Domestic violence in the US and post-Soviet countries: how the government reacts - ForumDaily
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Domestic violence in the USA and post-Soviet countries: how the authorities react

On November 25, the world celebrates International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. According to the World Health Organization, every third woman in the world is subjected to physical or sexual abuse. In most cases, the victim lives under one roof with the rapist. Writes about this "Present Tense".

Фото: Depositphotos

Most of the women who have experienced violence at least once in their lives live in Turkey - 42%. In second place is the United States (36%). Among European countries, the highest rate in France is 26%. Next is Russia.

Since 2017 in Russia, domestic violence has not been considered criminal. It moved from the category of crimes to the category of offenses. In addition, now the injured party itself must prove the charge in court. That is, a woman must prove that she was indeed subjected to violence.

Every 40 minutes, one woman dies in Russia at the hands of her husband, lover, relative in Russia - this is UN data.

"Running away from life"

“The soup is not salty enough. And the pot of soup could end up on my head. One day he threw a drill at me and the drill stuck in the door. And at that moment my daughter came in and the drill turned out to be a little higher than her head,” says Russian woman Natalya Radievskaya.

When her husband nearly killed her daughter, she decided that she would no longer tolerate bullying. After I changed the locks in the apartment, I realized that it was not only she who needed help in realizing that it was not normal to tolerate humiliation. After that, Natalia created a group on Facebook - so that women can help each other.

“After I clicked the “Create group” button and took a picture, it began to grow at a catastrophic speed. I used to think that there were a few of us, such idiots and stupid people who couldn’t leave and endured it. But there are 10 thousand people in the group, and this happens to almost every third,” she says.

Now this group in the social network is a modern helpline. Women help each other find lawyers, collect money for rental housing, if there is no option to stay at home, and invite volunteer psychologists to the group.

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“Not all women can run away - some run away from life. Usually some small post appears, like “Tell me that we must live.” The administrative staff gives a command - finds the psychologist who is now online, who begins to interact with this person, asking what is happening, what help is needed,” continues Radievskaya.

"Male solidarity"

This community united Russian-speaking victims of domestic violence from different countries. Olga from Berlin describes how the police in Germany react to the first call about a beating: “They came in, there were about six of them. They immediately started asking what happened. The German police have the right to expel the rapist from the apartment with a ban on approaching within 50 meters.”

And here is Natalya Radievskaya’s experience of communicating with Russian police officers: “They will come and laugh: “Why is your woman trying to cope, educate her better!” They have like male solidarity: “What has the bitch done to you, you creature? Well, when you get there, you explain to her.”

Five lawyers, a psychologist and a journalist have been asking for a law on domestic violence in Russia for a year now: the initiative group is using its own money launched the site. Among them, there are also survivors of violence. They asked a hundred deputies to submit the law to the State Duma for consideration, but no one did. The state in Russia is trying not to notice the problem of domestic violence, says Tatyana Orlova, co-founder of the site, a former psychologist at the State Crisis Center for Women.

“If there is no civil initiative, then victims of violence find themselves completely defenseless in a situation when they try to seek help. And this initiative cannot come from above, because people who experience violence are more convenient than equal free citizens who express their opinions. People who have experienced violence are more likely to agree with what is being done to them,” she notes.

Now in Russia there are about 150 private crisis centers for women survivors of violence. State, according to the Ministry of Labor, only a little more than 20 for the whole country.

In Ukraine, toughen punishment

According to the UN, annually more than a million Ukrainians face domestic violence. But unlike Russia, where the beatings were decriminalized, in Ukraine, on the contrary, toughened the punishment for domestic violence.

In addition, the law obliges the state to create national hotlines for prompt consultations. It protects people living in unregistered relationships, because previously the law only protected officially registered spouses. Now the law recognizes not only physical actions as violence, but also moral and economic pressure. Aggressors must now undergo a “correction program.”

And from January 2019 of the year in Ukraine criminal liability will be provided for any violent action.

“The face could not withstand the beating and cracked”

But despite this, cases of domestic violence in Ukraine are not uncommon, as is the not entirely adequate reaction of the security forces. “He locked me in the apartment and started beating me. He drowned me, jumped on me, trampled on me, hit me in the face. He beat me with his hands, feet, and fists. The face could not withstand the beating and simply cracked; the bleeding did not stop for a very long time,” says Oksana, a victim of domestic violence from Ukraine.

According to her, this continued for two weeks in front of three small children. “They cried all the time, asking: “Don’t touch mom.” Then he put a knife and a rope on the table and said: “Choose: either you hang yourself, or open your veins, or jump from the balcony,” she says.

Oksana and her children managed to escape. She filed a statement with the police, but no case has been opened yet. “For two weeks after I wrote a statement, even the investigator never called me. So far they haven’t done anything,” she notes.

