Loretta Frederick and Kristine Lizdas

There has been much robust conversation of late regarding the compatibility of restorative justice practices with cases involving domestic violence. At times this conversation places well-intentioned and peace-oriented advocates at odds with one another. This article attempts to explain why this tension exists, and provide an impetus for productive future dialogue.

While much popular sentiment in the U.S. continues to favor more aggressive law enforcement and ever-harsher penalties for criminal offenders generally[1] pockets of retribution-worn community members have introduced alternative social responses to criminal behavior. These responses are directed at treating criminal acts as fissures in a community, calling for the community members themselves to play a role in healing these fissures, rather than as individual acts of deviance subject to castigation. These emerging practices fall under the rubric of “restorative justice.” Restorative justice encompasses a broad spectrum of activities and programs designed as responses to crime that are alternatives to the approaches of the criminal justice system.[2]  “Restorative justice is a problem-solving approach to crime, which involves the parties themselves, and the community generally, in an active relationship with statutory agencies.”[3]

Beginning in the decade prior to the emergence of the restorative justice movement, battered women and their advocates coalesced to form what proved to be a growing campaign to stop domestic violence. Advocates had identified a specific form of violence that occurs in the intimate partner setting. Most intimate relationship violence by men against women is committed in the context of the offender's use of power and control tactics including intimidation and threats.[4]  While most of the new "battered women's movement" activities involved the provision of support, advocacy and safe housing to battered women, a predominant theme of the movement was and is the need to shift community norms away from tolerance and support of this violence. One of the most sustained foci of that effort was the reform of what many would argue is the penultimate norms-defining force: the criminal justice system. In fact, for the past several decades, the battered women’s movement has pushed the criminal justice system to treat domestic violence as a crime against the state and as a matter of public concern, rather than a private, family matter. In order to accomplish this transformation, battered women’s advocates worked to create partnerships with criminal justice system professionals.

These collaborations, however, were approached with ambivalence by some advocate activists; others objected outright to joint work with law enforcement and prosecution. This tension has several points of origin. Firstly, the results of such collaborations (such as mandatory arrest for domestic assault) sometimes clash with other fundamental tenets of the battered women’s movement, such as the need to promote women's autonomy and to resist the gender based oppression of women. Secondly, activists saw that different groups of battered women experienced criminal justice system involvement in their lives differently. Often these differences reflected their class, race, immigration status or sexual orientation. Thirdly, civil legal remedies (and other non-legal remedies) were sometimes seen as far more useful to women than those available through the criminal justice system.

Despite these concerns, however, many activists were encouraged by the growing evidence that a well-designed criminal justice system response to domestic violence could actually deter batterers and might, in the long term, contribute to a shifting of community norms through the criminalization of domestic violence. Advocates viewed reform of the criminal justice system as best accomplished through training and other advocacy activities designed to change police, prosecution, probation, and court practices. The resulting collaborations became some of the most important work of many domestic violence programs. To this day, the battered women’s movement’s attempts to reform the criminal justice system in partnership with its professionals continue to flourish.

Restorative justice proponents are, for several reasons, looking to the area of domestic violence as a potential arena for the application of restorative justice practices. At its outset, restorative justice took root in cases involving juveniles, and within indigenous communities.  Its practitioners felt that the restorative justice principles were especially compatible in these contexts. Aware that domestic violence cases have begun to be and might continue to be subjected to these new practices, advocates within the battered women’s movement have been watching the evolution of the restorative justice movement with both interest and apprehension.

Multiple scholars and activists have highlighted the more obvious incompatibilities between restorative justice practices and the experiences of victims of domestic violence. For example, restorative justice practices assume family and community members share a sophisticated analysis of a particularly complicated form of violence. Restorative justice practices do not account for the level of fear and experience of entrapment suffered by victims of domestic violence, or the ongoing access perpetrators have to their victims. Restorative justice practices assume perpetrators do not understand the ramifications of their criminal behavior or its full impact on victims of domestic violence. The list goes on.

However, there has been less acknowledgement by the battered women’s movement of the those real areas of overlap between the two movements. Significantly, an analysis of the principles underlying the restorative justice and battered women’s movements reveals that there are at least four strong points of commonality.  These are the movements' interests in (1) restoring victims of crime; (2) preventing individual offenders from re-offending; (3) promoting the role of the community in responding to crime; and (4) addressing the social context in which crime is committed.  But it is how each movement implements these principles that vary vastly. Each movement endorses very different approaches and quite disparate practices.  As outlined below, these differences are the result of each movement having arisen from a unique political standpoint and in response to different social problems.

Future directions for both movements, both individually and possibly collectively, should be driven by four goals which the authors submit should drive all interventions in domestic violence cases:  (1) the restoration of battered women’s safety, autonomy and agency; (2) the prevention of further violence by batterers against their intimate partners; (3) the restoration/establishment of egalitarianism and peace as a community standard for conduct in intimate relationships; and (4) the attaining solutions to the social context of crime.

            The ability of the battered women’s or the restorative justice movements to effectively stop future violence and restore of battered women’s safety, autonomy and agency will depend on whether both movements account for the fact that a primary facet of battering is the abuser’s restriction of his partner’s liberty—controlling how she spends her time, whom she sees, where she goes.    Consequently, success depends on doing more than stopping the offender from committing other violent and intimidating acts.   Because the circumstances in a woman’s life over which she has little or no control (such as economics, education/training, discrimination, language, gender, immigration status, housing, physical health, mental health,  social  status, and socio-cultural practices)  may be manipulated by the abuser to victimize her,  the social, legal and moral climate in the community must address that risk, as well.

