) such as Female Genital Mutilation, or violence against women in the context of mass protests, are absent from this entry, other very specific ones such as Gender-based violence by male college athletes are included, which makes the article appear quite incomplete, random and un-professional. There is, at the right side of the main entry, a more thorough List of Topics, which includes links to many other sub-categorizations of Violence Against Women, but we consider that this one, being the main article on the subject, ought to include at least short and general introductions to topics such as Psychological and Physical Violence Against Women, Violence Against Women in the Context of Activism, and Legal Aspects of violence against women. We also plan to expand the section on “History of violence against women”, which is too short to be a detailed history or mention enough important historical aspects. We also plan to do an introduction on the concept of obstetric violence, which some scholars, especially in the Spanish-speaking world, have recognized as an important source of potential violence, around which there is still much denial and unrecognition.

The entry also appears to have insufficient ‘legitimate’ sources and research-backed approach. This is apparent throughout the entry while it is referring to a very limited number of: 1) United Nations’ treaty bodies such as the United Nations General Assembly, on the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the 48th UNGA Resolution [2] 2) The international human rights instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, which is not even mentioned, and neither is the Convention of Bélem do Pará and the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action and 3) the empirical data and reports of the situation on the ground from the ‘Non-governmental organization ’being used to support the content of the entry. Some of these references were mentioned just in titles, but not in details. We deem that it is necessary for this entry to have more ‘legitimate’ and ‘human rights based’ sources to support the information related to this topic. Therefore, we propose a number of existing subsections to be expanded: history of violence against women and activism, and other subsections to be added as the following:

Emma: “History of violence against women”

The first section, History of violence against women is one of the first ones we would like to revise and expand. Firstly, it is only comprised of 3 paragraphs; one is just a one-sentence paragraph, with a brief theory of why violence against women has consistently existed (women being viewed/treated as property and being subservient to men). One paragraph makes a reference to UN declaration on the subject of violence against women. The last paragraph gives 2 examples (in the US and UK) of when courts ceased to recognize the legal right of a man to use corporal punishment against his wife. There is a lot more to be investigated and to be said about the history of violence against women, for example how and when it has been recognized as a societal problem, and what actions have been taken? Additionally, have other documents on violence against women, like the UN declaration [[3]], been produced? If so, at a national legal level in varying countries, or in regional organizations or associations of countries? Are there different patterns of violence against women in different countries or regions of the world, and how has violence against women been viewed, talked about, or recognized there?

Wipada: Activism

Another section that we would like to expand is the section of ‘activism’. From the existing entry, the information given was not enough for one to comprehend the activism for women’s rights, in this case, violence against women. The first sentence of the paragraph suggests a concept that there is a causal relationship/ correlation between Domestic violence and societal hierarchy based on sexism. However, this was claimed without any reference and that it refers ‘violence against women’ by employing the term ‘domestic violence’ which was not even mentioned anywhere in the page. In addition, there is a need to mention that the activism for the particular issue of violence against women is commonly known to be based on the concept that ‘women rights equal human rights and that the violence against women is considered as violation of human rights'. Also, we need to update some of the terms used in the context of activism that they seem to be out-of-date. We should employ the term ‘human rights defender’ rather than ‘activists.’ In other words, we should introduce the term that the human rights defenders working to improve the rights and situation of women call themselves: Women Human Rights Defenders [[4]] or WHRD (according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: for the human rights defenders, civil society groups and NGOs). Also, the campaign mentioned in this section was just one campaign which is not up-to-date anymore (the recent one would be Event:16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign. And lastly, this section also omits the crucial aspects of the activism, which are the work of the human rights defenders and their ‘real’ situations and what they encounter on the ground and there also is a need to expand.

Dilnoza: Psychological and physical abuse

In the next section there will be addressed the development of the understanding of gender-related abuse (specifically psychological and physical one in intimate relationship) “that has a negative impact on the physical or psychological health, development, and identity of the person; and that is the result of gendered power inequities that exploit distinctions between males and females, among males, and among females” [5]. Psychological and physical abuse as one of the forms of male violence against women will be covered based on the analysis and key publications/reports made by such organizations as UNFPA, WHO, United Nations Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign (which is missed on Wikipedia page on Violence against women ([6]; Psychological abuse [7]), and such scholars as Johann Galtung, Christian E. Molidor. Firstly, there will be given the various definitions of psychological and physical abuses from legal, psychological points of view. Secondly, the typology of violence defined by WHO and other international organizations will be presented. Thirdly, there will be shown profound effects of male violence on women’s mental and physical health (psychological and reproductive problems). It is appropriate to include in this section United Nations Population Fund and World Health Organization findings on effects and health consequences of gender-related abuse on women.

