APPENDIX I

"VIOLENCE IN THE AMERICAS"

Deficiencies and Trends Identified in Research

Prepared by Roxana Arroyo

To draft recommendations based on the analysis of data collected to strengthen actions taken by Latin American countries to comply with and implement the Belem do Pará Convention.

To review and evaluate the progress made in the implementation of specific policies and measures related to the Convention in the countries selected in the different regions.

• To identify the types and effectiveness of policies aimed at preventing, punishing, and eradicating violence, as well as mechanisms for implementation.
  
• To obtain information about the specific measures and programs adopted in each country and their evaluation, if applicable.
  
• To point out difficulties and obstacles regarding the implementation or application of the policies and measures set forth in the Convention.
  
• To establish a relationship between measures to implement the Convention and their impact on the factors that contribute to violence against women.

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Brasil [National Programs to Prevent, Punish, and Eradicate Violence Against Women in Brazil] (Consultants: Leila Linhares Barsted and Jacqueline Hermann) August 2000.

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Chile [National Programs to Prevent, Punish, and Eradicate Violence Against Women in Chile] (Consultants: Lorena Fries and Paula Salvo) August 2000.

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Ecuador [National Programs to Prevent, Punish, and Eradicate Violence Against Women in Ecuador] (Consultant: Rocío Salgado) August 2000.

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Paraguay [National Programs to Prevent, Punish, and Eradicate Violence Against Women in Paraguay] (Consultants: Line Bareiro, María Molinas, and Marilut Lluis O’Hara) August 2000.

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Perú [National Programs to Prevent, Punish, and Eradicate Violence Against Women in Peru] (Consultant: Marcela Huaita) August 2000.

 

• Women's movement on a global level
• World Conferences on Women
• World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna
• Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM)
• United Nations General Assembly
• Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
• United Nations Commission on Human Rights
• Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

• Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (June 9, 1994)
• Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
• United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women

• Formal-regulatory component
• Structural component
• Political-cultural component

INDICATORS USED - TWO CATEGORIES - INDICATORS AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE INDICATOR

Based on Articles 7 and 8 of the Convention; immediate and progressive in nature for States.

Examples:

" … to refrain from engaging in any act or practice of violence against women and to ensure that their authorities, officials, personnel, agents, and institutions act in conformity with this obligation; "

Obligation by the State to refrain from violence against women

(1) Keeping of records of police documentation on offenses perpetrated against women (sexual violence, sexual abuse, aggression, injuries, homicide, procuration, corruption, etc.).

Statistical Yearbook of the Judiciary

Criminal Division in the Office of the Attorney General

Judicial Inspection Office of the Judiciary

Non-governmental human rights organizations

The keeping of records, broken down by gender, showing a small number of offenses committed by government officials against women reflects improvement of the indicator.

Mechanism for the prevention of acts of violence committed by government officials and corrective action

1) Records pertaining to the violation of the human rights of women in detention.

Ministries of Security

Women's prisons

The fact that mechanisms are in place for the prevention of acts of violence and for corrective action and that such acts are being brought to light shows improvement of this indicator.

"to promote awareness and observance of the right of women to be free from violence, and the right of women to have their human rights respected and protected."

Promotion of the human rights of women

1) Number of campaigns and coverage related to the dissemination of the human rights of women, in particular the right of women to a life free of violence.

Government women's affairs offices

Various ministries

The fact that the number of campaigns on the human rights of women has risen and information is being disseminated more widely shows improvement of the indicator.

Special services for poor populations (immigrants, senior citizens, pregnant women, etc.).

Ministry of Health

Women's affairs office

The fact that there are high-quality specialized services for poor populations shows improvement of the indicator.

• Mechanisms adopted for implementation of the Convention

Trend: government entities responsible for the implementation of policies, programs, and activities related to women are in place.

No specific mechanisms are in place for the implementation of the Convention.

• Programs to promote awareness-building and respect for the right of women to be free of violence (8)(a)

Initially, those programs were being promoted from within the civil society by women's NGOs; more recently, there has been a trend towards the individual activities or activities coordinated with national women's mechanisms in each country.

Lack of sustainability of campaigns, absence of time frames and specific goals, and, in many instances, the fact that plans are not obligatory and governments change.

• Programs to heighten public awareness regarding the problem and solutions to violence against women (8e)

Trend: execution of these programs largely by civil society women's organizations. A number of national women's mechanisms are beginning to engage in activities that are sometimes more and sometimes less permanent in nature and sustainable.

Need for the development, on an ongoing basis, of programs to disseminate information on the rights of women.

• Programs to encourage the communications media to contribute to the eradication of violence against women (8)(g)

Trend: absence of programs, incentives, or contests that encourage the mass media to prepare programs aimed at the prevention and eradication of violence.

Lack of systematic communications policies on the part of governments and of appropriate legislation.

Trend: progress is being made in the formal-regulatory area.

This progress is taking place largely in the structural and political/cultural spheres.

• Legal practices and rules of procedure

Trend: sexist stereotyping that prevents judicial proceedings related to violence against women from taking place in accordance with the principles established by the Convention.

Practices such as conciliation as a mandatory procedure, absence of time periods for protective measures, skepticism by officials of the justice system regarding the claims of victims, obstacles to the filing of complaints against spouses, and the need to prove that acts are habitual in nature, among others.

