Despite the efforts of multiple women’s rights movements, the fact still stands: in 2020, there are dozens of countries that have no laws on domestic abuse. This leaves thousands of victims in those countries completely hopeless.
‘UN Women For Peace’ March Marking International Women’s Day / United Nations Photo / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Domestic abuse can manifest itself in many ways, from emotional abuse, manipulative and coercive behaviour to restricting freedoms and financial control, but perhaps the direst cases include physical abuse towards partners or children. Domestic abuse is a very complex issue for a victim to process, considering the societal pressures of family life, emotional attachment to abusers, and feelings of guilt or shame, all of which act as an oppressive internal instrument to prevent a sufferer from reaching out.
And, in the case of the few who do manage to break out of these toxic and abusive cycles, these vulnerable people require support and protection from the state’s institutions. This includes:
All this support can help piece back the person’s life after abuse.
Now imagine living in a country where the government does not acknowledge the suffering of a domestic abuse victim and the support network needed to escape domestic abuse is simply non-existent. This isn’t a fictional scenario; it is the tragic reality for many people living in countries such as UAE, Egypt, Qatar, Estonia, Morocco, Iran, and Iraq, to name just a few.
It might be thought that a lack of state protection for victims of domestic abuse is primarily caused by a lack of economic development. But Russia, generally considered to be a ‘Middle Income Country’, shocked the world in 2017 when Putin signed a bill decriminalising domestic abuse. Now abusers who cause bruising and/or bleeding risk fines rather than prison time. Russian MP’s argue that the new law is to ‘protect the family unit’ from excessive police intervention. This seems to be the common opinion of many traditionalist states which do not introduce laws against domestic violence.
However, the lack or removal of such laws has drastic, and sometimes fatal, consequences. It corresponds with a reduction in reports of domestic violence due to distrust of authority. Lack of severe consequences to the abuser cultivates a culture of acceptance of domestic violence. With domestic violence acceptance rates as high as 71% (Uganda and Mali), this is an indicator of how normalised and ingrained such behaviour has become in a society. Violence against women in these societies prevails. It is estimated that 37% of women in Arab countries have experienced domestic violence. In Russia, it is thought that more than 16 million women a year experience domestic violence, but only 10% of them go to the police.
For change to happen, our government needs to apply political pressure to countries lacking legislation and incentivise them to pass laws to make acts of domestic violence criminal offences. Incentives can be through international norms that are set in institutions like the UN - an example of such pressure leading to change can be seen in 2017, when Chile passed a “Law on the abuse of children and adolescents, the elderly and persons with disabilities" following the precedent set by the UN’s legal ban on violence against children.
Activism of non-government groups also aides the efforts to protect victims, by establishing free shelters for sufferers and accommodating the victims and their children if needed, helping the most vulnerable people who have been forgotten by their own government. Charitable and state funding to support such organisations is imperative.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, call the police at 101 for support and advice or 999 in the case of an emergency.
You can contact Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline for free and confidential support for victims or those who are worried about friends or loved ones. You can contact them by phone or TypeTalk 24 hours a day at 0808 2000 247.
The Metropolitan Police and Citizens Advice both publish lists of further resources.
By Markha Mezhieva