The battered women’s movement, which has long focused on victim safety and autonomy, must do more to assist and partner with women’s own communities and to help organize around the issues chosen by the women in the community.   Battered women's advocates must continue to insist on effective criminal justice system responses to domestic violence while avoiding heavy reliance on that system.  And they must redouble their efforts to ensure that women have access to competent legal advocates and attorneys.  But most of all, advocates must engage with women to look beyond the civil and criminal justice systems to their (or their abusers') families, friends, employers, faith communities, and neighbors to build support for the women, to increase their safety, and to encourage the batterers to cease their violence.

The restorative justice movement, too, has evolved practices which are designed to advance the safety and autonomy of crime victims.   Victim-offender mediation, for example, has placed the emphasis upon victim healing, offender accountability, and restoration of losses. But any process that places the battered woman in a negotiating relationship with her source of fear offers her a false promise of hope and might, therefore, place her in danger.  It is critical that all currently utilized restorative justice practices should include screening for and exclusion of cases involving domestic violence.   Restorative justice practices which might have the most potential for restoring battered women’s safety, autonomy and agency would include those which involve her and her abuser’s community in a real and productive fashion which accounts for the prevalence of norms that tolerate and support violence against women.   New practices must be designed which (realistically) enhance victim safety, prevent violence, establish community wide norms which reject such violence, and address the social context of this kind of crime.  If the engagement of community members, which is the hallmark of restorative justice theory, were done for the purpose of creating a world (or at least a neighborhood) in which men and women were equally safe and free of coercive controls in their relationships, and if that work were done in concert with the movement already engaged in sending that message, serious progress in meeting these four goal would be possible. 

The mandate for both movements is both clear and challenging. The only hope of meeting the challenges lies in each movement’s responsiveness to the other and most importantly to the battered women whose lives can best inform the direction they take. The battered women’s movement needs to engage with and listen to the restorative justice movement and to rethink what remedies upon which to focus. The battered women’s movement needs to engage with other progressive movements who are already advocating for the needs of battered women from other vantage points and addressing other life-generated problems. The restorative justice movement needs to engage with and learn from the battered women’s movement about the central nature of domestic violence and the true needs of battered women.

 By Mary C. Ellison, Esq., Staff Attorney, The Advocates for Human Rights

(First published in Fall 2009 Issue of With Equal Right: The Official Journal of Minnesota Women Lawyers, Volume XXXIII, Issue 11)

In September 2008, The Advocates for Human Rights published a report entitled “Sex Trafficking Needs Assessment for the State of Minnesota.”  In that report, we concluded that “effectively combating sex trafficking in Minnesota will require a paradigm shift in the way the criminal justice system currently handles sex trafficking and prostitution cases. The paradigm must shift from an approach that technically criminalizes the activity, but in practice tolerates sexual exploitation, to one that aggressively prosecutes those who exploit women, girls, boys, and other vulnerable populations.”[1]  Now, a year later, the question we ask:  “Is the paradigm shifting?” 

Early evidence to support the conclusion that our response to sex trafficking in Minnesota is shifting includes:

• Recent amendments to strengthen the Minnesota criminal law on sex trafficking;
• Media reports on the “Minnesota Nice Guys,” which uncovered the fact that traffickers and “johns” do not behave like clean-cut, trustworthy, and blameless men[2];
• Law enforcement efforts that hold the traffickers and “johns” accountable rather than punishing the victims of the crime of sex trafficking;
• A more coordinated and strengthened community response involving a number of non-profit organizations and coalitions as well as government agencies; and
• The expansion of the Gerald D. Vick Human Trafficking Task Force to the Duluth area.

While cautiously optimistic given such positive evidence, we await additional indications that the paradigm has permanently shifted, including evidence of:

• Aggressive prosecution of the “Minnesota Nice Guys” and other pending sex trafficking cases;
• Protecting victims by offering assistance and refraining from charging them with a prostitution offense when it was the consequence of being trafficked;
• Amended Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines that address the disparities between sentences for those who engage in the sex trafficking of juveniles vs. those who engage in criminal sexual conduct with juveniles;
• Training for law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges that incorporates both the federal and Minnesota sex trafficking legal definitions and frameworks; and
• Dedicated and permanent government funding for supportive services and benefits for trafficking victims.     

Strengthened State Sex Trafficking Law

In May 2009, the Minnesota Senate (67-0) and the Minnesota House (134-0) unanimously passed the “Bill for an Act to Combat Trafficking in Minnesota”.  The governor signed the bill into law on May 21, 2009 backed by this strong bi-partisan message that Minnesota will not tolerate the sale of human beings for sex. 

The amendments to Minnesota’s sex trafficking law, which took effect on August 1, 2009, will enable law enforcement and prosecutors to better hold the perpetrators of sex trafficking accountable.[3]  Specifically, the amendments to the law:

• Provide law enforcement and prosecutors with the ability to arrest and charge sex traffickers with higher penalties when an offender repeatedly trafficks individuals into prostitution, where bodily harm is inflicted, where an individual is held more than 180 days, or where more than one victim is involved;

• Increase the fines for those who sell human beings for sex; 
• Criminalize the actions of those individuals who receive profit from sex trafficking;
• Categorize sex trafficking with other “crimes of violence” to ensure that those who sell others for sex are prohibited from possessing firearms; and
• Add sex trafficking victims to those victims of “violent crime” who are protected from employer retaliation if they participate in criminal proceedings against their traffickers.

While the amendments represent a step toward a paradigm shift, we must monitor the implementation of the law to ensure that prosecutors use it effectively to hold sex traffickers accountable for their grave human rights violations.  In addition, we must monitor the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines to ensure that they reflect the appropriate penalties given the statutory changes and also address the disparities in sentencing when juveniles are involved.

