Frente Amplio Progresista (FAP) deputies Virginia Linares and Victoria Donda have called for a ‘national emergency’ to be declared as new information regarding gender-related crimes becomes public.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court’s Domestic Violence Office published bleak new statistics regarding cases of gender violence. The office received 27,959 reports of domestic violence since 2008, and within the last two years the cases handled by it grew by 57%. According to information published by La Nación, out of the cases reported 65% of victims were women, 15% girls, 13% boys, and 7% men; whilst 88% of those accused were men. Of those, 38% were the victim’s ex-partners, 21% their de-facto partners, 20% their husbands, 10% their parents, and 5% their boyfriends. The reports included instances of both psychological and physical violence.

Another report released by an NGO, Femicide Observatory, claims that one woman dies per day due to gender violence in Argentina, usually at the hands of their partner or former partner. However, these cases remain under-reported, as “about 40% of women don’t want to report their cases,” says Eva Giberti, coordinator of the programme ‘Victimes against violence’ from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

These recent reports, as well a some chilling cases that caught the public’s attention within the last few days, prompted the FAP deputies to state the need to declare a ‘national emergency’ to deal with the problem of gender violence. “We can’t allow these things to keep happening,” Linares said. “We must push the bill to declare a social public emergency due to gender violence, which we have already introduced in Congress.”

The bill calls for an effective implementation of law 26,485 of integral protection to avoid, sanction, and eradicate violence against women, passed in 2009. Speaking with Radio America, Linares said that “we’re asking for the emergency [to be declared] because that would allow the executive to perform budget re-allocations. We want the victim to have access to [an amount equivalent to] the minimum wage, until she can get a job.”

Gender violence is a problem across Latin America. Last week, the Uruguayan government released its own statistics, which also show an increase in cases of domestic violence in the neighbouring country. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 12,000 cases of domestic violence were reported within the first semester of 2012, a 19.1% increase from the same period in 2011.

Argentina’s Senate is set to work on a new law to increase the penalties for homicides resulting from “gender hatred,” after Congress voted in favour of it last night.

With 203 votes for, zero votes against and one abstention, the Lower House voted in favour of a bill to amend the penal code, imposing “life imprisonment or confinement” on those who murder from gender hatred.

The Argentine news outlet Parlamentario reports that when the bill passes into law, there will be increased penalties for deaths resulting from domestic violence, femicide or where sexual orientation was a reason.

The initiative was welcomed by all parties, who agreed it is an important step in combating gender violence.

At the beginning of the debate in Congress, Committee of Criminal Law chairperson Oscar Albrieu said the issue “is not new, coming from the background of history” and clarified that what “is new is the theorizing has been done [on it] as an extreme form of violence, which has had the effect of making it visible.”

“The question must be solved by the State, as we are doing, because it finds its roots in social, cultural and sometimes even economic causes,” he added, according to Argentina’s Minuto Uno.

The law will amend the Penal Code’s Article 80, Subsections 1 and 4.

The new Subsection 1 raises the penalty to “life imprisonment or confinement,” for anyone who “kills an ascendant, descendant, spouse, former spouse or a person with whom she/he maintains, has maintained, or has unsuccessfully tried to start a relationship.”

Subsection 4 defines femicide as “a crime for a woman when the act is perpetrated by a man because of gender violence.”

The subsection also considers a life sentence for those who murder for, “pleasure, greed, hatred, racial, religious, gender or sexual orientation, gender identity or its expression.”

According to the National Supreme Court of Justice of Domestic Violence, there were 657 cases of domestic violence reported in Argentina in 2010, an increase of 75% on the previous year.

The UN today denounced the “unprecedented” levels of femicide in Guatamala where 448 women were killed in the eight-month period between January and August in 2011.

In the annual report United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay criticised the “high levels of homicide and violence against women” in the Central American country.