Marina Lehenka, a lawyer for the human rights organization La Strada-Ukraine, notes that despite the law on violence prevention, problems remain. “There are a number of shortcomings both at the first stage, when the police work, and also in court decisions. A lot of protocols end up in court with some errors and shortcomings, then the deadline for bringing the person to administrative responsibility passes, and thus the person does not bear any responsibility for what he did,” Lehenka emphasizes.

Nowadays, criminal liability has been introduced for domestic violence in Ukraine, the punishment for a crime can be a real term - up to two years in prison.

Latvia: most victims do not state

In Latvia, more than half of the victims do not report domestic violence to the police. Moreover, every third woman in the country at least once in her life faced this problem.

Inguna got married at the age of 19, problems with her husband began almost immediately. At first there were minor scandals, but the situation began to worsen. “It all started with slaps and insults,” she says. Then there were beatings, constant screams and scenes of jealousy.

“I had two bags and a child on each side. I was very nervous. I made the decision to leave half an hour before. When we left the apartment, my daughter said: “Mom, promise that we will never come back here again,” Inguna continues.

She moved to another city, found a job, went to university and now she is raising two children. Inguna and her children never met her ex-husband again.

For a long time Inessa did not dare to leave domestic violence. But in the end she ran away from her husband because she began to fear for her life. “Last year I already wanted to leave, but I stayed. I ended up in the hospital. I had a black eye and my temples hurt,” she says.

Inesse spent ten days at the hospital, and then immediately went to the crisis center. She never returned to her husband.

People at the Latvian crisis center for women “Marta” encounter such stories every day. According to official statistics, every third woman in Latvia has been a victim of domestic violence at least once in her life. “Our society believes that if domestic violence occurs, there is no need to intervene, that it is a private matter,” says the head of the crisis center, Iluta Lace.

Psychologists, lawyers and social workers work with women in the crisis center. If necessary, victims are provided with temporary shelter.

“It is important for us that the offender is eventually punished; now, unfortunately, this does not always happen. We achieved the adoption of a law that in the case of domestic violence, it is the abuser who must leave, and not the victim who must look for a new home. But in reality, we have to make sure that the police actually keep the aggressors at a distance,” Latse notes.

USA: “No one should do what he does not want”

In the United States, domestic violence is completely different.

“I take a free English course at the Cambridge Public Library: it's conversational English for those who need it. This is a kind of help for immigrants who want to improve their language,” says Alexandra, Ukrainian, who moved from Russia to the USA.

“Our teacher Deb is an energetic 70-year-old American woman and former school teacher. She is already retired and teaches language at the local library as a volunteer. I don’t know what bonuses she gets from this work, but it’s clear that the process gives her a lot of pleasure: she constantly smiles, cracks jokes and seems to be having a good time,” Alexandra continues her story.

On the subject: How do immigrants protect themselves in case of domestic violence

“At the last lesson we discussed an unremarkable topic: “who doesn’t like what and why.” When it came to me, I told the class that I hate ironing. Deb laughed heartily, admitting that she didn’t really like to do it either, says Alexandra. — “You know,” said Deb, “I buy only those things that do not require the intervention of an iron,” and she winked at me. I understand, however, my husband’s shirts without an iron feel completely unwell. And although I iron them only 5 pieces a week, but this process pretty much pisses me off. ”

“Deb didn’t comment further on my answer, but she called out to me after the class ended. She came up to me and handed me a business card: “Here is the address and telephone number of the social service. They deal with domestic violence issues and you can talk to them.” I was taken aback and didn’t understand why she was telling me this. Deb took my hands in hers and, looking into my eyes, said: “Alex, no one should do something they really don’t want to do,” Alexandra recalls.

“Deb suggested that I was experiencing domestic violence in the family and that the likely tyrant was my husband, who was forcing me (by beatings, blackmail or threats) to do what I did not want. And although in my family there was a mutual agreement and a simple division of labor: I take on some issues (and the unloved shirts fall just to me), and my husband closes others, the situation could be exactly as Deb suggested,” says young woman.

“That day I witnessed the work of the American domestic violence prevention system. The largest number of people pass through educational and medical institutions, so doctors and teachers are trained to recognize potential victims of domestic terror and carry out the initial stage of educational work with them, the girl says. “If at that moment I really needed help, I could go (or call) the support center directly from the library and get advice on my issue.”

“The huge advantage of all this work is that they are fighting not only the consequences, but also working proactively (so that acts of violence do not occur). And if in our country domestic violence in the family is often regarded only as an administrative violation, which is equated to a drunken fight in the park, then in the States it is a criminal offense, and tyrants actually go to prison not only for the acts committed, but also for attempts, and also for moral and psychological influence and coercion,” says Alexandra.

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