Human Rights Watch : Russia: Unaddressed Domestic Violence Puts Women at Risk

FEATURE
- Length 3:54
  File Size 214.55 MB
- Download VIDEO
  GET EMBED CODE

Russia: Unaddressed Domestic Violence Puts Women at Risk

Legislative Changes, Stronger Police Action Needed

Thursday 25 October 2018

(Moscow, October 25, 2018) – Russian authorities often fail to protect women from domestic violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Serious gaps in Russia’s laws, the lack of protection orders, and inadequate police and judicial responses leave women who face even severe physical violence with little or no protection. The 84-page report, “‘I Could Kill You and No One Would Stop Me’: Weak State Response to Domestic Violence in Russia,” details the barriers survivors face in reporting abuse and getting help. They include social stigma, lack of awareness, and lack of trust in police. Police often refuse to register or investigate women’s reports of domestic violence, instead funneling victims into the patently unfair and extremely burdensome process of private prosecution, for which the victim must gather all necessary evidence and bear all costs. Human Rights Watch also found that survivors face obstacles to finding emergency shelter.