Studies show that more than one out of every four women in Malta has experienced domestic violence at some point in her life. Victim Support Malta director Roberta Lepre says that, despite all efforts, the figures clearly show there is something we’re missing. Abuse against women and girls continues to happen on a daily basis.
I write this article just after having attended the One Billion Rising event organised in Malta. One Billion Rising is a global activity, which called for women and men to walk out of their jobs, schools, offices, homes on February 14 and strike, rise and dance... with the aim of raising awareness about violence against women and girls.
Other forms of sexual abuse, including rape of both adults and children, are reported in fairly alarming numbers, and we know that such cases are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg
The event was organised to commemorate V-Day’s 15th anniversary. Locally, it was coord-inated by Lorraine Camilleri in collaboration with Newark School, Victim Support Malta, the Sliema local council and the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations. It was a great success.
But what happens after? Many of us directly involved in the sector have, over the past years, dedicated endless hours to raising awareness about the problem of gender-based violence, including domestic violence and sexual abuse, and informing the public about the extent of this atrocity and where and how to seek help.
Laws have been enacted, projects implemented and relevant stakeholders trained to be able to deal with such situations.
Support services provided both by the state and the voluntary sector are available to everyone free of charge. Yet violence against women and girls continues to happen on a daily basis.
The Commission on Domestic Violence’s prevalence study shows that more than one out of every four women in Malta has experienced domestic violence at some point in her life. A study on date rape carried out in 2008 found that 16 per cent of young women had experienced unwanted sex.
Other forms of sexual abuse, including rape of both adults and children, are reported in fairly alarming numbers, and we know that such reported cases are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
The figures, therefore, clearly show that we are missing something. Despite everyone’s best efforts, we are failing to reduce the incidence of such atrocities.
Is it perhaps because we are placing most of our energies into addressing these situations after they arise, rather than on attempting to prevent them from happening in the first place?
This is the question on the basis of which Victim Support Malta recently implemented the project Strengthening Crime Prevention among EU member states, which included, among other things, an international conference that provided a forum for members of victim support organisations across the EU, as well as a number of relevant local stakeholders, to discuss the topic of crime prevention and develop ideas for future cooperation in this field.
Within the scope of gender-based violence, this topic also closely ties in with a number of provisions contained in the landmark Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which opened for signatures on May 11, 2011, and which Malta has also recently signed.
The convention puts the onus on states to adopt the obligation of due diligence, and this in line with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (Opuz v Turkey, 2009), through which the court established that the positive obligation to protect the right to life (Article 2 ECHR) requires state authorities to display due diligence, for example by taking preventive operational measures, in protecting an individual whose life is at risk.
Prevention of gender-based violence is complex and entails a cultural and attitudinal change
Thus the convention imposes upon signatory states the obligation to enable all the relevant authorities to “diligently prevent” such acts of violence.
The convention also includes a whole chapter on a variety of provisions pertaining to prevention.
In line with the provisions of the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: Crime prevention in the European Union, the convention also emphasises the strategic role that local authorities can play in preventing crime, including violence against women.
Prevention of gender-based violence is complex and entails a cultural and attitudinal change. It entails data collection, research, life-skills education and targeted and effective gender equality education. The collaboration of community stakeholders in implementing these activities is a key factor for success.
Will we rise to this challenge?