Breaking the silence

Fiona Galea Debono looks at the Domestic Violence Bill which comes into force soon as well as the domestic violence situation.

A Domestic Violence Act is expected to come into force shortly, following a long and winding road to Parliament - one which has seen the passionate involvement and imprint of Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina.

The Cabinet approved the draft a few weeks ago and Ms Cristina envisages that it would be presented to Parliament before the summer recess.

Ms Cristina has been involved in the issue of domestic violence for the last 18 years - since it started to surface in the late 1980s. At the time, Catholic Malta preferred to sweep it under the carpet.

Ms Cristina, then a member of the National Council of Women, was an important vehicle in allowing the discussion on domestic violence to come out in the open. Almost two decades ago, she was warned not to "invent" problems that did not exist by those "who should have known better".

The situation today is that a victim of domestic violence is not protected enough, but the new law is seeing to that, Ms Cristina points out. The Domestic Violence Bill marks a major step ahead in terms of protection, but other changes would also be required to reduce the incidence of domestic violence, she maintains.

"The law needs to be accompanied by support structures, changes in attitude and the empowerment of victims. On its own, it would not change a thing."

The structures that go hand in hand with the law have been set up along the line. After all, "there is no point in enacting a law that says, for example, that the perpetrators should receive therapy when there are no therapy structures in place," Ms Cristina says.

In the past, Malta has been taken to task for not having a Domestic Violence Act, but never due to a lack of structures. The Family Court, which is now up and running, was another structure that needed to be in place prior to the enacting of this legislation.

Ms Cristina has lived and breathed the changes in the field of domestic violence and can safely say that, today, even according to EU standards, Malta ranks among the top in terms of the provision of accommodation for victims. In fact, there are around four shelters, catering for victims and their children.

From a visit to shelters in the US, 10 years ago, Ms Cristina discovered that the situation is the same the world over: "The police arrive too late and there's nowhere to go...

"Even if we are critical of the Maltese scene, we are not lagging that far behind. It is just that we caught up at a later stage. With the increase in social work studies and the provision of social services, we have realised that we are no different from anyone else."

Domestic violence is a widespread phenomenon that can occur in "the best of families". Fundamentally, it is a power struggle, or the result of frustration through a lack of communication. Domestic violence is also increasing among couples where the wife has a high-powered job, is more successful than the husband and earning a higher salary, and sometimes stems from the masculine trait of wanting to be superior.

Studies also show that domestic violence is widespread among police officers and doctors, the latter due to their stressful jobs and the former because they are used to an authoritarian role.

But not only women suffer such abuse: it is estimated that between one and two per cent of victims are men.

Some form of deterrent is important and Ms Cristina believes "the most effective is the empowerment of the victims". But to be empowered, they must realise that support structures exist.

It has been proven that for a woman to pluck up the courage to report domestic violence to the police, she has to suffer between 25 and 30 incidents of abuse.

The argument that it is a one-off act is often put forward, but the first incident, unless nipped in the bud, is known to multiply. "It is so easy for a second to follow; and it is, therefore, imperative that the first incident is dealt with effectively," Ms Cristina insists.

"The anomaly lies in the perception that if a woman is hit by a stranger in the street, it is immediately a serious issue, but if she is attacked in the privacy of her home and by her husband, then it is OK."

The first barrier to overcome is admitting to the problem and going public on it, but the law is facilitating that. Another stumbling block arises when the victims need to move out of the shelter into accommodation of their own and chart a life for themselves.

Another issue concerns police sensitivity to the matter, which has room for improvement, Ms Cristina says, adding that more specific training could help them handle these situations better. Guidelines on how these matters should be tackled are currently in the pipeline.

Domestic violence was - and still is, in many ways - looked upon as a private problem, but the Bill is aiming to change that.

The message that is being conveyed to society is that domestic violence is not a private issue but a social problem.

Children cannot be left out of the equation, she adds, laying stress on the traumas they can experience. Even if they are not direct victims of domestic violence, studies show that if they witness such incidents, they are likely to become either victims, or perpetrators themselves. They may either automatically move towards an abusive partner or end up abusing those closest to them.

Domestic violence is handed down from generation to generation and the message from European institutions is to break the silence and the circle.

One of the intentions of the Domestic Violence Bill is to help victims emerge from this circle. Ideally, women should be empowered enough to stop domestic violence immediately. But this is not always the case. Hence, the importance of educating them as well as the boys from a young age.

Ms Cristina underlines the importance of educational campaigns, particularly on how to resolve conflict situations. Although the subject has been the focus of several TV programmes, the problem is that the campaigns tend to be carried out sporadically, she points out.

"When we say zero tolerance to domestic violence, we mean zero tolerance!