A Coordinated and Strengthened Community Response

In addition to the efforts of the coalition of organizations on the Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force that lobbied for and passed the amendments to Minnesota’s sex trafficking law, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, the Sergeant Gerald D. Vick Trafficking Task Force, and several key members of the coalition have teamed up to make presentations around the state to attorneys, advocates, and the community.  A number of organizations in the coalition have communicated about plans to better serve trafficked persons and promote prosecution and prevention, resulting in less duplication of efforts. 

Awaiting Other Signs of a Paradigm Shift

Attorneys should carefully monitor the implementation of both the federal law and the Minnesota law.  The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act has a number of new standards, which may make proving “force, fraud or coercion” easier, however, only the prosecution of such cases will reveal whether this is true.[4]  Attorneys should also analyze whether the Minnesota law will protect those victims who fall through the gaps of the federal law and will hold traffickers accountable. 

What Can Lawyers Do to Assist Victims and Hold Traffickers Accountable?

Lawyers called upon to represent trafficking victims should consult the American Bar Association handbook entitled “Meeting the Legal Needs of Human Trafficking Victims:  An Introduction for Domestic Violence Attorneys and Advocates.”[5]  The handbook provides resources and practice pointers related to identifying trafficked persons, civil legal remedies, and comprehensive client care.  The handbook does not specifically address the Minnesota law, however, it serves as a good starting point for attorneys representing trafficked persons.   

Minnesota attorneys may also assist victims and hold traffickers accountable by helping to monitor changes in Minnesota’s law, participating in coalitions working to combat sex trafficking, seeking out training, and creating policies and procedures.  In fact, the Sex Trafficking Needs Assessment recommended that attorneys: 

1. Participate in training relevant to effective prosecution of sex trafficking, and to identifying and assisting trafficked persons as defined by federal and state law.
2. Ensure that legal and other types of assistance are provided to trafficked persons for the duration of any criminal, civil or other actions against suspected traffickers. These services should be provided equally and confidentially to U.S. citizens and foreign nationals and be sensitive to age, culture, language, sexual orientation and gender identity.
3. Institute policies and procedures that ensure that trafficked persons, including those defined as victims under Minnesota law, are not detained, charged, or prosecuted for their involvement in unlawful activities to the extent that such involvement is a consequence of having been trafficked.
4. Expand the use of task forces such as the Sergeant Gerald D. Vick Human Trafficking Task Force to include other communities in Minnesota, or create similarly organized, regionally-based task forces. The goal should be to create a network of professionals able to respond immediately to sex trafficking cases; communicate regularly about cases, good practices and obstacles; develop systems for data collection and sharing; and develop common prosecution methodologies, policies, and procedures for joint or multi-jurisdictional investigations among federal, state, tribal, and local agencies.

Working together, Minnesota’s legal profession can uphold Minnesota’s legacy of protecting women and children from violence.  Sex trafficking is the second largest – and fastest growing – criminal industry in the world.  In 2008, traffickers made $31 billion buying and selling humans.[6]  As attorneys, we have both the education and the tools to shift the paradigm and put an end to this grave human rights violation.  Please help send the message that “Buying Sex Stops Here.”[7]

Strangulation continues to be a serious threat to the lives of women and children.  In fact, strangulation often foreshadows the escalation of violence and even homicidal intent.  Understanding, investigating, and preventing strangulation is complicated by the fact that legal standards are changing, investigations are often inadequate, and prevention is hampered by minimization of strangulation.  Strangulation accounts for ten percent of violent deaths in the United States according to a 2001 study published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine.  From 1989 to 2005 in Minnesota, thirteen percent of all women murdered by an intimate partner were strangled to death and seventeen percent of all children murdered by a family member were strangled to death according to the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women’s 2005 Special Femicide Report. In her recent article  "'And Then He Choked Me:'"  Understanding and Investigating Strangulation," Allison Turkel, senior attorney and Chief of Training for the National District Attorneys Association, discusses the dangers associated with strangulation, investigating strangulation, the state of the law related to strangulation, and the role of prevention in enforcement and prosecution of strangulation. 

Compiled from: 'And Then He Choked Me:' Understanding and Investigating Strangulation, Allison Turkel, National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse, National District Attorneys Association, 2007.

1. What courses do you teach at Metro State?

I teach in the College of Professional Studies, Human Services Department, which includes a major and minor in Community Violence Prevention (CVP). I teach the three CVP core courses:

Violence: Origins and Explanations; Violence: Individual, Community and Global Responses; Community Violence Prevention Group Internship (combined field and study); Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence and Human Services (taught but not yet approved); and The Family: Racial, Class and Gender Dimensions.

In the Psychology department I teach Battered Women: Historical and Social Perspective, and a seminar, Theories of Violence Against Women.

2. In which of these courses do you use the StopVAW website?

I first used it in the ….Responses (to violence) class. Then I used it teaching Sexual Assault and DV and HS on a trial run.

I am now using it as a text in the theory seminar on violence against women.

Before the website and along with it, I have asked guest lecturers from MAHR’s Women’s program speak to the violence and battered women’s classes.

3. How do you use the Stop Violence Against Women website in those courses?

I first used it as a web assignment for students to look up, read Explore the Issue for one form of violence, choose a country, write a one page synthesis and report to the class what was found to be most compelling and related in some way to other readings or topics. This was intentionally a broad introduction to human rights as an approach to violence prevention, specifically violence against women, and the role of law in defining human rights.

This semester I am concentrating on the initial Explore the Issue section for the excellent material on history and theory. I’m using it as a basic tool that integrates theory and practice. As the class looks at groups of theoretical approaches to violence against women, we can use the website as a foundation for what works to ground effective legal remedies, and in general, to make battered women safe, to intervene and prevent violence against women. All of this is a basic view that counters an underlying victim-blaming stance of so much historical and current social policy. It is useful to raise awareness of the relevance and the meaning of human rights in the stopvaw countries as well as in the U.S. This awareness is one approach to ethical and professional issues in the human services.

