OPINION:Ireland's domestic violence legislation fails to protect many abused women and falls short of UN guidelines on international best practice, writes MARGARET MARTIN
EVERY DAY in Ireland women are beaten, raped and abused by those closest to them – their boyfriends, husbands and partners. One in five women experience domestic violence and it can affect any woman from any walk of life. Quite often the abuse continues even after the relationship has ended.
Research conducted by the National Crime Council in 2005 estimated that 213,000 women in Ireland are living with severe abuse. Without exception, a woman’s greatest risk of violence is from someone she knows and Women’s Aid hears from thousands of women each year suffering in abusive relationships.
Domestic violence is a serious crime and can lead to injury, often serious, and in some cases death. Of the 159 women murdered in Ireland since 1996, 51 per cent were killed by a partner or ex-partner. During the 16 Days of Action Campaign, Women’s Aid is joining with thousands of organisations around the world in calling for an end to all forms of violence against women and for better protection for women living with abuse.
Domestic violence legislation in Ireland is inadequate and offers no protection to certain groups of women whose circumstances fall outside current strict eligibility criteria. It could be your daughter who is being stalked and harassed by her ex-boyfriend months after finishing with him, or your sister who is being victimised every time she sees the father of her child, or your work colleague who left her partner last year but is still being physically and emotionally abused by him.
Women in these situations, who often try to access the justice system to end the violence, find that they fall outside the law because they do not fit the cohabitation requirements for domestic violence orders. This falls short of UN guidelines for domestic violence legislation, which state that legislation should apply at a minimum to individuals who are or who have been in an intimate relationship, including marital, non-marital, same-sex and non-cohabiting relationships.
The Domestic Violence Act 1996 was framed to offer legal remedies for women living with domestic violence. Women’s Aid statistics show that marriage is the most common context for domestic abuse and under the Act, married women experiencing abuse can avail of full protection of the law.
It is a unique piece of forward-looking legislation in that it recognises the need to protect women from ongoing violence and abuse, unlike other legal remedies which are designed to address violence and abuse incidents in the past. However, under the same legislation, women who are not married to their abusive partner have to satisfy strict eligibility criteria, particularly in relation to cohabitation, in order to secure protection.
A number of groups including Women’s Aid, the Law Society, the Law Reform Commission, the Government Task Force on Violence against Women and Amnesty Ireland, have called for the Act to be amended in order to address these issues.
During a Dáil debate in December 2002, then minister of state in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Willie O’Dea, made a commitment to examine these issues within 12 months and, if amendment was deemed necessary, through legislative change. Despite these commitments, no amendments have been enacted.
Women in a cohabiting relationship must have been living with their partners for certain periods of time depending on the level of protection they need. Some may have been living with their partner for too short a period or may be separated from him too long. Others may not have lived with their abuser at all.
We know from women accessing support from our national freephone helpline that domestic violence does not always end when the relationship does. In 2008, 10 per cent of callers to the Women’s Aid helpline disclosed that they were being abused by former partners to whom they were not married. It is a common belief that leaving an abusive partner will end the violence but in many cases the opposite is true. Separation is often the most dangerous time for a woman with the abuse becoming more frequent, severe and dangerous.
There are no legal provisions for women in dating relationships, like Orla*, a young college student from Cork who is being bullied, stalked and threatened by her ex-boyfriend. The law is powerless to protect her because she was never married to him and has never lived with him. We know that domestic violence can affect women, regardless of age or marital status.
But despite this, women in dating relationships are left vulnerable and fighting the abuse alone. Orla has been told that the Garda can only respond once her ex-boyfriend “does something”.
Melanie* has also been told the law cannot protect her from the father of her child who abuses her each time he sees her. Because they have not lived together for the required six months in the past year, she is unable to get a domestic violence order against him.
Accessing the legal system for domestic violence orders is never an easy journey but thousands of women do so each year to get protection from future violence. This can send a clear message to abusive men that their behaviour is wrong and that the justice system will not sanction their behaviour.
Women’s Aid believes that everyone experiencing abuse at the hands of an intimate partner or ex-partner deserves legal protection. During the 16 Days of Action, Women’s Aid will call on the Government to act to protect vulnerable women by removing all cohabitation requirements from the current legislation.
* Orla and Melanie’s stories are based on real accounts as told to Women’s Aid. Details have been changed to preserve the confidential nature of Women’s Aid services.
Margaret Martin is director of Women’s Aid. Its Action Campaign began yesterday and runs until December 10th