She asked for more investment for the programs that work with preventing chauvinistic violence and called attention to the huge gap between the amount of these types of attacks reported to the police (6,318) and the amount of convictions made (144.)

Pillay criticised the National Plan for the Prevention and Eradication of Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women, saying, “it has not been properly implemented because the government funds have been insufficient.”

Having already alluded to the problems indigenous populations had to deal with, Pillay went on to say that indigenous women had the toughest lot, having to struggle against both racism and sexism.

In total there were 3,806 violent deaths in the same eight-month period in Guatemala last year.

Today marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, but according to new studies, domestic violence continues in Argentina.

An alarming increase in reported cases has shown that Argentinahas a problem – there has been a 14% rise since 2010 in the physical and psychological abuse of older women in the home.

So far this year, the province of Buenos Aires has received over 70,000 complaints. A survey conducted by the Latin American Gender and Justice Team (ELA) reported that 20% of people in Buenos Aires personally know someone who has been a victim.

ELA also showed that 42% of victims do not report violence in the home and it also presented 60% of women suffering from domestic violence are subjected to it by their current or former partners.

“Violence persists in more than 50% of the cases wherecomplaints were made” says Natalia Gherardi, lawyer and executive director of ELA.

The international day was adopted by the UN in 1990 and there werel various events around the country.

Last month, a 26-year-old man who assaulted and threatened his ex-wife was sentenced to jail for five years. In a landmark ruling in Argentina, the Buenos Aires’ court found that Miguel Leonardo Paz’s oral harassment, beatings and threats towards his ex-wife had to be considered as a situation of violence against women under international definitions.

Domestic Violence performance piece (Photo: Pachakutik)

According to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UNIFEM), violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread violations of human rights. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime, with the abuser usually someone known to her.

Abuse can be physical, sexual, psychological and economic, and it cuts across boundaries of age, race, culture, wealth and geography. It takes place in the home, on the streets, in schools, the workplace, in farm fields, refugee camps, during conflicts and crises.

Violence against women has many manifestations; from the most universally prevalent forms of domestic and sexual violence, to harmful practices, abuse during pregnancy, so-called honour killings and other types of femicide.

In Argentina, a spate of brutal crimes, in which women were burned alive by their partners, has raised new concerns about domestic violence. So far this year 14 such cases have been reported, already exceeding the 11 deaths recorded in 2010.

Yet these shocking attacks form just a small part of the country’s serious problem with violence towards women. According to the National Supreme Court of Justice of Domestic Violence (CSJN OVD), there were 657 cases of domestic violence reported in Argentina in 2010, an increase of 75% on the previous year.

Amores que matan (Photo: Daniel Lobo)

Although domestic violence affects both genders, data from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights reveal that in 80% of the cases the victims are women, and 85% of the offenders are men.

The NGO ‘La Casa del Encuentro’, an Argentine association which is fighting against gender violence, estimates that there are more than 4.5 million female victims in Argentina. Last year, 260 women – more than four a week – died as a result of their abuse.

Steps taken so far

These numbers are disturbingly high, though Gabriela Boada, Interim Director of Amnesty International Argentina, explains that it is hard to make comparisons with other countries or with past years: “Violence against women is poorly documented because many women are simply afraid to report the crimes against them and are suspicious of the protection that the authorities can offer.”

Though cases of violence against women have increased sharply, Boada believes the support and protection offered by the legal system has improved significantly in recent years.

Dr. Olga Chaves, a lawyer and psychologist at the OVD, which was inaugurated in 2008, stated: “Before the Supreme Court consisted only of men. Since 2004, when two female judges entered, violence against women has received more attention.”

In 1989, under the chairmanship of Dr. Carmen Argibay, Buenos Aires started working to form the Association of Female Judges Argentina (AMJA). “The AMJA resulted in more emphasis and impulses for changing the judicial situation of violence against women in Argentina,” explains Chaves.