The facts and figures

¤ Between January and September of last year, the police received 218 reports of domestic violence, which concerned 253 victims. Of these, 194 were female; three were over 70 years old; and one was stabbed to death at her residence in San Gwann.

Male victims totalled 35, one was over 70 years old, while children numbered 24 - 15 girls and nine boys.

Out of the 218, 84 persons were arraigned in court and charged accordingly. One was charged with murder, while 12 were charged with causing injuries of a grievous nature.

¤ Ghabex, Appogg's shelter, provided a home to 87 women last year - 78 of these were cases opened during 2004, while the others were brought forward from 2003.

Appogg's domestic violence services opened 359 new domestic violence cases during the course of last year, seven of which involved male victims. Research carried out by Appogg confirms that 96 per cent of service users are female and that the problem is escalating.

Appogg refers domestic violence victims to Ghabex, Dar Merhba Bik, Dar Tereza Spinelli and Dar Adelaide Cini.

Victims can dial 179 24-hour support service.

The history

The Domestic Violence Bill has been in the pipeline for a while and few are those who know the details of the history of its making better than Minister Cristina.

The first time she heard about domestic violence was in 1988 when a social worker asked her to write an article on the subject.

"To my shame, I say today, I responded that I knew nothing about it. But, as a member of the Council of Women, I put my nose to the grindstone and did some research, visiting Dar Merhba Bik and speaking to the women and the nuns who took care of them.

Ms Cristina compiled the article but did not shelve the issue. "It became an obsession for me. I was truly shocked to find that, in Catholic Malta, there were so many victims." At the time, it was believed to be one in five, with upward trends around Christmas time and village feasts. The figures have not changed much!

Dar Merhba Bik was the only shelter at the time and the situation was "heart-rending": children over the age of one could not stay with their mothers; boys went one way and girls another, so, in reality, it was a four-way division of the family. The nuns were persuaded to keep the children until three and, eventually, the age limit went up.

Nevertheless, there were problems of space and funding, as well as a lack of recognition.

Ms Cristina recalls it was also a time when the local priest would tell victims, who confided in him, that it was simply the cross they had to bear and to be suffered in silence.

A pivotal moment in the history of domestic violence was marked by a meeting between the National Council of Women and then Social Policy Minister Louis Galea, who became highly sensitive to the issue. In fact, by the early 1990s, Dr Galea had set up an action team on violence against women, which eventually developed into an agency to look at immediate, short-term and long-term plans.

The major problem was how to get the women to speak out and ask for help. Being economically dependent and not wanting to remove their children from the family home, hopes and pressure were - and still are - the reasons for not voicing their pain.

What if they spoke up about it? Where would they go? How would they go about moving on and building a new life after Dar Merhba Bik? Would they find jobs and accommodation? In the early 1990s, a solution to these questions was planned and it was clear that a strong media campaign had to be embarked on. The Council of Women was a front runner on the project and held its first seminar, which was, however, poorly attended.

Ms Cristina was then asked to write an article for The Times. "It took me four days of blood and sweat to do it," she recalls. The feedback was of general incredulity, but the issue started to snowball and move onto TV. It started to pick up, despite scepticism, particularly from the women.

When the Social Welfare Development Programme was set up around 11 years ago, domestic violence started to be considered an issue and social workers began to tackle it, while university students treated the subject in their assignments.

In 1998, a White Paper was published but the process was stalled due to a change in government. The last draft was approved in Cabinet just a few weeks ago.

So, why has it taken so long? According to Ms Cristina, domestic violence is an emotional subject that provokes extreme and divergent views from lawyers, anthropologists, etc.

"Many fear that we could be breaking up more families than eventually helping," she points out.

Ms Cristina feels enough consultation has been carried out over the past years: the issue has been a subject of discussion for so long that consultation can even be done through reference to articles written on it.

Four weeks of feedback from four focused entities, within the ministry, were carried out once the draft bill was presented to Cabinet and approved. The entities that have discussed the draft bill in depth include the National Commission for Equality, the National Commission for the Family, the Office of the Commissioner for Children and the Coordinated Response Team on violence against women.

Ms Cristina and the parliamentary secretary in the Home Affairs Ministry Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, who is also at the forefront on domestic violence, met the members of the entities earlier this week to determine what fine-tuning is required before the Bill goes to Parliament.

From the EU

Swedish MEP Maria Carlshamre is drafting the first European Parliament own-initiative report on domestic violence, which is due to be adopted later on in the year. The first draft is to be discussed by the end of the month and the report should be voted on at the EP's September plenary session in Strasbourg.

In view of the lack of statistics on the issue, Ms Carlshamre is proposing to the European Commission to ask all the member states to carry out prevalence studies - "so that we know what we are talking about and so I can come back next year and propose measures to combat this properly. Until we know how big the problem is, all the measures will be a matter of guess work".