4. Which sections of the website do you find most helpful?

No specific sections. The general background and the topics organization of the website; the overall presentation of ways that violence against women is a human rights issue (a very radical notion for some); the easy access to more specific information; the specific breakdown of forms of violence against women; the grounding of human rights conventions and resolutions; the reflection of the commitment of women and men in generally unfamiliar countries to uphold international law, on the US Constitution; the way that the topic of human rights is a basic approach to violence prevention awareness and activism.

5. Do you have any recommendations for educators like yourself on teaching about violence against women?

I’d like to learn from other instructors who use the website. I think it is a really important and incredible tool and that I’m sort of stumbling along and could do so much more.

Minnesota law allows the court to issue an ex parte order for protection if there is an “immediate and present danger of domestic abuse”[3] and to grant such “relief as the court deems proper,”[4] including restraining the respondent from abusive conduct and excluding him or her from the home and from the petitioner’s workplace.[5]

The petitioner must request a hearing to obtain additional relief, such as temporary child custody or child support.[6] The hearing must be held within 7 days.[7] There are detailed procedures in the law requiring notification to the respondent of the upcoming hearing, and provisions for continuance if the judge finds that either party shows good cause.[8]

The authors of the article stated that “…the temptation to misuse the Domestic Abuse Act can be enticing…saying that one party is abusive is a powerful allegation…parents accused of such behavior frequently lose in their other court battles over their children or their property.”[9]  They assert that for truly dangerous individuals, the order for protection “probably does little good.”[10]  The authors conclude that there should be better resources at the courthouse for the respondents, and, perhaps, a “less restrictive” order, with “shorter-term consequences.”[11]

In response to this article, a number of domestic violence experts wrote a letter to the editor of Bench & Bar, which is reprinted below:

To the Editors:

It is with great concern that we write to respond to the article entitled “Orders for Protection: When a Shield Becomes a Sword”, LXV Bench & Bar, March 2008. This article perpetuates a number of myths about orders for protection and the circumstances under which they are granted.

The authors bemoan the fact that a person can be removed from their home “all on the words of another.” (p. 28) The words of another are evidence in civil and criminal court proceedings and are not unique to orders for protection. They also assert that the ex parte protection order presents unique problems and that “nowhere else are we allowed to say someone is guilty until proven innocent.” (p.28). The availability of this type of relief is not unique. In both the state and federal courts, temporary restraining orders, without notice to the adverse party are available if there is immediate and irreparable loss or injury. Here the petitioner must show immediate and present danger—no less a standard. Moreover, before an ex parte order is issued, sworn allegations are reviewed by a judge who makes a determination if the requirements of the statute are met. The ex parte orders are not granted without careful judicial review. Respondents are entitled to a hearing in all cases and a continuance, if requested by respondent under the statute, is likely to be granted.

The authors contend, without citing any authority, that “parents accused of such behavior [abuse] frequently lose their court battles over their children.” (p. 29) In fact, studies indicate that domestic violence victims do not gain tactically from raising abuse allegations. Research shows that fathers who batter their intimate partners are more likely to contest custody. (American Psychological Association, Violence and the Family 1996). Research further shows that mothers who experienced domestic violence were no more likely than a comparison group to be awarded custody and that fathers were rarely denied visitation. (Mary Kernic, et al. Children in the Crossfire 11 Violence Against Women 991, 1013, 1014 2005).

Another assertion in the article is that for the truly dangerous an OFP probably does little good. Leaving aside their erroneous assumptions about who is truly dangerous, while studies show a range of rates of violation of protection orders, research supports the conclusion that obtaining a protection order is associated with reduced subsequent violence. (Carol Jordan, Intimate Partner Violence and the Justice System, 19 J. Interpersonal Violence 1412, 1427, 2004).

It is regrettable when myths replace facts. It is no doubt true that any legal process can be misused, however, the legal process for a protective order is similar to many legal processes: judges evaluate evidence, make determinations as to credibility, and then issue findings of fact and orders. Women do not seek protection from the courts lightly. Research shows that when women seek a protection order it is often after serious violence. (Id. at 1423).If the authors believe that judges are not adequately evaluating evidence and are not making appropriate determinations, then they can appeal an erroneous order. To suggest that there is widespread misuse of this process without any evidence beyond asserting it, does the court system and victims of domestic violence a great disservice.

• Beverly Balos, Clinical Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School
• Liz Richards, Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women
• Caroline Palmer, Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault
• Jean Lastine, Central Minnesota Legal Services
• Denise Gamache, Battered Women's Justice Project

• Lolita Ulloa, Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, Victim Services Division- Domestic Abuse, Service Center

The Advocates for Human Rights supports this response to the Bench & Bar article. 

Much of the field research for the report was conducted by Winrock International, New Perspectives for Women.  The CEDAW Assessment Tool Report for Moldova is one in a series that ABA Rule of Law Initiative has produced in various countries throughout the region.  Ms. Lori Mann, an attorney and international gender expert, authored the report.  The views expressed in the report have not been approved by the House of Delegates or the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association (ABA) and, accordingly, should not be construed as representing the policy of the ABA or any of its entities.  Funding for the report was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the USAID, with additional financial support from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Moldova.

For more information about the report and the CEDAW Assessment Tool generally, please contact Gender Issues Focal Area Co-Coordinators Wendy Patten at <wpatten@abaceeli.org> and Jennifer Denton-Jafari at <jdenton@abaceeli.org>.

The Bulgarian State Gazette, issue #27 from 10^th of April 2009, announced a number of amendments made to the Criminal Code. An important amendment has been achieved in the sphere of protection against domestic violence. The protection measures have been strengthened with the amendment of Article 296, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, by introducing a punishment for failure to comply with the order for protection measures against domestic violence issued by the court, based on the Law against Domestic Violence. Criminalizing the violations of the orders is an extremely important guarantee for the effective protection of the victims of violence.

