Continued State Liability for Police Inaction in Assisting Victims of Domestic Violence: A Reflection on the Implementation of South Africa's Domestic Violence Legislation

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Spies

AbstractNow that it has been in operation for 20 years, it is necessary to reflect on the impact the South African Domestic Violence Act has had on women's lives. This article analyses this key legislation and the police's duty to ensure its proper implementation. It focuses on the reports of the Independent Complaints Directorate and Civilian Secretariat of Police, the bodies responsible for measuring police compliance with the act. The reports identify serious transgressions, highlighting the police's perception that domestic violence is a private affair with which it should not interfere. This perception plays a particularly subtle and destructive role in legitimizing, supporting and permitting violence against women. In focusing on key court decisions in which the state (police) was held financially accountable for the failure to protect women against violence, the author highlights the importance of challenging the social and legal understanding of women's experiences with violence in promoting a system that takes account of those experiences.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Michele E. Commercio

Abstract How can we understand the signing of legislation targeting violence against women in postcommunist countries where women are electorally marginalized? Although women are underrepresented in Kyrgyzstan, the country's parliament has passed bride theft and domestic violence legislation. This article proposes a theory of transactional activism: in postcommunist countries where women are electorally marginalized, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) can instigate legislative change if the state satisfies three necessary conditions permitting lateral links between NGOs working on behalf of women and vertical links between these nonstate actors and critical actors in parliament. The state must (1) establish a regulatory framework for NGO activity permitting the articulation and representation of women's interests; (2) demonstrate a rhetorical commitment to improving women's lives; and (3) facilitate the election to parliament of critical actors sympathetic to women's interests. In other words, women's substantive representation can occur without strong descriptive representation in the formal legislative arena if the state satisfies these conditions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104973232110018
Author(s):  
Sarah O’Neill ◽  
Christina Pallitto

The health consequences of female genital mutilation (FGM) have been described previously; however, evidence of the social consequences is more intangible. To date, few systematic reviews have addressed the impact of the practice on psycho-social well-being, and there is limited understanding of what these consequences might consist. To complement knowledge on the known health consequences, this article systematically reviewed qualitative evidence of the psycho-social impact of FGM in countries where it is originally practiced (Africa, the Middle East, and Asia) and in countries of the diaspora. Twenty-three qualitative studies describing the psycho-social impact of FGM on women’s lives were selected after screening. This review provides a framework for understanding the less visible ways in which women and girls with FGM experience adverse effects that may affect their sense of identity, their self-esteem, and well-being as well as their participation in society.


KOMUNITAS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-57
Author(s):  
Agung Budi Santoso

National Commission on violence against women (2015) noted that violence against women showed a widespread pattern. The 2016 annual press release (Catahu) released that there were 321,752 of violence cases. The largest type of violence against women was violence in the personal sector. Violence in the form of rape was 72% (2,399 of cases), violence in the form of obscenity was 18% (601 of cases), and sexual abuse was 5% (166 of cases). The majority of personal violence victims (domestic / household) were women. The forms of domestic violence included physical violence, psychological violence, sexual violence and neglect of the household; while the main factor was the lack of communication and disharmony among family members. The impact in the short term was usually like a physical injury, disability, pregnancy, loss of work, and so forth; while the long-term effects were psychological disorders (psychiatric), loss of confidence, fend for oneself, trauma and appearance of fear to depression. The handling of domestic violence is one of the focuses of social workers to play a role in helping / assisting the recovery of victims. The social worker should be able to convince the victims to dare to express their problems, to give a sense of security, and comfort. Social workers in helping victims of domestic violence should have knowledge and alignment to the victims that the slightest violence is a form of crime against humanity. Victims of domestic violence must immediately obtain the protection, security assurance and social assistance. The efforts which can be done by social workers are counseling and family counseling. Those are done as a form of therapy so that victims do not feel the prolonged trauma and they can think calmly.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 56-61
Author(s):  
Antônio Emanoel da Silva ◽  
Camila Gouveia de Oliveira Moura ◽  
Marcela Eduarda Gomes de Arruda ◽  
Maria Beatriz Albuquerque Moura ◽  
Natália Diógenes da Silva ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
pp. 112-128
Author(s):  
Ray Brescia

This chapter studies the effort to reauthorize and expand the reach of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). In September of 1994, after years of grassroots advocacy, U.S. Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and President Clinton signed it into law. VAWA provides federal funding for enhanced law enforcement, social services, and legal services for victims of domestic violence. The legislation was originally enacted with a sunset provision that required that Congress reauthorize it after five years, a feature that was repeated in subsequent reauthorization bills. When the law was due for reauthorization in 2011, however, the process did not go as smoothly as it had before. Instead, although VAWA had bipartisan support, advocates wanted to strengthen it with provisions they saw as essential to keeping all survivors of domestic violence safe. These additional protections were met with resistance in Congress. In advance of the 2012 presidential election, advocates sought to amend the legislation in ways that would strengthen the protections offered to Native Americans, undocumented immigrants, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) communities. In the last reauthorization battle, the ability of advocates to harness the medium, their networks, and their message provides a contemporary example of the social change matrix at work in the age of social media.