In 1994 – as part of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights – Argentina signed the Inter-American convention on the prevention, punishment and eradication of violence against women, known as the ‘Belem do Pará Convention’.

The convention affirms that violence against women is an offense against human dignity and a manifestation of the historically unequal power relations between women and men. Within the directive’s framework, the ‘Law of Integral Protection of Women’ was sanctioned in Argentina in June 2009, and began to be implemented a year later.

A woman holds up her burned hands to show The Advocacy Project the cost of domestic violence (Photo: Isha Mehmood)

Putting theory into practice

Creating new legislation is only half the battle. As Boada says: “Laws may be good on paper, but when they do not translate into reality, the consequences can be fatal.

“If we want to reach more we need the (financial) support of the government. They should provide more coordination and promotion of the activities and facilities with relation to decrease violence against women. Right now, the main ideas, laws and plans exist, but bringing those into practice and implementing them is a next step.”

Over the years, many-predominately male-judges and police have been criticised for not having addressed complaints of gender violence from a broad enough perspective.

Guillermina Benito, who works at the ministry for justice and human rights, explains that in trials concerning cases of domestic violence, the defendant’s testimony often seems to be given more weight than that of the victim.

“A few weeks ago in La Plata there was a case of two children, five and eight years old, who had been mistreated by their father for three years,” says Benito. “Finally, there came a trial where the children gave a testimony of the crimes. However, when the offender arrived with a petition where 700 random people stated that he was a ‘good’ person, the judges suspended the case.”

Police and judicial failings were also highlighted in the landmark verdict that sent Paz to jail for five years for abusing his ex-wife.

“The risk inherent in the situation of violence was grossly underestimated by the police authority, chisels protection measures and assuming attitudes bordering the breach,” stated The Oral Criminal Tribunal N° 9 (TOC 9).

One of the judges of the case, Fernando Ramirez, explained in Página/12 that “crimes related to domestic violence cannot be investigated just as those that occur between strangers or in public areas, because they are crimes that are not normally expressed in a single behaviour but a set of behaviours that must be examined together.”

A vicious circle

Chaves says the complexities of domestic violence make it difficult to deal with: “Since it intertwines within several fields of professions it remains very complicated to fight against it. The problem is part of a circle wherein several disciplines are involved.”

In many cases, complaints include the application of different types of violence simultaneously. Ninety-one percent of the cases concerned psychological violence, 67% physical violence, 37% economic violence and 13% sexual violence.

The isolation of the burned (Photo: Phil Borges for ReSurge International)

Chaves adds that domestic violence has traditionally been a taboo subject for society, making recognition of the problem even more difficult. “Violence against women has always existed, only people did not talk or did not dare to talk about them. Nowadays we try to make this process – to talk about it and do something with it – more easy for women,” she stated.

“For many women it is very difficult and a huge step to talk about these kind of problems; they are often embarrassed or ashamed to tell their story. You have to treat them very carefully and it are not just things you can make public for everyone, they are personal experiences and they often stay like this.”

Dr. María Matilde Risolía de Alcaro, a lawyer at the OVD, explained: “One goal we reached so far is that violence against women nowadays gets real and more attention and that several instance try to make the facilities for women – to talk about those problems and report the crimes – more accessible”.

“A step we still have to reach is to shorten the process a victim has to go through after a crime,” adds Risolia. “This has a lot to do with the collaboration and tuning of different bodies which all have to deal with violence against women.”

‘Victims against Violence’ Programme

The ‘Victims against Violence’ programme of the National Ministry of Justice, Security and Human Rights, is one example of a project aimed at coordinating organisations­ – both public and private – that support victims of domestic violence.

Dra. Eva Giberti

The programme, based in Buenos Aires and founded in 2006 by Dr. Eva Giberti, is a collaboration between federal police, psychologists, social workers, hospitals and lawyers which has their own call centre and work by means of a mobile brigade.