This amendment of the Criminal Code was demanded last year by the workgroup for amendments to the legislation against domestic violence, which is part of the Ministry of Justice.

The nongovernmental organizations who work in this sphere have been represented in the workgroup by the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation (BGRF). In addition, all of these organizations have established an Alliance against Domestic Violence. They all stated clearly that such an amendment is needed, deducting this from the monitoring which had been done, and from the implementation of the law. In March 2008, a report prepared by the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation and the American organization The Advocates for Human Rights described the experience, opinions and demands of the NGOs and the responsible State institutions – the police and the courts which are concerned with the implementation of the law. The lack of explicit criminalization for not complying with the protection orders in the Law against Domestic Violence was emphasized as one of the major obstacles to the effective implementation of the law. The NGOs' position was actively advocated in the Ministry of Justice and now, a year later, it is already a fact. The help and the understanding of the representatives of the Council on Legislation of the Ministry of Justice were essential, and though there are more things that can be improved, this amendment is undoubtedly a victory for civil society. At present, we all witness how a joint effort and successful lobbying can gain positive results.

Criminalizing the violation of protection orders was proposed by the BGRF and the experts who worked for the foundation when the first draft for the Law against Domestic Violence was proposed in 2000-2001, but during that time, the State representatives didn’t realize the importance of the amendments in this law. Now, eight years later, the necessity of such an amendment in the Penalty Code was recognized, mainly to have greater effectiveness result from the actions of the police and the court.

The most important thing, however, is that this new order will secure the victims of domestic violence; it will help them to be less afraid, because the State would be at their side, as there are stricter sanctions for the aggressor.

What follows next are the amendments in the Law against Domestic Violence, which representatives of NGOs and Ministry of Justice have been preparing since last year. BGRF and the NGOs from the Alliance against Domestic Violence insist on regular funding from the State for the services for protection and prevention from domestic violence which have been provided and implemented by the NGOs for more than 10 years. The Ministry of Justice is behind this idea but there are obstacles from other institutions which find the funding mechanism unconvincing as it gives funds to nongovernmental organizations that work with domestic violence issues.

Our goal is for constructive understanding on the part of the State, so that it will adopt the amendments in the Law against Domestic Violence.

Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights’ Women’s Program began working in this region in 1993.  There were many new NGOs in the transition period from communism that were new to violence against women work, but were nevertheless very clearly focused on ending violence against women.  They had identified that this was a priority for them.  The one common hurdle for all of them in developing strategies to end violence against women was the lack of information.  The lack of historical information had effectively cut them off, and they wanted to access information.  So, in the 1990s, The Advocates took on a role to respond and research failures, successes, failures and model laws.  The goal was to provide information at the touch of a finger to the women who wanted it in a more efficient way.  It is far more effective than flying people out there or mailing them documents.  UNIFEM, OSI and the contributions of volunteers in Minnesota, the U.S., and around the world have all contributed to this website.  In addition, the technology to host this site was donated by Urban Planet.  These contributions have made this website happen.

There are over 2,000 pages of information and over 7,000 links.  There are four substantive sections--domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment and trafficking in women.  Each of these move further in-depth to four additional subsections, including Explore the Issue, Research and Reports, Law and Policy, and Training Modules.  Each of the four main sections has an analysis introducing the subject.  For example, under the domestic violence section, the webpage discusses the risks associated with domestic violence, model laws, and sample police protocols. 

Women in the region began to want a regional network to communicate their practices and what they are learning.  They also wanted to create a support network.  In 2003, the Network Women’s Program of OSI developed, with The Advocates, the National VAW Monitor Program.  With us today, we have two Monitors: Vanja Mikulic from Montenegro and Yuliya Gureyeva from Azerbaijan.  They collect information and are involved with the evolution of the site to more clearly meet their needs as they define them.  Their objectives are to get information, publish this information and expose the situation to the entire world.  Now, we have a great need to turn this into a multilingual website.  We want to use it as an internal tool for policy makers to strategize on how to use it as an advocacy tool. 

In terms of successes, the original purpose has been met.  There has been a growing response for best practices.  The website has received over one million hits or 40,000 per month.  It is being used as a tool for information exchange.  For example, the Serbian Monitor used it to disseminate information about a new domestic violence law.  The Hungarian Monitor, in turn, used that information to elicit interest from the media.  She is also using the website to pressure her own government in Hungary by using the site to expose recent CEDAW cases.  There are so many laws in the region that are being passed.  For instance, the entire history of how Bulgaria passed its new domestic violence law is now on the site.  The advocate who wrote this history, Genoveva Tisheva, gets inquiries about getting a law passed by advocates in other countries. 

On the other hand, the challenges are many.  The Monitors are all in a situation with limited resources.  The Domestic Violence section was written three years ago, and there have been many changes since then.  Translation is another challenge, and there will be many more.  But the many successes of the website continue to energize us. 

Eva Foldvari, moderator of the panel and Senior Program Manager of the Network Women’s Program of the Open Society Institute said, it has been a challenge for OSI to create a network of Monitors who are feeding the website and facing lots of possibilities with different ways for this website.  It is a learning process for all. 

Vanja Mikulic, the Montenegro National VAW Monitor, spoke next regarding the Montenegro National VAW Monitor experience.  There are two Monitors in Montenegro, myself and Irena Milatovic.  Her NGO, SOS Hotline, is the first female NGO in Montenegro and was established eight years ago.  They run the SOS Hotline four hours per day and provide free legal and psychological help.  They also act as a link between the victims and institutions.  A few years ago, they started running trainings and succeeded in establishing five interdisciplinary teams in five main cities.  They participate in drafting national policies.  The SOS Hotline attorney was the coordinator for establishing the national plan of action.  They also drafted a rulebook for police in domestic violence cases and monitor institutional behavior.  SOS Hotline also noticed that no one was collecting data in the region, so they also began to collect statistics and data. 

