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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Journalists for children and women rights and
protection of environment in Macedonia
Presented by: Natasha Dokovska
Violence against women
Article 1 of the UN Declaration on the Elimination
of Violence against Women states that:
“The term ‘violence against women’ means any act
of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in,
physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including
threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty,
whether occurring in public or in private life.”
Violence against women
Gender-based violence
According to the UN Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women, gender-based violence against women is
violence “directed against a woman because she is a woman or that
affects women disproportionately.”
Such violence takes many forms, among them murder;
stabbing; beating; rape; torture; sexual abuse; sexual harassment;
threats and humiliation; forced prostitution and trafficking.
Violence against women
Violence may be physical, psychological, and
sexual. It may be
Manifested through deprivation or neglect as well
as through overt use of force or harassment.
Violence against women
Perpetrators include, but are not limited to:
A) Intimate partners and other members of the
family;
B) Employers (including of domestic workers),
superiors and colleagues at work;
C) State
officials, such as police, prison guards, soldiers, border guards, and
immigration officials;
D) Members of
criminal gangs;
E) Members of
armed groups.
Violence against women
Women are victims of violence:
In the Family, On the Job, Street crime
Violence against women
For every woman killed or physically injured by
firearms, many more are threatened.
Most women who are victims of gun violence experience
multiple types of abuse beforehand, including sexual, psychological
and/or physical attacks. Patterns of attack are similar across cultures
and often involve shooting family pets as a warning or bringing guns out
for cleaning during an argument. As many women are emotionally involved
and economically dependent on those who abuse them it can be extremely
difficult to leave the situation.
Violence against women
NGO – Journalists for children and women rights and
protection of environment in Macedonia conducted some research on the
issues of guns violence under the women in the country
Violence against women
Being shot increases the chance of death by 12 times
compared to other means of violence.
According our last research one woman in three is
victim of family violence, and one woman in four is victim of gun
violence
Violence against women
In our country domestic Violence is a public health
epidemic that is greatly intensified with the easy access and
availability of firearms
The research say that 47% of domestic violence
homicides are from firearms.
Violence against women
Domestic violence homicides are 6.2 times more likely
to occur in homes with guns than homes without guns.
In homicides where the weapon was known, 38% of
female homicide victims were killed with a firearm. Of those female
firearm homicides, 82% were killed with a handgun.
Violence against women
Guns are used by domestic abusers: to gain control
and power in a relationship
Violence against women
In Macedonia the reasons for abuse are:
Alcohol, Jealousy, Economic dependency, Ethnic
intolerance
Violence against women
Intimate partner violence is the most common form of
violence in women’s lives worldwide.
In Macedonia, according JCWE’s research at least one
in every fourth woman will be physically abused at least once in their
live.
Violence against women
The women in Macedonia are abused in their own home
The abuser is very well known by victim. It’s:
Husband, boyfriend or other male relatives
Violence against women
While gun related domestic violence occurs in
peaceful settings as well as in conflict zones, domestic abuse
increases during and after conflict.
After a conflict officially ends, guns circulate in
the community.
Post-conflict stress, combined with economic
prospects and a reduction in basic services, contribute to the dynamics
of domestic violence after war.
In Macedonia after the war conflict in 2002, more
than 63 % of women were victims of domestic violence, often at the hands
of men who had kept the small arms they used during the war.
Violence against women
Justice systems have historically overlooked violence
against women, and human rights standards have tended to perceive the
‘private sphere’ as outside the scope of state interventions.
While legal protections for women experiencing
domestic violence exist in 45 countries, many of these laws are not
regularly enforced, especially during periods of conflict where domestic
violence incidents are likely to be seen as irrelevant to the broader
issues of conflict.
Violence against women
Macedonia has a law against family violence but
unfortunately it exists only on paper
Until now there has been only one case where the
women killed her alcoholic husband during the violence. The women was
absolved
Violence against women
JCWE in collaboration with other women NGO in our
country and other regional women organisations work on campaigns to draw
attention to intimate partner violence.
In the frame of the effort of IANSA and other
international partner organisations we work to:
Introduce strong domestic small arms legislation
reinforced by rigorous regional and international agreements as an
essential step to improve the safety of women against gun related
domestic violence.
• Support the development of gender-sensitive
international agreements concerning small arms and peace building.
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