The lack of statistics in the EU on domestic violence is devastating, according to Ms Carlshamre, because it shows that the issue is still not considered important. But once the statistics are available, more concrete action can be taken.

In the second part of her report, Ms Carlshamre is highlighting the countries, cities and communities where good work is being carried out. She is calling it "name and fame" as opposed to "name and shame", for a change. "I believe that to achieve something, a light has to be shone on the positive aspects to encourage. If you focus on the bad things, you are just highlighting and continuing the shame circle I am totally against shame."

According to Ms Carlshamre, one of the problems in Malta, together with Greece, France, Italy and Ireland, is the fact that it is below the world average (15.6 per cent in national Parliaments) when it comes to the political representation of women.

Malta is the lowest, followed by Greece, Ireland, Italy and even France, she says, stressing the importance of the issue, particularly when it comes to making the political decisions necessary to confront this problem.

The rapporteur of the forthcoming report and member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, Ms Carlshamre is on a mission to get rid of this "invisible epidemic" over the next few years even though she is aware it is no small feat.

For Ms Carlshamre, domestic violence is "not a minor problem on the fringe of society, but the political issue of the moment".

She claims men's violence against women affects millions of women in the EU and could "turn out to be the largest human rights scandal of our time".

It is evident from the countries that have already carried out prevalence studies - Sweden, Finland, Germany and France - that almost 35 per cent of women have been exposed to criminalised physical and sexual violence.

"Once you realise that it affects one in three women in the EU - 30 per cent of half the population, amounting to about 70 million - you realise how serious it is. I cannot think of any other problem that affects so many people.

"But because it only affects women, it is not considered to be as important," she maintains.

A victim of domestic violence herself, Ms Carlshamre almost died at her husband's hands. The only difference was that, unlike many others, she overcame the fear and shame of admitting it. In her case, her husband was convicted, so she was free to move on with her life. But how many victims really are able to do this?, she questions.

The "invisible epidemic" will be made visible once women start talking about it; once they stop feeling shame and realise it is not their fault; that the perpetrators of the crime are the ones to blame and should feel ashamed.

"Once we reach the point when more women start going public, the bubble will burst... explode!"

Ms Carlshamre does not feel it is difficult to reach that point and refers to the situation of gays today: around 40 years ago, homosexuality was a criminal offence in many of the countries that are now EU members. Today, famous people can say they are gay and it is no longer something to be ashamed of.

Breaking the shame bubble is the most important thing, she says, urging women by using the gay term to "come out of the closet".

"I have come out of the closet: I've been beaten and battered, and I don't feel ashamed."

The law

The basis of the Domestic Violence Bill is to protect the victim of abuse and, particularly, the children, while bearing in mind the protection of society in general. Ideally, the aim is to be able to reunite families through therapy, although this is not always possible. The court would be able to submit the perpetrator to treatment.

The Domestic Violence Bill amends the Civil and Criminal Codes. The Criminal Code already tackles violence, but it is now being taken a step further to deal directly with domestic violence, meaning more protection, explains Maria Sciriha, who is involved in the drafting of the law.

The idea is to make it easier for victims to report to the police, who, in turn, would investigate and take legal action, depending on the results of the investigations.

One of the major changes the law would bring about is that victims would not need to lodge a formal complaint, making it easier for them to seek protection.

With the Domestic Violence Bill, a third party can go to the police on behalf of the victim. Anyone who is aware that domestic violence is going on should have the right to report and the police should have the duty to investigate, Dr Sciriha says.

As regards protection of the victims, there are certain issues that the court would have to consider and abide by; the court would be able to issue protection orders and the perpetrator could be restrained from accessing certain places, like the matrimonial home, together with various other prohibitions.

The Domestic Violence Bill, which is about to be moved in Parliament, does not, however, stop at protecting the victims and keeping the perpetrators at bay, but it also concerns the provision of treatment.

The Bill calls for the setting up of a commission and agency to deal specifically with matters of domestic violence and to advise the minister.

As regards punishments, domestic violence is to be considered as an aggravating circumstance, thereby making the punishment harsher, Dr Sciriha explains.

Although the law aims to offer protection to the victim, it is not, however, going to change the mentality unless it is accompanied by educational and media campaigns, Ms Cristina stresses. "We know that human nature, in its very essence, is difficult to alter."

No law on its own can change the incidence of domestic violence, she continues. It has not been the case in any other country - not even in Spain, which is praised for its effective laws, but had the highest homicide rate linked to domestic violence last year.

The CRT

The Coordinated Response Team (CRT) on violence against women, within the Family and Social Policy Ministry, was set up in 2000 to develop and implement a national plan action on violence against women and ensure a coordinated response. Composed of a variety of professionals, directly, or indirectly related to domestic violence, their role includes research and policy development and education.