Giberti, world-renowned psychologist, psychoanalyst and professor who has gained a lot of respect and prestige in the field of gender studies, explained that the premise of the programme is that “instead of victims having to come to us, we are going to them.”

When the 24-hour call centre receives a report of domestic violence, depending on the location – the programme only runs in the city of Buenos Aires for now – a mobile patrol wagon with specially-trained police is dispatched immediately.

A second car with a social worker and or psychologist is also sent to the scene. They try to convince the victim to report the abuse and, if they agree, accompany them to the police station.

However, Giberti adds that a lack of resources makes the follow-up process more complicated: “Since the victim often can not go ‘home’ again and have to be protected, the best place for a victim to go is an emergency shelter.

“Unfortunately, in all of Argentina there is only one emergency shelter, so it is often difficult to accommodate them there. So, we try to contact family or friends, where the victim can stay at least the first couple of days.”

It is important that victims will stay away from home and that people take care of them for a while, since statistics of the programme show that in 51% of al the cases the offender is the partner of the victim. However, did is often difficult. Benito explained that, “Since the victim is often terrified for threats which are made to her by the offender – often partner- in many cases she wants to go back to him.”

Giberti concluded: “It is a chicken-and-egg situation which remains hard to escape from. Often we are dealing with victims for several times, since the crime is repeated itself again and again. The only way to stop this is when the victim decides to go to court.”

“During the entire process they are accompanied and helped by us. But after this first task, the biggest problem arises: the fact that in Argentina, and throughout Latin America, follow-up support for the victim does not exist.”

Setting an example

Part of the problem, according to Gabriela Boada at Amnesty International, is that gender violence has a lot to do with the cultural history of a country. Stereotypes of traditional roles of men and women, and the fact that most Latin American countries are machismo-orientated, have an essential influence on a culture. “It is the task of the government to change these paradigms and stereotypes which are embedded in our society,” said Boada.

The ‘Victims Against Violence’ programme is the first and only of its kind in Latin America and a huge step forward in the Argentine fight against gender violence. So far it has gained a lot of international curiosity and could set an example for other countries.

Hopefully, with help and guidance of the government, the programme can also fulfill its role in Argentina, in a way that in the nearby future the imprisonment of Paz will be more often a rule then an exception.

To see what locals think about this issue, read here.

The media has reported extensively on a worrying recent trend of women being set on fire by their male partners. But this is just a small part of a growing problem of domestic violence  in Argentina, which claimed the lives of 260 women last year. The Argentina Independent took to the streets to ask your opinions about why this country has seen an increase in violence against women, how it can prevent this trend from continuing, and whether the punishments for offenders are adequate.

Francisco Diz, 23, café manager, San Isidro

“There is almost no law in this country, by which I mean that the law is easy to break because it’s not enforced. Even if you commit murder or domestic violence, if you have contacts and know who to talk to, you can avoid prison. The only time the Justice gives adequate punishments is when a case receives public attention. I think domestic violence happens because this country still has many chauvinistic males. This type of violence is more prevalent amongst the lower classes, as is child abuse.”

Ana Solari, 29, lawyer, Ramos Mejia

“Domestic violence against women is happening globally, not just in Argentina. In this country there have recently been some well-known cases of setting women on fire. Domestic violence happens because of deeply ingrained psychological problems. Women sometimes stay in abusive relationships because they are very afraid and don’t know where to go to make a statement. I know there’s a special commissariat for women who are victims of this kind of mistreatment where they can go to report the crime.”

Gastón Torres, 28, sales assistant, Balvanera

“The situation is very bad in this country. I don’t know exactly how long sentences are but punishments are often not severe enough here. This is a third world country, after all. It’s right that women report these crimes when they happen. I think there should be more information available on where to report domestic abuse, a number to call maybe, as perhaps women don’t know. The idea of setting fire to a woman is terrible. People who commit this kind of abuse need psychological help rather than just a punishment.”