Camille: ‘Violence against women in the justice system’

We will discuss the different challenges and barriers that women victims of violence face in accessing justice. Among these challenges are : - The lack of criminalization of violent behaviors. We will give several examples of countries where the law does not criminalize Female Genital Mutilation, Rape, Domestic violence. There can also be a law criminalizing the mentioned above violent acts against women, but the legal framework is insufficient and there is in practice no possibility for women victims of such acts to access justice. We will mention for instance the difficulties to file a complaint for rape or other violent behavior; the difficulty to make a case in court (members of the judiciary continue to take evidence of struggle and injury as determinative medical evidence). Other related practical barriers are the delays in investigation and conviction, and the lack of remedies in court despite the possibility of conviction of perpetrators. Crimes against women can also be categorized as minor offences. We will also show examples of legislation allowing better access to justice for women in order to compare and show examples of good practice. Other barriers are due for instance to immigration laws in a country. We will mention the case of undocumented women in countries where they would have, in theory, access to justice but in practice don’t for fear of being denounced and deported. We will then discuss discrimination and gender stereotyping as the cause for this lack of access to justice by women victims of violence. We will talk about the role of CEDAW in promoting gender equality and women’s access to justice. Gender stereotyping is often a key factor in failure of states to recognize violation of women’s rights. Influences the treatment of women in justice systems : failure in inquiries in rape by state authorities. State failing to punish violations because of stereotyping. Rejection of evidence based on stereotype. Discriminatory stereotypes affect women regardless of their behavior. It affects victims of violence, who have difficulties to access justice.

Clara Franco: Obstetric Violence

We want to include this part in our contribution because we feel that, especially in English-speaking countries, there is much denial and under-reporting surrounding the issue, challenging its very existence as a form of violence. The increasingly medicalized birthing practices that have prevailed in industrialized countries, and their cultural “trickle-down” into developing countries, can lead to an abuse of birthing practices that should normally be restricted to only a minority of births, such as c-sections, episiotomies, the abuse of medication and birth induction; or the use of instruments and maneuvers that have been recognized as risky to the health of the mother and child (forceps, Kristeller maneuver, vacuum extraction). Various NGO’s around the world have the purpose of defending “the right to a respectful and humane birth”, such as the canadian organization Humanize Birth, or the Spanish association El Parto es Nuestro [[8]]. Different scholars such as O. Fernández have analyzed the link between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and obstetric violence. Overall, it will be an interesting exercise to analyze the acceptance of the concept of “obstetric violence” among predominantly English-speaking Wikipedia editors. The WHO mentions “obstetric violence” only in a single article about a law recently passed in Mexico, which aims to further the respect for traditional medicine and “women’s right to a life free of obstetric violence, such as unnecessary cesareans”. Venezuela has recently included it as a legal term; in a law that defines obstetric violence as “appropriation of the body and reproductive processes of women by health personnel (...) expressed as dehumanized treatment, an abuse of medication, and to convert the natural processes into pathological ones, bringing with it loss of autonomy and the ability to decide freely about their bodies and sexuality, negatively impacting the quality of life of women”[[9]]. Three Mexican States have also legally defined obstetric violence, along with violence concerning reproductive rights. Cross-cutting issues: rights of indigenous women. Indigenous women are much more likely to suffer different forms of obstetric violence and can also be disproportionately affected by forced sterilizations or other ways of forced contraception.

References

Browne, Angela. “Violence against women by male partners: Prevalence, outcomes, and policy implications.” American Psychologist, Vol 48(10), Oct 1993, 1077-1087.

Bulletin of the World Health Organization: “Mexico’s Midwives Enter the Mainstream”, in World Health Organization Website, http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/4/08-010408/en/, Visited October 2013.

Christian E. Molidor. Gender differences of psychological abuse in high school dating relationships. Child and Adolescent Social work journal. Vol.13 N1, February 1996. in http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01876596#page-1.

Ellsberg, Mary , and Lori Heise. "Researching Violence Against Women."A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR RESEARCHERS AND ACTIVISTS 1 (2005): 1-244. http://www.path.org/publications/files/GBV_rvaw_complete.pdf (accessed October 20, 2013).

Fernández I, O. “PTSD And Obstetric Violence”, in Midwifery Today - International Midwife, vol. 105, pp. 48-68, 2013.

Garcia-Moreno, Claudia and Henrica AFM Jansen , Mary Ellsberg , Lori Heise , Charlotte H Watts. “Prevalence of intimate partner violence: findings from the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence.” The Lancet, Volume 368, Issue 9543, 7–13 October 2006, Pages 1260–1269.

GIRE, Group for Information in Informed Reproduction. “Omission and Indifference: Reproductive Rights in Mexico”, Yearly Report.

Goer, H. (2010). “Cruelty in maternity wards: Fifty years later”. Journal of Perinatal Education, 19(3), 33–42.

Krug , Etienne G and James A Mercy , Linda L Dahlberg , Anthony B Zwi. “The world report on violence and health.” The Lancet, Volume 360, Issue 9339, 5 October 2002, Pages 1083–1088.

Johanson, R., Newburn, M., & Macfarlane, A. (2002). “Has the medicalisation of childbirth gone too far?” BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 324(7342), 892-895.

Pérez D’Gregorio, Rogelio. “Obstetric Violence: A New Legal Term Introduced in Venezuela”, in International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Vol. 111, No. 3, pp. 201-202, 2010.

Venis, Sarah and Richard Horton. “Violence against women: a global burden.” The Lancet, Volume 359, Issue 9313, 6 April 2002.

Villegas Poljack, Asia. “Obstetric Violence and Forced Sterilization Facing Medical Discourse”, in Venezuelan Magazine of Women’s Studies, vol. 14 No. 32, pp. 125-146, 2009.

External links

Organizations

[10]

United Nations Population Fund “Organic Law on Women’s Right to a Life Free of Violence”

[11]

World Health Organization Gender. Gender-based violence. http://www.who.int/gender/violence/gbv/en/

UNFPA

[[12]]

Women Human Rights Defenders [[13]]