In terms of achievements, they have strengthened cooperation with the Governmental Gender Equality Office through joint work on this project.  This has been one of their best achievements, because they succeeded in increasing cooperation with the government office and promoting the site in both the NGO sector and governmental sector.  They collect data at two levels—the NGO and government.  They also strengthened cooperation with women's NGOs in Montenegro in order to act jointly through the Informal Women’s Network.  As a result, they have increased the amount and quality of information out there, as well as raised the level of public awareness.  They have created conditions (information and instruments) for advocacy to prevent serious violence against women.  The site is used as an advocacy tool, for example to monitor enforcement of an article in the criminal code that is used to punish acts of domestic violence.  They published a Watchdog Report looking at the implementation of this article in the judiciary, the Ministry of the Interior, and social work institutions in nine cities.  They published this data in the Watchdog Report and posted it on STOPVAW.  The media showed increased interest and wanted to know more.  They were called by international organizations, such as OSCE and USAID, who wanted to know more about it.  All of this resulted in strengthening cooperation by government institutions.  Because this information was published worldwide, the government felt insecure and asked to cooperate and create a forum for the judiciary, the Ministry of the Interior and social work institutions.  The website has also been successful in regional linking and cooperation.  Four countries in the Balkans—Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia—jointly translate the STOPVAW newsletter and publish it in their own language. 

There are also challenges.  Regional linking and cooperation is one.  Also, they need to maintain and strengthen cooperation with women’s NGOs.  they need to influence strategies to combat violence against women, and one way is to create a database necessary for any initiatives.  They promote the site at different levels—to the public, within the NGO sector, within governmental bodies/organizations and to international organizations.  SOS Hotline Podgorica also promotes the website in every brochure it produces.  Translating the site from English into the native language is also another challenge.  It is hard for women to use the site because it is in English, but for now, they can use it as a tool to send information out of our own country.  As soon as we succeed in translating the main pages, they can reach more women.  But thus far, they have already reached many women in their country. 

Yuliya Gureyeva, the National VAW Monitor forAzerbaijan, spoke next.  She began by saying she was doing gender studies and needed to collect a lot of information for her research.  She found it was difficult to find information on Azerbaijan while abroad and realized how good it would be to have such information on women in Azerbaijan on the Internet.  Upon returning home, she discovered that Azerbaijan Gender Information Center launched such a website and joined this organization to assist in its development and expansion.

Yuliya introduced her organization, the Azerbaijan Gender Information Center (AGIC).  It was started in 2002 with the financial support of Open Society Institute –Azerbaijan and is the first informational, analytical, bibliographical and documentation center of the women’s movement in the territory of the South Caucasus.  The AGIC project is an example of a successful coalition of the Azerbaijan Women Organizations:

• AREAT Research Center
• Association of Creative Women, Baku
• Azerbaijan Association of Organizational and Technical Development, Baku
• Mingechaur Women Youth Center “Shams”
• Hudat Center of Youth Programs Development

The purpose of the AGIC is to create and maintain the National Gender Portal in three languages (Azeri, Russian, English) and to develop the national strategy in the field of gender and information communicative technologies.  The AGIC website receives about 70 visitors every day from Russia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Turkey, U.S., Germany, France, Canada, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Great Britain, Israel, Iran, Georgia, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Poland, Greece, etc.  There are 365 subscribers to the newsletter from CIS countries, as well as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, US, Israel, Turkey, Germany. 

In terms of achievements, AGIC is a key point of the information flow on Women’ Issues in Azerbaijan.  AGIC had become the point of cooperation between Eastern Europe and Central Asian Women’s Organizations.  AGIC is a source of information for international organizations, and the UN report on indexes of human development in Azerbaijan 2005 is prepared using AGIC’s materials. 

AGIC has four main directions of networking:

1. News (Eastern European Net www.REWIND.Net; Central Asian Net www.gendergateway.uz , Turkey www.womensenews.org )
2. Violence against Women (www.STOPVAW.org)
3. Peace building (Coalition 1325, Women’s Appeal for Peace Journal)
4. Development of Women Businesses (network of business women in Azerbaijan, to broaden in the future to the Central Asia)

They have received feedback from others about their work:

“I am working on the project on involvement of women to the non-violent conflict resolution in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. We women have to exchange our experience, gain new knowledge and skills, and your website is a crucial tool to reach these goals.”  Isabekova Zeinura, Foundation For Tolerance International, Kyrgyzstan. 

“THANK YOU  for information you're regularly sending to me! They are very (!) interesting and extremely helpful.” Azer S. Hasanov, Regional Development Officer, Oxfam, Tajikistan. 

There is still a digital divide between regional and peripheral NGOs in Azerbaijan and between “Advanced” and “Beginner” NGOs. 

Future plans include: close cooperation with mass media for joint activities within 16 Days Against Violence Campaign, preparation of the series of TV programs on Violence against Women, translation of the STOPVAW website into Azeri language and website presentations in the regions of Azerbaijan, and the creation of a regional network to exchange experience on drafting and lobbying Violence against Women Law in Azerbaijan.

AGIC believes that new informational technologies, such as Internet, can and should be used for women’s benefit to make difference and assist in addressing gender-based violence issue. These new tools open wider opportunities for networking, exchange of information and experience and raising awareness among wider public and state officials.     

The AGIC website is at www.gender-az.org. 

Lin McDevitt-Pugh, the Program Director at the International Information Centre and Archives for the Women’s Movement began by remarking how this had been a very interesting presentation because she was an information specialist.  Her passion is to get information out in modern ways, through the internet, as well as through  methods like Juliet’s, using other technologies. 