Juan Manuel Junquera, 65, foreign trade employee, Spain

“I’m totally against domestic violence. The trend of setting women on fire, like the case with the man from the band, is a shambles. I really don’t know what to say. Punishments should be much more severe. A fair sentence in my opinion would perhaps be twenty-five years in jail.”

Patricia Canda, 53, government employee, Balvanera

“There is a problem with domestic violence in this country. I believe that the situation is worse in the country’s interior and those cases are serious because the violence seems more culturally related. Argentina doesn’t have a problem that is as serious as in some countries like Spain. There have been many stories about women who have been set on fire and now we’re starting to pay attention to the problem. The police are not properly prepared to help women who’ve been threatened or abused. Five years in prisons seems like an adequate sentence to me.”

Photos by Joe Rondone

Photo courtesy of Amnesty International

Image from Amnesty International’s campaign to raise awareness about domestic violence.

Amnesty International states that two women die a week in Argentina as a result of domestic violence, and statistics seem to indicate that domestic violence is rising rather than falling. Is enough being done to ensure the safety of Argentine women?

By definition domestic violence is ‘the inflicting of physical injury by one family or household member on another; also: a repeated or habitual pattern of such behaviour’.

The fact is that the most common form of violence against women is that performed by an intimate partner. Seventy percent of murdered women worldwide die at the hands of their partner or ex-partner. An additional three million women are abused annually. In many countries, including Argentina, the problem is ‘invisible’ and still considered a private household matter; therefore, these statistics are only the tip of the iceberg.

A Living Property

Domestic violence is generally acknowledged as name calling or put downs, keeping a partner from contacting her family/friends, withholding money, stopping a partner from getting/keeping a job, actual or threatened physical harm, sexual assault, stalking and intimidation.

UNICEF states that several complex social and cultural factors have kept women particularly vulnerable to the violence directed at them, all of them manifestations of unequal power relations between men and women.

Historically, women depend on the male figures in their lives and have been treated as living properties, passed on through marriage from father to husband. In medieval times, disobedient wives were often disciplined in public. Some countries still practise honour killings, where the man can walk free after a murder saying the murder was provoked by the wife’s behaviour.

UNICEF also states how violence against women is present in every country, cutting across boundaries of culture, class, education, income, ethnicity and age. The United Nations General Assembly, in 1993, adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. It is the first international human rights instrument to deal exclusively with violence against women.

Open House

Casa Abierta María Pueblo in La Plata is at the moment the only women’s shelter in Buenos Aires, attending to cases from the capital as well as the province. This is even more shocking given that between January and June of 2007, Buenos Aires Province’s Ministry of Security reported 18,498 cases of domestic violence.

Photo by Darío Witt

 

“I stood helpless on the street after finally having the courage to leave my husband of 14 years,” Sandra tells me. The robust, red-haired woman takes a sip from her mate. Around her feet runs one of her sons, calling for his mother’s attention. “I have eight children, and had nowhere to go when I left him. My husband beat me, but it was when he laid his hands on my child I knew I had to leave him.”

Sandra came here five years ago with her children, and now works with the rest of the team to help women who, like her, finally had the courage to seek help.

María Pueblo has been around for 11 years, sheltering women and their children. Here, they are safe. Unknown address, alarms and trained staff at hands at all times. Despite the security measures, one of the founders, Darío Witt, has experienced some extreme cases through the years. He tells the tale of one man looking for his runaway wife carrying a machete and drunken fathers visiting schools searching for their children. As I speak to Witt a message is left on the shelter’s answering machine: “prepárate, porque sos boleta, hija de puta…” (prepare yourself, you’re dead, son of a bitch) only underlining the danger many of these women find themselves in.

“We are here, on the street, helping the victims, when no one else is,” Witt says. “There are different organisations around Argentina working for women’s rights, but we are unique in what we do. We do not only fight for them, but we meet them at their territory and help them and their kids return to society, safe and well.”

