Domestic Violence (Law)

“Varones Violentos/Estado Negligente”, es un trabajo colectivo realizado por las investigadoras de EQUIFEM, Claudia Hasanbegovic, Rocío Belén Oliva y Carolina Cymerman, publicado en ”Mujeres de Latinoamérica. El presente en Veintidós Letras” (editado por María Estela Lanari y Claudia Hasanbegovic).
“Varones Violentos/Estado Negligente” nos introduce al análisis del reclamo judicial de la cuota alimentaria por parte de madres que quedan a cargo de sus hijos e hijas menores luego de una separación con el padre de las/os mismos.
La investigación toma como punto de partida que el No Pago de Alimentos constituye violencia de género económico-patrimonial que afecta a mujeres y a niños/as por igual.
La investigación también parte de comprender que el patrón de fracaso del Estado en hacer cumplir las Cuotas Alimentarias, ya sea por falencias en la legislación o por ineficacia de los mecanismos judiciales, es una violación a los derechos humanos de mujeres y niñas y niños.
“Varones Violentos/Estado Negligente” presenta los hallazgos de una investigación empírica desarrollada en la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires y que combinó técnicas cuantitativas con entrevistas en profundidad, notas etnográficas e historias de vida con 90 mujeres de sectores socio-económicos medios-bajos y en situación de calle. Estas mujeres, además de tener en común el género, el ser jefas de hogares ´monomarentales’ con hijos/as pequeños/as compartieron la experiencia de la violencia de género económico-patrimonial por parte de los padres de sus hijos/as, y de haber contactado al Estado (Poder Judicial y Poder Ejecutivo) en búsqueda de su intervención para frenar la violencia, con resultado muy diverso y heterogéneo.
Este ensayo presenta un análisis feminista e interdisciplinario del material recogido, que entrecruza las teorías de género, la antropología, el trabajo social, el derecho de familia y el derecho penal, teniendo como marco general las Convenciones de los Derechos de la Niñez, la CEDAW y Belém do Pará que permiten comprender la violación a los derechos humanos que la ineficacia en asegurar los Alimentos a niñas y niños implican.

Globally, gender based violence effects one out of every three women. Recently, the alarming rise in reported cases of domestic violence in Qatar has led to a national call to find an effective way to deal with the issue. This paper documents the efforts of a group of Qatar University students to do just that: draft legislation to criminalize domestic violence. The research project involves eight Qatar University male and female undergraduate students from five different countries (Bahrain, Pakistan, Egypt, Nigeria and Qatar), and three faculty members from different countries (Palestine, Egypt and Saudi Arabia).

In order to determine the status of current societal and legal protection provided to victims of domestic violence, interviews were conducted with law enforcement authorities, judges, religious scholars/leaders, medical professionals and victims of domestic violence themselves. After analyzing the interviews, along with the official documentation provided by institutions (such as hospitals, police departments, and shelters) systematic weaknesses and legal loopholes were identified. A benchmarking of legislation in the Arab and Muslim world was then conducted in order to come up with a conceptual framework for a comprehensive protection system for female victims of domestic violence in Qatar.

