Domestic violence: The silent epidemic

The month of May has witnessed some atrocious crimes committed against women. These cases have prompted society at large to call for actions against domestic violence. The Minister of Gender Equality, Aurore Perraud, has introduced amendments to the Protection from Domestic Violence Bill this week as a means to curb the growing trend. One in every four women will experience some form of gender-based violence in her life. The phenomenon of domestic violence is more common than what anecdotal evidence would suggest. According to the Sixteen Days of Activism 2015 Report, by Gender Links, about a quarter of women in Mauritius (24%) have experienced some form of gender violence in their lifetime including partner and non-partner violence. The President of SOS Femmes, Ambal Jeanne, reveals that the intensity of violence perpetrated within the couple has increased. According to her, the situation is already alarming. “The Ministry registers only the numbers which have been reported. However, there are many cases which go unreported. If one woman is voicing out about the atrocities she is facing, then eight others are keeping their silence. Many women do not report any abuse but they seek help with us. Since some years, many women are seeking help,” she shares.

The amendments to be brought to the Protection from Domestic Violence Act, domestic violence will now include the following acts where a person: (a) wilfully inflicting, or attempting to inflict, a wound or blow, or threatening to inflict a wound or blow; (b) wilfully or knowingly placing or attempting to place, or threatening to place, the spouse or the other person in fear of physical injury to himself or to one of his children; (c) intimidating, harassing, stalking, ill-treating, insulting, brutality or cruelty; (d) compelling the spouse or the other person by force or threat to engage in any conduct or act, sexual or otherwise, from which the spouse or the other person has the right to abstain; (e) confining or detaining the spouse or the other person, against his will; (f) harming, or threatening to harm, a child of the spouse; (g) causing or attempting to cause, or threatening to cause, damage to the spouse’s or the other person’s property; (h) depriving, without any lawful excuse, the spouse or other person of resources which the spouse or other person is entitled to or requires, or of payment for rent in respect of shared residence;

As per the Gender Links report, 23% of men admit to perpetrating violence against women in their lifetime. The report also reveals that most of the violence occurs within intimate relationships. “Almost a quarter of ever-partnered women (23%) have experienced while 22% of men perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime,” it says. However, the findings of the research carried out by Gender Links reveal that the actual levels of Gender-Based Violence in 2015 are higher than those reported in official statistics. Indeed “only 0.3% of Mauritian women reported domestic violence cases to the police while the prevalence of intimate partner violence reported in the survey is 15 times higher than that reported to the Family Support Bureaux.”

The myth

Ambal Jeanne from SOS Femmes says that domestic violence affects all social classes and ethnic groups but victims from high society never report. “It is a myth that only unemployed women and housewives are victims of domestic violence. Domestic violence happens across the board. Whatever the level of education or professional qualification, a woman can be victim of domestic violence. But eventually, many of them do not report the cases. Many of them have called us to seek advice. Among them we have doctors, wives of politicians and other professionals,” she affirms.

Gender Links Anushka Virahsawmy: “Problems can be solved without using violence”

Country Manager of Gender Links Mauritius, Anushka Virahsawmy says that she is angry and disgusted after hearing about the latest horrible crimes that took place over the past weeks. These cases indicate that there is more work to be done. “It is high time for people to understand that problems can be solved without using violence. However, if you have never learned to speak and communicate since a young age, it would be difficult but not impossible. We also have male perpetrators who come to us saying that they regret their violent actions.” According to Anushka Virahsawmy, we must identify the root cause to tackle domestic violence. “However, those who witness domestic violence, namely family members, often do not come forward to denounce. They are as much responsible and guilty of what has happened to the victims or what will happen to them.” The case of Eau-Bouillie is one too many for her. “Our society is sick. It is high time for mind-sets and attitudes to change. We need a well structured programme to give the necessary tools so as to empower victims. Also, victims must be willing to get out of their situation,” she adds.

She argues that this situation should be stopped and it can be done only when people will try to voice out their grievances. “It is the responsibility of each and every one to report cases of abuse even if they want to keep them anonymous. It is a vicious circle that we need to get of.” Latest cases of domestic violence:

Cindy Respoy, aged 35, was attacked by her partner. The latter threw caustic soda on her face. She is still fighting between life and death at the hospital.
Sanjay Luchmun, former bus conductor, has been sentenced to 35 years imprisonment for having burnt alive his partner Santee Okil aged 38 ans in 2009.
Vidhi Bumma, aged 28, was murdered by her husband. After killing her, he set fire to her corpse in a field at Eau-Bouillie.
A woman was arrested for abuse on her three children aged 6, 8 and 10 respectively.
A drunk man abused her daughter aged 2 and his son aged 9 months. According to sources it is not the first time that he abuses his children.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"18420","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-31438 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"287","height":"220","alt":"Aurore Perraud, Minister of Gender Equality"}}]]Aurore Perraud, Minister of Gender Equality: “Abusers will now leave their homes instead of victims”