Government Slow to Act

Monica Lindblom, lawyer and co-founder of María Pueblo, deals with the judicial process and explains how over the past few years there has been new laws protecting the victims. “Finally there was a law stating equal rights between the genders regarding custody over children,” she says. “Before, the father was the primary carer, and could demand that the children stay with him. Now a mother has the right to leave with the children.”

Another law is the opportunity a woman now has to file a restraining order, and is one of the first things put in motion as soon as the abuse is reported. As well as this breakthrough law, neighbours and family are now also allowed to report abuse and remain anonymous, a great step forward that enables society to intervene when the victim is too scared to seek help herself.

“Domestic violence is basically a human rights scandal,” says Rafael Barca, director of Amnesty International Argentina. On 25th November 2007, international day for fighting violence against women, Amnesty Argentina presented a 14 point plan, to the government, to raise awareness and help fight the battle for women.

Photos courtesy of Amnesty International

Image from Amnesty International’s campaign to raise awareness about domestic violence.

“This is a government issue, they need to tackle it,” Barca continues. “The government need to launch specific plans to battle gender based violence and unite the provinces under one, equal law.”

Both Barca and Witt calls the help system for women in Argentina a ‘lottery postcode’. “It all depends on where they live as to what kind of help they can expect,” Barca explains. Having a federal state with different laws and institutions leaves some women alone and helpless, whereas in other provinces they have the support system they need to break free.

“To end gender-based violence we must first fight against discrimination and for equality of women. These two factors go hand in hand” Barca explains.

The Face of an Abuser

Research tells us that abusers usually have low self-esteem, and therefore use their physical superiority to control their partner. Through the control they feel stronger and more confident. The abuse is no accident and usually they do not take responsibility for their actions. They blame the victim for causing and provoking the abuse. By isolating their partner from the outside world they maintain power by making the victim feel alone and without support and interaction by anyone but her abusive partner.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, psychologist Raul Mattiozzi organises conversation groups for violent men. This programme is one of a kind in Argentina. Since the beginning in 1997, he has worked with thousands of men. During 2007 alone, 179 men were under the rehabilitation of Mattiozzi. Every week they meet to discuss their progress and vent their anger at their fellow comrades instead of their women.

Mattiozzi explains how many struggle to stay calm, but generally have stopped being violent towards their women due to the fact that they are now monitored. Some, on the other hand, still find it hard with coming to terms with not treating their family as employers, and ordering them around. They have a violent temper not just towards women but society in general, and for some it takes several years to learn to tackle it.

A Change is Needed

Photo by Darío Witt

 

Unfortunately the legal system still fails to acknowledge the problem as anything other than a private, family matter, and not the serious crime it is. When the law fails to protect the weakest their subordinate status is reinforced. By not prosecuting the abusers, the legal system sends out a message to society that women are second-grade citizens and of no further interest to the wider society.

“There need to be consequences for the abuser – like jail – in order for society to understand that gender violence is not tolerated,” says Witt.

The fight against the machismo society in Argentina, for women being treated with equality and respect, has only just begun. Barca explains how the obstacles are numerous; how in the past year there was introduced a nationwide helpline, the 137 number, but telephone companies have failed to follow up on keeping it free of charge and available from all phones.

When a woman who finally seeks help finds no support system, her only option is to return home, and that puts her in a very dangerous situation. Laws are good on paper, but when they do not translate into reality, the consequences can be fatal.

Those of us fortunate enough to never have experienced violence can only ask ourselves: how can someone who swears to love and support their partner ‘till death do us part’ show their love through bruises and threats? A woman has the right to live her life without broken promises and broken bones. End of story.

Casa Abierta María Pueblo, La Plata. Tel: (0221) 453 5050. To support María Pueblo you can buy handcraft made by the women. All income goes directly to the women and their children. Call to ask for more info.

Amnesty International: www.amnesty.org

Hombres Violentos. Tel: 4956 1768

Helplines: 137 & 0800 666 8537