• Ann-Weiner
    Maria

    A Survivor of Domestic Violence

    Maria da Penha Fernandes was studying for a master’s degree in pharmaceutical biochemistry in Brazil, when she met her future husband, a Colombian. After they married and he received naturalization he changed from a friend to a torturer, abusing her and her young children. In 1983, he shot her with a revolver while she was sleeping and left her a paraplegic. When she returned from the hospital to take care of her children, he tried to murder her a second time by electrocution.

    Although the Secretary of Public Safety investigating her case concluded that her husband was guilty of attempted murder, it took Maria 19 years and 6 months before the courts held him accountable. In 2002, six months before charges against him would have been dropped due to the statute of limitation, he was sent to prison.

    Maria’s difficulty in finding justice “was evidence of the tolerance for violence in Brazil.”1 When all systems for accountability had been exhausted she turned to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In 1998, IACHR succeeded in passing the federal statute known as the Maria da Penha law, the first law against domestic violence in Brazil.

    The Reuters Foundation Anti-Domestic Violence Report finds that “in cultural systems where women are perceived as the subservient gender, domestic violence against women is often condoned. In a society where women are seen as ‘sex providers’ for their husbands or where religious systems state that women can be ‘disciplined’ for non-compliance, domestic violence is the norm and an accepted part of religious or cultural beliefs…Enforcement of anti-domestic violence laws where these norms exist will therefore be extremely challenging.”2

    (click to continue)


    1. https://cejil.org/en/cases/maria-da-penha
    2. Thomas Reuters Foundation, “A Landscape Analysis of Domestic Violence Laws,” December 2013

  • Ann-Weiner
    Maria

    A Survivor of Domestic Violence

    Maria da Penha Fernandes was studying for a master’s degree in pharmaceutical biochemistry in Brazil, when she met her future husband, a Colombian. After they married and he received naturalization he changed from a friend to a torturer, abusing her and her young children. In 1983, he shot her with a revolver while she was sleeping and left her a paraplegic. When she returned from the hospital to take care of her children, he tried to murder her a second time by electrocution.

    Although the Secretary of Public Safety investigating her case concluded that her husband was guilty of attempted murder, it took Maria 19 years and 6 months before the courts held him accountable. In 2002, six months before charges against him would have been dropped due to the statute of limitation, he was sent to prison.

    Maria’s difficulty in finding justice “was evidence of the tolerance for violence in Brazil.”1 When all systems for accountability had been exhausted she turned to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In 1998, IACHR succeeded in passing the federal statute known as the Maria da Penha law, the first law against domestic violence in Brazil.

    The Reuters Foundation Anti-Domestic Violence Report finds that “in cultural systems where women are perceived as the subservient gender, domestic violence against women is often condoned. In a society where women are seen as ‘sex providers’ for their husbands or where religious systems state that women can be ‘disciplined’ for non-compliance, domestic violence is the norm and an accepted part of religious or cultural beliefs…Enforcement of anti-domestic violence laws where these norms exist will therefore be extremely challenging.”2

    (click to continue)


    1. https://cejil.org/en/cases/maria-da-penha
    2. Thomas Reuters Foundation, “A Landscape Analysis of Domestic Violence Laws,” December 2013

  • Ann-Weiner
    Maria

    A Survivor of Domestic Violence

    Maria da Penha Fernandes was studying for a master’s degree in pharmaceutical biochemistry in Brazil, when she met her future husband, a Colombian. After they married and he received naturalization he changed from a friend to a torturer, abusing her and her young children. In 1983, he shot her with a revolver while she was sleeping and left her a paraplegic. When she returned from the hospital to take care of her children, he tried to murder her a second time by electrocution.

    Although the Secretary of Public Safety investigating her case concluded that her husband was guilty of attempted murder, it took Maria 19 years and 6 months before the courts held him accountable. In 2002, six months before charges against him would have been dropped due to the statute of limitation, he was sent to prison.

    Maria’s difficulty in finding justice “was evidence of the tolerance for violence in Brazil.”1 When all systems for accountability had been exhausted she turned to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In 1998, IACHR succeeded in passing the federal statute known as the Maria da Penha law, the first law against domestic violence in Brazil.

    The Reuters Foundation Anti-Domestic Violence Report finds that “in cultural systems where women are perceived as the subservient gender, domestic violence against women is often condoned. In a society where women are seen as ‘sex providers’ for their husbands or where religious systems state that women can be ‘disciplined’ for non-compliance, domestic violence is the norm and an accepted part of religious or cultural beliefs…Enforcement of anti-domestic violence laws where these norms exist will therefore be extremely challenging.”2
    1. https://cejil.org/en/cases/maria-da-penha
    2. Thomas Reuters Foundation, “A Landscape Analysis of Domestic Violence Laws,” December 2013

  • Ann-Weiner
    Maria

    A Survivor of Domestic Violence

    Maria da Penha Fernandes was studying for a master’s degree in pharmaceutical biochemistry in Brazil, when she met her future husband, a Colombian. After they married and he received naturalization he changed from a friend to a torturer, abusing her and her young children. In 1983, he shot her with a revolver while she was sleeping and left her a paraplegic. When she returned from the hospital to take care of her children, he tried to murder her a second time by electrocution.

    Although the Secretary of Public Safety investigating her case concluded that her husband was guilty of attempted murder, it took Maria 19 years and 6 months before the courts held him accountable. In 2002, six months before charges against him would have been dropped due to the statute of limitation, he was sent to prison.

    Maria’s difficulty in finding justice “was evidence of the tolerance for violence in Brazil.”1 When all systems for accountability had been exhausted she turned to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In 1998, IACHR succeeded in passing the federal statute known as the Maria da Penha law, the first law against domestic violence in Brazil.

    The Reuters Foundation Anti-Domestic Violence Report finds that “in cultural systems where women are perceived as the subservient gender, domestic violence against women is often condoned. In a society where women are seen as ‘sex providers’ for their husbands or where religious systems state that women can be ‘disciplined’ for non-compliance, domestic violence is the norm and an accepted part of religious or cultural beliefs…Enforcement of anti-domestic violence laws where these norms exist will therefore be extremely challenging.”2
    1. https://cejil.org/en/cases/maria-da-penha
    2. Thomas Reuters Foundation, “A Landscape Analysis of Domestic Violence Laws,” December 2013