Lin stated that she works in a 70-year old organization, which began as the place where the women’s suffrage movement collected its documents and made them available to a broader public.  They collected piles of information and brought them home.  The library evolved into a repository of the women’s movement in the Netherlands and around the world.  The IIAV was one of the first archives and libraries in the Netherlands to use the Internet to make its information accessible.  Lin organized the 1998 Know-How Conference of 380 women’s information specialists from 86 countries, in Amsterdam (the 2006 Know How Conference will be held in Mexico in August 2006.  It was an opportunity to learn, especially from people whose countries did not have libraries, about how they were using information on the ground. Many different approaches are used, from street theater to audio to publication in magazines and newspapers. As program director she has been privileged to work with people around the world to develop new ways of using technical and theoretical knowledge to make a difference for women around the world.  She does this by working with groups of women that are involved in NGOs, and finding ways to combine the strengths of the women into an information and communication strategy.

An example of such an activity is the Women’s Information Technology Transfer (www.witt-project.net).  WITT trains Eastern European women to use technology to advance the position of women. The group is made up of leaders women’s communication and activist organizations in 6 countries, and together they have developed a training program, a website for use during trainings. To know exactly what training is needed, the WITT Focal Points (presently there are Focal Points in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia) carry out a deatiled needs assessment of the women’s ngos they will be training. This provides an important insight not only into what the focus of the training must be, but also helps the group design the website in such a way that the groups they are working with can use it.

The IIAV operates a database with up-to-date information on where to find  women’s information organizations throughout the world— at present 400 organizations in 120 countries.  The URL is www.iiav.nl/mapping.  The database is also available as a CD-ROM (for more information, write to pr@iiav.nl),. It is updated regularly and its purpose is to create access to the vast wealth of information that is available in the world on the position of women.

Challenges include keeping the possibilities within financial limits, finding finances and on the practical level, communication is always a challenge. Language, tradition, methodology differ immensely..  Another challenge is to ensure that, as an information organization, you are ahead of the needs curve and are preparing the projects the potential reader needs, before they know they need them. The IIAV is presently establishing the European Sexuality Resource Center.  Its purpose is to be both a service for the customers of the IIAV, who need more than what the IIAV can offer in their search for resources on sexuality, and a service for people who not yet found their way to the resources on sexuality available at the IIAV. The project will be a cooperation at one level between key libraries in the Netherlands and HIV/aids organizations, gay rights, anti violence against women, reproductive rights and reproductive health organizations. Europe is bigger than the Netherlands, which is a tiny country.  At a second level, the Dutch cooperation will partner with European networks, thus providing a service in many languages to many Europeans.

Juliet Were Oguttu is a Programme Officer with Isis-WICCE.  She spoke about Women’s activism in the face of armed conflict and the role of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs).  Isis-Women’s International Cross Cultural Exchange (Isis–WICCE) is a global action-oriented women’s organisation that emulates “Isis”, the ancient Egyptian goddess of ‘Wisdom, Creativity and Knowledge’ to promote justice, equality and mutual relationship between women and men. Isis-WICCE was founded in 1974 in Geneva, Switzerland with the purpose of promoting cross-cultural exchange of skills and information to contribute towards women’s transformation. The organisation relocated to Africa in 1993, to tap the voices of African women, while linking their issues and concerns to the debates and campaigns taking place at the international level.

Through its values of Justice, Equality and Fairness, the organisation envisions an informed society that values and ensures women’s rights, in order to realize their capacities and potential.  Isis-WICCE’s mission is to promote justice and empowerment of women through documenting violations of women’s rights and facilitating the exchange of skills and information to strengthen women’s capacities, potential and visibility.

Isis-WICCE’s framework of operation includes a human rights approach, as inspired by the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, as well as a results-based approach, as directed by the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. 

Isis-WICCE decide to focus on the issue of armed conflict given that Africa, as a continent, had been marred by armed conflict for several years. And whereas alot of documentation about these conflicts had been documented, there was no mention of the role of women in armed struggles, as well as the violations women encountered in the process.  Isis-WICCE therefore set out to provide gender disaggregated data through the documentation of women’s realities.  The aims were to allow women to tell their stories about war, provide development workers with the correct data for better planning for women war survivors, to expose the atrocities and create awareness about the need for accountability and redress to women’s plight. 

Isis-WICCE used a variety of tools to investigate and document what happened to women during armed conflict, including tape recorders, video cameras, and still cameras.  Thus, they were able to provide both audio and visual testimonies of the physical, mental, psychological and economic consequences of war on women. 

Through their work, they documented the effects of sexual violence on women’s lives, which included ruptured uteruses, vasico vaginal fistulae, sexually transmitted infections; the loss of homes and forced displacement, lack of appropriate clothing and other basic necessities of life, as well as impoverished living.  Maiming and mutilation also took place during armed conflicts.  One example that Juliet provided was the chopping off of women’s lips as a punishment due to the stereotype that “women talk too much.”  Perpetrators also targeted the wives of administrative officers by amputating their limbs.   Not only was there great loss of life, but others were also forced to commit murder: “While in captivity, even shy girls were forced to murder those condemned to die. They had to kill while others were looking on.” 