Research led by the University of Northampton has found that children who experience domestic violence are not just passive observers - they find complex, creative ways to manage and cope with what they have experienced, and have the capacity to be strong and resilient.
This is a key finding of the research project 'Understanding Agency and Resistance Strategies – Children in Situations of Domestic Violence', which today has published its final project report. This two year project, funded by the European Commission and led by the University of Northampton's Dr Jane Callaghan, is the largest qualitative study of children's experiences of domestic violence conducted in the world.
To collate the data, researchers in Greece, Italy, Spain and the UK interviewed 110 children and young people who had experienced domestic violence, focused on how they experienced the violence, and how they found ways to manage their experiences. Using the insights gained from this research, the team developed a group-based therapeutic intervention to support children to build on their existing strengths and coping strategies. The intervention aims to help the young people develop resilience and a positive sense of self, as they recover from living with domestic violence.
Dr Jane Callaghan explained: "We should challenge the media's depiction of children who experience domestic violence, as they are often portrayed as passive, helpless victims, doomed to repeat cycles of violence in their own later relationships. From our research we have found that  children's experience of domestic violence is a little like a double helix, with the twin strands of coping and damage very closely interlinked.  Children's capacity to be strong, to be agentic, to be resilient can only be read in the context of the actions that function to undermine their development of agency and resilience, forms of relating that characterise violence, abuse and coercive control."
Jane continued: "Consider, for instance, the examples of children hiding away in cupboards, hidey holes and dens. In some senses this looks like an accession to abuse and control – children might be seen by professionals and academics as hiding away, as cowering in corners. But if we only see this painful and difficult aspect of the child's behaviour, and don't try to make sense of the meaning they attach to it, we do not see how it is also resistant and resilient. Children are not just frightened, they are not just hiding. They are creating spaces for themselves, where they can feel just slightly safer, just a little more secure and in control."
The research team also completed an analysis of European and national policies on domestic violence. Their most significant finding is that children are startlingly absent from legal and policy frameworks.  Dr Callaghan explained: "Children who 'witness' domestic violence do not have a legal status as 'victim' – although this is changing in Spain, where the distinction between 'direct' and 'indirect' victims is being removed from Spanish statutes. This means that children are seen in law and policy as an absence, as 'collateral damage' to adult domestic violence, and this has consequences for how they are understood and treated in criminal justice, social services and voluntary sector organisations. Services for children who experience domestic violence are typically a 'bolt on' to adult oriented services, as adults, and particularly women, are seen as its main victims."
"We think this is because children are seen as 'silent witnesses', helpless in families where domestic violence occurs", says Dr Callaghan.  "By focusing on children's voice, on their capacity to make sense of the situation they are in, and to take creative action to make their lives a little better, we have been able to highlight both the profound impact of violence on children's lives and the complex and often paradoxical ways that they find to cope."
The UNARS project has highlighted that children experience the negative impact of domestic violence, and cope with domestic violence, in much the same way that adult victims do, and that the distinction between 'direct' and 'indirect' victim, or between 'adult victim' and 'child witness' is not sustainable. When policy frameworks do not include children as victims, this contributes to the erosion of children's representation and voice in professional and policy discourses. By focusing on children's capacity for conscious meaning making and agency in relation to their experiences of domestic violence, the research team have highlighted the importance of recognising the impact domestic violence has on children, and their right to representation as victims in the context of domestic violence.
To learn more about the research, and to read the research report, visit www.unars.co.uk.

The contribution of foreign workers into the rapid development of Malaysia is enormous. Nevertheless, the workers have complained of exploitation and deprivation of their rights by their employers. This study aims to examine the extent to which the allegation and claim are true. It investigates the manner of the said exploitations based on the standards of International Labour Organization (ILO) and Malaysian law. The Qualitative investigation revealed that the rights of foreign workers as clearly set out those Malaysian domestic laws are breached. It therefore concludes that there is a need for Malaysia to take necessary measures in ensuring to stop exploitation and rights of the foreign workers are restored and preserved.

Resumo: O presente estudo constitui-se em uma análise dos dados coletados na Delegacia Pública da cidade de Bezerros-PE sobre aspectos sociais que permeiam o perfil de homens atores em casos de violência doméstica. A metodologia utilizada foi baseada em pesquisa bibliográfica e descritiva. Os dados, de natureza documental, referentes ao período de janeiro de 2016 a outubro de 2017, foram lidos à luz da análise de conteúdo. Os resultados alcançados com a pesquisa permitem evidenciar que o perfil dos agressores envolvidos em violência doméstica na cidade de Bezerros, Pernambuco, em sua maioria, é de sujeitos em fase adulta, cônjuges, ex-cônjuges e/ou filhos das vítimas, que possuem baixo nível de escolaridade e desempenham trabalhos braçais. Em relação às vítimas, a faixa etária é predominantemente de mulheres adultas e que possuem nível de escolaridade superior aos agressores. A residência continua sendo o local onde a violência doméstica é mais perpetrada. Por fim, os tipos de violência mais recorrentes nos dados analisados são violências psicológicas e físicas, os métodos de agressão mais utilizados pelos agressores são a ameaça e o espancamento.