2020 ◽  
pp. 146349962095885
Author(s):  
Arne Mellaard ◽  
Toon van Meijl

In a number of countries, domestic violence is represented as a governable phenomenon that is amenable to policy interventions. Over the past 40 years in the Netherlands, however, this approach has not resulted in a reduction of domestic violence. Yet new policy strategies continue to be designed to improve existing interventions. In this article, we focus on a Dutch policy measure that aims to detect early signals of violence and abuse. We argue that this strategy, by approaching domestic violence as a technical problem, fails to take into account structural and symbolic violence. As a consequence, the impact of domestic violence policies on women, particularly poor women, and especially women with a migration background, is to intensify their difficulties. Moreover, these policies deploy a technology that shapes the subjectivity of professionals engaged in protection practices, while maintaining the status quo of inequality and violence against women. The connection between these two flaws of domestic violence policies leads us to claim that the current approach is constituted as a regime of deficiency.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 333-351
Author(s):  
Khondker Aktaruzzaman ◽  
Omar Farooq

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to document the impact of participation in microfinance programs on domestic violence against women. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses the survey data from 69 villages in Bangladesh and the instrumental variable approach to estimate the effect of participation in microcredit programs on domestic violence. Findings The results show that women’s participation in microcredit programs does not reduce domestic violence. However, this result is possible only when the authors do not distinguish between female borrowers who have control over credit and those who do not have control over credit. Classifying female borrowers into these two categories can significantly change the results. The authors report significantly lower physical violence against those female who have control over credit. In case of psychological violence, the authors report no significant impact of control over microcredit. Originality/value The novelty of the paper lies in distinguishing between physical and psychological violence.


2020 ◽  
pp. 135481662093280
Author(s):  
Jen D Snowball ◽  
Geoff G Antrobus

Worldwide, the number and variety of cultural festivals have grown dramatically. Many areas see festivals as an important way to attract tourists, and their spending, to a region, resulting in a positive economic impact. While they offer important opportunities for artistic producers and audiences, there is growing pressure for festival organizers to demonstrate their value to society beyond their economic impact. Like many countries, South Africa has a strong focus on increasing diverse cultural participation, demonstrating the social, nonmarket values of events that receive public funding. Using data from two South African festivals, the article uses a valuation framework developed by the South African Cultural Observatory to demonstrate measures of audience diversity, the use of quality of life measures to gauge the impact of culture on well-being, and the use of community focus groups to assess the impact of participation on social cohesion and capacity building.


2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camila Daiane Silva ◽  
Vera Lúcia de Oliveira Gomes ◽  
Denize Cristina de Oliveira ◽  
Sergio Corrêa Marques ◽  
Adriana Dora da Fonseca ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVE To analyze the social representations of the Nursing Technicians and Community Health Agents about domestic violence against women. METHOD A qualitative study carried out in the city of Rio Grande, RS, in which evocations and interviews were collected between July and November 2013. For the treatment of data were used the EVOC 2005 software and the context analysis. RESULT It is a structured representation, in which the central nucleus contains conceptual, imaging and attitudinal elements, namely: abuse, aggression, physical aggression, cowardice and lack of respect. Such terms were present in the context of the interviews. The professionals acknowledged that violence is not limited to physical aspects and were judgemental about the acts of the aggressor. CONCLUSION This knowledge may enable the problematization of the studied phenomenon with the team, and facilitate the search for prevention and intervention strategies for victims, offenders and managers of health services.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-91
Author(s):  
Suryani ◽  
Atik Triratnawati

The impact of Covid-19 has not only affected the health sector but also economic and social sectors. In the social sector, the increase of domestic violence cases is being concern. It has a wide impact towards women’s health. This paper wants to reveal the impact of women’s health including reproductive health suffered by domestic violence victims and how they find solutions to the problems they face. Data collection was using ethnographic research methods from April to June 2021 in Malang regency. Observations and interviews were conducted towards 5 domestic violence victims and 2 associate staffs of domestic violence victims. Data analysis was carried out by classifying the data with the classification of minor, severe and reproductive health impacts.  As a result, researcher found that domestic violence victims suffer health impact both physically and psychologically. Physically, they are experiencing bruises, swelling, up to stitches on the part of their body. While psychologically, they feel common to deep fear, cannot sleep well, feel insecure to experience trauma. As the impact of reproductive health, the victim suffered miscarriage. The victims are needed assistance to be brave enough to speak up and seek protection quickly and accurately.


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