What are your views regarding the recent cases of domestic violence? I see that crimes are becoming more and more violent and gruesome. It is worrying to see the rising trend. However, with all the work we are accomplishing at the Ministry and the amendments to the Protection from Domestic Violence Bill (PDVA), I firmly believe that this will help to decrease the number of domestic violence victims and better help and empower them. Nevertheless, I believe that legislations only will not be able to solve the problem. We also need a broader structure around the law, for example give the necessary tools to those who are in contact and work with the victims, police officers, those working in hospital and officers of my Ministry as well. All these people must work hand in hand to allow the change to happen. In addition, each and every family must understand and become conscious that values are important. Thus, the change must occur within our society itself. We must stop saying what will the government and the Minister do and even less that we must introduce capital punishment to resolve the problem. Will the problem be solved if we kill the one who has killed? It is definitely not the solution. Capital punishment is too easy. Victims have to move out of their homes to go to shelters when they are victims of domestic violence. How will the legal amendments change this situation? Actually, victims have to move from their homes to go to shelters while abusers still stay at home. The Bill will now reverse the situation by making abusers leave their homes instead of victims. In addition, marital rape will also become punishable by law. In most cases, victims do not leave their partners because they think they love the person or even believe that it is right for them to be beaten. Also, abusers often suffer from psychological problems or have themselves been victims of domestic violence during their childhood or they have witnessed it at home. We believe that the Bill will thus change the situation. Despite strong legislations, cases abound. Why, in your opinion, is this still happening and what should be done to curb the situation? I believe that there has not been work done at society’s level. People just speak or read about it, they are shocked but then, no action follows and they go back to their usual routine. This is why I am making an appeal to all Mauritians to be the agents of change. We must imperatively go back to our values and consolidate our bases, which is the family cell. It is true that it is a difficult task to change mentalities and to build a person. The perfect family does not exist. It requires much love and perseverance. But let us be the change ourselves. For example, we have the Shared Faith Belief Programme where we work with the priests and also the Workshop for Parents. On June 16, we will celebrate the African Child. We will seize the occasion to sensitise children and make them become conscious that they should be respected and that there are laws protecting them. Unfortunately, we will get more cases in the future. I am not defeatist but I am realistic and also very optimist regarding the upcoming PDVA.

Darmen Appadoo: “The problem is getting worse day by day”

The President of SOS Papa – advocacy group for male victims of domestic violence – states that the situation is becoming more alarming day by day. “The intensity and atrocities have aggravated and it will be no surprise if we see the trend even more disastrous in the near future.” According to him, women are not the only one who suffers from atrocities but men also are victims. “Blackmailing and psychological torture against men often give rise to retaliation. These cases are never reported by men, as they do not have a support system as compared to women. In many cases, women benefit a lot in terms of protection and they more often misuse it. Many men are often subjected to physical violence but they cannot report it to the police for fear of being laughed at,” he says. He argues that recently there have been three cases where three men were victims of atrocities. “The first case was about a woman who killed her husband, the second one where the wife burned the husband and for the third one, the wife stabbed her husband in the back. Often, wives claim self defence. So, the problem is getting worse day by day. Men are also increasingly victims.”

Testimonies

Annie: “I have lived an awful life”

Annie (fictitious name) has been traumatised for more than 11 years now. This 42 year-old mother of three has been living an awful life. Her partner is an alcoholic and very abusive. “He has been sequestrating me since we are together. He never let me go out of the house. I still remember how he treated me when I was pregnant. I felt suffocated. Whenever he would go out, he used to fill a bag with all my personal documents and took it with him. He used to beat my elder child a lot,” she shares painfully. In the beginning, she through that his partner’s attitude might change but nothing as such occurred. “I thought maybe he was jealous but his actions were getting more violent by the day. We were not allowed to watch TV or go outside,” she says. Tired and frustrated with her life, Annie decided to leave the house with her children. “I will never return as I know he will never change,” she says.

Dorine: “Learn how to live with violence”

Dorine is a Gender Links beneficiary under the entrepreneurship programme. She explained how she has been living in fear since 43 years. She was victim of domestic violence and with time, she had to learn how to live with violence. In fact, violence was part of her life and she was used to getting beaten up. Dorine explained that she accepted violence and started to believe that she had to be beaten by her husband if she does something that the man would see as wrong. She was living in constant fear for years now and even today, after the death of her husband, she is still in fear and does everything just on time as she was instructed by her husband. (Source: Gender Links)

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