Trend: the development, in the educational and cultural spheres, of programs designed to change social-cultural patterns, largely through the Ministries of Education, in conjunction with national mechanisms.

Trend: efforts to protect women from violence tend to be confined, almost exclusively, to the domestic sphere. The development of laws related to the family and in the labor-related, criminal, and administrative spheres is being observed.

In many cases, there is no unified legal approach to addressing violence against women, or the Convention is overlooked when criminal codes and codes of criminal procedure are being amended or drafted.

• Criminal law and criminal proceedings

Trend: progress is being made in the area of criminal law through the elimination, in the regulatory sphere, of sexist legislation.

Despite this progress, laws that violate the Convention need to be amended in a number of countries where the concept of women as being morally upright remain in place, ongoing coercion that is not serious in nature is not considered to be a form of violence, incest is not classified as an offense, excusing the relationship of the victim with the aggressor in a domestic context, and forms of violence that are not physical in nature are not taken into account.

• Administrative measures

Laws establish the State institutions with law-enforcement authority and adoption by them of the measures necessary.

In some instances, there are no policies that permit a specific course of action to be outlined to address specific cases of domestic violence.

Trend: a lack of specific legislation in this area and a dearth of statistical information, broken down by sex, related to acts of violence against women by public officials.

A policy needs to be put in place permitting the development of mechanisms for preventing and taking corrective action related to violence. Also, proper records need to be kept that make it possible to expose the problem and to make officials accountable for acts of violence committed against women.

In most countries, there are no manuals of procedure geared towards the police, related to violence, that are consistent with model policies.

• Prevention of violence against women who are in detention

General trend: violation of the human rights of women in detention.

Absence of prison policies aimed at this group and a lack of documentation on this situation.

• Programs to promote education of persons involved with the administration of justice (8 in.c)

Trend: this training has taken place largely at the initiative of non-governmental organizations. A change has been noted in some countries where this task is being assumed by the State through its programs.

Absence of a training policy and of records, broken down by sex, regarding officials who receive some form of training.

Trend: the existence of institutions, not widespread in nature, that result from a mandate to monitor the execution of actions related to the prevention and enforcement of laws that shield women from violence.

This effort is limited by the absence of public oversight entities, the absence of conditions for the proper functioning of institutions which in some way make a contribution in this area, and, in particular, a paucity of mechanisms to sanction and correct procedures.

• Procedures and practices related to law-enforcement

Trend: the persistence of serious problems despite the initiatives taken in this area by the different countries.

Problems related to the receipt of complaints because of a lack of physical evidence of abuse and a lack of knowledge of the evidentiary value of medical certificates, among others.

Problems in terms of actions to protect the victim, the failure to adopt the measures necessary to protect the integrity of the victim, and scant involvement by the police.

Need to recognize the effectiveness of conciliation as a way of dealing with the problem of domestic violence.

Trend: in terms of the practices of public prosecutors, there is a great deal of bias, prejudice, and sexist preconceptions in the enforcement of laws related to domestic violence in particular or proceedings that are similar in nature conducted in the criminal sphere.

Trend: the existence of precautionary and protective measures in those countries that have laws targeting domestic violence.

Deficiencies are seen at the level of enforcement, the paucity of resources, and the need for evidence that is inconsistent with such acts.

• Criminalization of harassment and intimidation

General trend: absence of criminal classification.

Need to enact legislation related to harassment or intimidation.

• Protection of victims and witnesses

Trend: the existence of legal provisions containing measures to protect both victims and witnesses.

Current trend: adoption of a series of measures to facilitate access to the justice system, although serious obstacles to the full enjoyment of this right persist.

Non-compliance with legal obligations by a number of public officials such as doctors, the police, justice officials, and a dearth of free services particularly in the rural areas.

• Programs for the proper provision of specialized services to victims of violence against women (8 in. d)

Trend: the existence of programs to provide specialized services to women who are victims of violence, largely in the area of psychological care, legal services, and a number of services that involve mediation, medical care, and police intervention. However, a number of problems persist.

There is a dearth of rehabilitation services for women who are victims of violence in the region.

There is no care and custody facility in any of the countries of the region for minors who are directly or indirectly affected by violence against women.

Trend: in most of the countries studied, there is formal recognition of this right to prompt reparations for damages.

These take the form of a lack of adherence to provisions, the need for other judicial proceedings, the absence of proper administrative procedures that guarantee compensation, and scant regulations.

Trend: a comprehensive policy permitting the eradication of these transnational forms of violence against women is not in place.

Absence of systematized data and of diagnostic tools and studies related to this phenomenon, in particular in the area of trafficking and prostitution.

Trend (virtually widespread): the absence of data broken by sex, periodic compiling of statistics, or programs for the collection of data on violence against women.

Need for a comprehensive policy that permits data, broken down by sex, to be obtained from different entities, institutions, and organizations working in the area of gender-related violence against women.

Need to conduct criminal investigations on the nature and scope of violence against women on an ongoing basis.

Need to improve the statistical information already available regarding the form and type of data collected.

Absence, within judicial systems, of information on prosecution related to violence against women.

Absence, within police institutions, of statistical information regarding violence against women and domestic violence.

Failure to monitor official statistics generated by the national women's mechanism.