By: Musue N.Haddad
"Your spouse is considered the nicest person in the community, but when your spouse comes home, your spouse beats you; your spouse terrorizes you; your spouse degrades you, " this is one victim's illustration of the predicament of domestic violence.
Although domestic violence is largely obscured, hundreds of women including pregnant women and new mothers are slain annually in various communities in different parts of the world. In Japan, domestic violence cases jumped 17.2 percent in 2005 to a record 16,888 incidents, with nearly all of the victims being women, the National Police Agency said recently. The figure was up from the previous record of 14,140 cases set in 2004, the agency said in an annual report marking International Women Day.
In the UK, between April 2005 and December 2005 the Crown Persecution service said it dealt with 35,231 cases, according to reports at the TUC's Women's International Women's Day conference, suggesting that cases of domestic violence are increasing in England and Wales. In Sweden, assaults against women have been increasing in recent years, with 22,400 reports filed in 2003.
In Spain, the number of women killed by their partner or ex-partner has continued to increase since 2001. In France, a woman is killed by partner every four days. In the United States, 1,000 to 1,600 women die at the hands of their male partners ever year. The estimated number of deaths due to intimate partner violence in the United States does not include those women and children who die home-less on the streets avoiding batterers, according to experts. In Africa, although very few cases are reported due to cultural practices and perceptions, domestic violence is prevalent.
Although women around the world continue to break political, social, and economic barriers - Angela Merkel chosen as the first female Federal Chancellor in Germany, Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson of Liberia as the first female president in Africa, and Michele Bachelet, the first elected woman President of Chile, women and children continue to be faced with high level of violence.
"Unlike the so-called "war on terror", the "war on women and girls" is not on the global political agenda. It takes its toll in battlefields, bedrooms and backstreets - the greatest hidden human rights scandal of our times, made all the more scandalous by being present in every part of the world and in almost every aspect of life," Amnesty International said in a report published on International Women's Day.
In all countries, few domestic violence killings make headline news. Unlike Laci Peterson's homicide case which became a national headline news for some time in the United States, the deaths of other pregnant women including Yolanda Coles, eight months pregnant and shot in Richmond, Kerry Repp, 29, shot in her bedroom in Oregon, Kathleen Terry 22, run over in Idaho, Tasha Winters, 16, was shot in Indiana the day she told her boyfriend about the baby, Marilyn Hassab, 29 was stabbed to death by her husband in New Jersey, Rebecca Johnson shot in Oklahoma, and many others cases of pregnancy and homicide produced a few community local headlines and then faded.
Domestic Violence is a serious, widespread social problem in America, Africa and other parts of the world. Domestic Violence isn't just hitting, or fighting, or an occasional mean argument, according to experts. Advocates say domestic violence is the abuse of power wherein the abuser tortures and controls the victim by calculated threats, intimidation, and physical violence. Actual physical violence is often the end result of months or years of intimidation and control.
Women Empowered Against Violence, Inc. (WEAVE), an organization that provides holistic services to domestic violence victims in the District of Columbia described domestic abuse as a violence that can be criminal and includes physical assault (hitting, pushing, shoving, etc.), sexual abuse (unwanted or forced sexual activity), and stalking. Although emotional, psychological and financial abuses are not usually seen as criminal behaviors, they are forms of abuse and can lead to criminal violence. Domestic violence takes many forms and can happen all the time or once in a while.
Experts say that in most countries, there are no reliable national statistics on domestic violence because there are no efficient and effective systems to track domestic violence cases. However, in most instances, victims are ashamed or afraid to report domestic violence for fear of being judged or afraid of further reprisal from their batterers.
Margaret Tolbert –Wallace, a Registered Nurse who has interacted with several victims of domestic violence in an interview attributed the increase in domestic violence homicides to bureaucracy hitches that tend to intimidate victims and sometimes the lack of timely support for victims who seek assistance.
"Even after escaping, many victims find it easier to return to their situation either because supports are delayed or they are being judged or marginalized by society," Ms. Wallace said.
Ms. Wallace said some victims who escaped into shelters and transitional homes are sometimes faced with situations of marginalization and control. She described this situation as "a cycle of abuse," which she said ought to be removed in order for victims to have confidence that "there is a world out there that is ready to help them and not subject them to further abuse."
Family violence affects every country in the world, including even the most developed. Women in the richest and poorest level of society find it most difficult to escape violence - the poor because they have no means to escape and are afraid to reach out to institutions in society that probably would marginalize them and the rich because they have too much to lose, Margaret Tolbert Wallace said.
Samantha, (not real name) who has two children left her abusive husband. She said there is a certain level of misunderstanding when it comes to the public's perception of domestic abuse victims. According to Samantha, this comes in the form of judging the victim by asking such questions as: could it be true that such a nice person is a batterer?
While Samantha battled with the public's perception of whether her former husband was an abuser, another victim said she was always assessed critically by others: "Why didn't she leave or fight back? or disengaged from the victim by saying, "I will never accept that."
For Samantha and other victims of domestic violence, programs marking International Women's Day must highlight how victims of abuses are affected particularly children who are exposed to violence, and also educate communities on the implications of assuming that someone is the type of person that is a victim or a batterer.
The American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence describes both victims and batterers: "Victims may be doctors, business professionals, scientists or judges, among others. Perpetrators may be police officers, sports heroes, CEOs or college professors or lawyers".
In November 2005, the World Health Organization held its first ever study on domestic violence. In its study, the WHO reveals that intimate partner violence is the most common form of violence in women's lives - much more so than assault or rape by strangers or acquaintances. The study reported on the enormous toll physical and sexual violence by husbands and partners has on the health and well-being of women and children around the world and the extent to which partner violence is still largely hidden.
In the United States, a Resolution, [S.RES.282.IS ] introduced to the Senate in 2005 indicated that approximately 8,800,000 children in the United States witness domestic violence each year. The Resolution furthered that witnessing violence increases the risk of children developing long-term physical and mental health problems, future struggles with substance abuse. The document also highlighted that a boy who witnesses his father's domestic violence is ten times more likely to engage in domestic violence than a boy from a nonviolent home.
President George Bush signed the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 into law on January 5, 2006. The Violence Against Women Act of 2005 contains initiatives to help children exposed to violence, train health care providers to support victims of abuse, encourage men to teach the next generation that violence is wrong, and provide crisis services for victims of rape and sexual assault. H.R. 3402 is part of the Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005. It also continues efforts to improve the law enforcement response to violence against women and provide supportive services, such as transitional housing, to women and children forced to leave their homes because of violence.
Samantha and other women in the United States are hopeful that the signing of the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 by President Bush is a major step towards ensuring that women and children are protected against their batterers and also against being judged and marginalized by society.
Copyright © Musue N. Haddad