Gang rape was common, and one woman was gang raped by 21 men; she finally died of HIV/AIDS.  Girls and women experienced other forms of sexual abuse and harassment: “Later all the girls that were abducted and defiled or raped were married off to rebel leaders or used for general sexual service to rebels. Some commanders were reported to have 4 to 5 wives while the rebel leader himself had over 30 wives at any one time.”  Consequently, many women suffer from reproductive and health problems: “…. I was 30 years old… six soldiers found me hiding and raped me one after another …. This lasted for about three hours. I could not talk. My relatives discovered me later, soaked in blood, urine, feces and men’s semen. I was torn everywhere and developed backache. Before I recovered, I was again gang raped at a military checkpoint. This time 15 soldiers raped me. This left me shattered. I was once again torn to an extent that I could not control my biological functions. The cervix was dislocated and the uterus started hanging out. … I have to push it back in. My vaginal part and anus are separated by just a thread of flesh and when I get diarrhea, I defecate from both the front and behind. Oozing of water and blood has continued up to today despite the medical treatment I obtained. The fluid is sometimes mixed with pus …. I use a small pad. The men say I am not fit for them and hence I do not get satisfied … I cannot deliver without professional assistance.”  Women lived in areas that were isolated with very poor infrastructure and had no form of access to any communication channels.  Some, due to the traumatic experiences, poor health and high level of poverty, could not even go to church or any village meetings. 

Juliet noted that their engaging in activism in armed conflict was sparked due to their experience talking to the women and listening to such shocking and depressing stories.  It gave them the passion to act and mobilize other parties to do something immediately.  They packaged the findings using different ICTs to attract different actors to respond to the needs of survivors of conflict.  

The medical professionals came on board after listening to a fifteen-minute audio tape of extracts of women’s testimonies relating to the sexual and reproductive health problems.  As a result, the doctors carried out a medical intervention where women and girls were able to access treatment and surgery. They, in addition, requested Isis-WICCE to develop a video documentary on ‘Women, War and Trauma’ a tool they have utilised to raise awareness amongst the Ministry of Health decision makers on the impact of trauma on survivors of war. 

Isis-WICCE also involved government machinery to launch the findings and commit themselves to specific actions.  Government machinery joined Isis-WICCE in a fact finding mission and, as a result, provided building materials for survivors of war who had pathetic shelter. 

Isis-WICCE involved survivors to justify the findings and allow them to tell their own stories as “a shame them approach.”  As a result, the media picked up on the stories and continued the debate.  Mission representatives also became involved.  The Ambassador of the Republic of Germany in Uganda addressed the crisis of the basic needs of internally displaced persons by providing blankets, saucepans, drugs, plates, etc. 

Isis-WICCE has a long-term strategy to involve bilateral agencies and alternative mediums of communication.  Isis-WICCE, in collaboration with UNIFEM, produced ‘A Lingering Pain,’ an ICT tool targeting behavioral change.  They also used radio talk shows at the local and national levels, as well as radio drama skits, to sustain the debate.  They used dramatic performance to take the message to those who cannot access radio and television.  They electronically packaged information to expose the atrocities to the rest of the world, to expand the advocacy constituency to influence at the global level, and provide information to other key actors through the Isis-WICCE website (http://www.isis.or.ug) and listserves. 

Isis-WICCE also works to influence the International Criminal Court.  ICC officials had claimed that women in Northern Uganda were not ready to testify.  Isis-WICCE provided a video to WIGJ of women testifying, which prompted WIGJ to organize a fact-finding mission.  They used video recording to capture the survivors’ stories.  They developed a DVD clip, “Synergy Moving the Agenda of Gender Equality.”  This was evidence of women’s efforts to advocate for women’s justice and was shared with court officials.  The ICC has since then included women in their evidence collection. 

Isis-WICCE has received awards in recognition of its work.  It received the Civil Society Exhibition Gold Award (2000) for having ably linked its activities to policy issues.  It also received the Gender and ICT Award (2003) from the Global Knowledge Partnership and Association of Progressive Communications for its unique approach to using ICTs in mobilising resources to address the concerns of women in situations of conflict. 

There still remain many challenges:

• Collection of many audio and visuals which are still not yet processed
• Communication tools are very expensive to maintain and acquire
• Poor infrastructure
• Lack of funding
• Poverty
• Language
• Illiteracy
• New, emerging conflicts

The way forward will require consideration of the numerous gender issues that affect women to access, contribute and use ICTs for development. There must be an opportunity to choose what technology to use, especially for the poor, isolated and illiterate.  There must be some consultations with these vulnerable people on how they would like to communicate, to whom and what they would like to communicate.  It is only through this approach that they will be able to develop their own content that will be relevant to their needs.

Juliet ended by stating that, the resources of the global information society seem to concentrate on access to new technology without addressing the gender issues that continue to hinder the marginalized women from accessing the technology for their empowerment. For women, there is still a lack of skills, affordability, appropriateness in terms of the type of technology and content, language, etc. 

References for Juliet Were Oguttu’s presentation:

1. A Lingering Pain … her Experience; A video documentary. Isis-WICCE, 2002.
2. Arms to fight Arms to protect:Women speak out about conflict. London:Panos, 1995.
3. Behind the violence:The war in Northern Uganda. By. Zachary Lomo and Lucy Hovil. Institute for Security Studies, March 2004.
4. Documentation of Teso women’s experiences of armed conflict, 1987-2001; An Isis-WICCE Research Report,  2002.
5. International Conference of the  Great Lakes Region : Regional Women’s meeting; Report of the Technical Meeting; June 7-8, Nairobi, 2004.
6. Jane Barry. Rising Up in Response:women’s Rights Activism in Conflict. Urgent Action Fund, 2005.
7. The short term intervention of the psychological and gynaecological consequences of armed conflict in Luwero:An Isis-WICCE Research Report, 1999.
8. Women’s Experiences of Armed Conflict in Uganda:Luweero District, 1980-1986; An Isis-WICCE Research Report, 1998.
9. Women’s Experiences of Armed Conflict in Uganda, Gulu district 1986-1999. An Isis-WICCE Research Report, 2001.
10. Working with Conflict: Skills and Strategies for Action. U.K Zed. Bks, 2003.

By Mary C. Ellison, Staff Attorney, The Advocates for Human Rights