Government ignores plight of battered women

Uzbek women battered by their husbands have little hope of protection from the government, Human Rights Watch (HRW) charged in a report released on Tuesday.

“Our research found that victims of domestic violence in Uzbekistan are trapped,” the executive director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch, Elizabeth Anderson told IRIN.

Rather than protect them from violence, Uzbek authorities routinely block their access to divorce, and strong-arm them to return to their husbands, Anderson contended.

“Community and local government leaders who are supposed to protect women in such situations tell them to return to their violent spouses or face being ostracised by their communities,” she said. Calling it an utter dereliction of the government’s duty, she added: “Instead of protecting women, the government blames them for the violence they suffer.”

The 51-page report called “Sacrificing Women to Save the Family? State Response to Domestic Violence in Uzbekistan”, is based on interviews conducted in May and June 2000 with victims of domestic violence. Other contributors included women’s rights activists, along with dozens of lawyers, judges, police, and officials at all levels of government. Researchers focused on rural areas, where more than 60 percent of the population lives.

The report documents the Uzbek government’s utter failure to investigate and prosecute domestic violence against women. State policies intended to “save the family” and suppress divorce rates have left women unable to depend on the police or other officials for protection from violence, and exacerbated their vulnerability to continued beatings in the home.

HRW found that Uzbek officials rarely criminally prosecute husbands who beat their wives. Instead, local authorities, under orders from central government officials, attempt to reconcile married couples, often sacrificing the women’s safety and rights for the sake of achieving low divorce statistics.

In a statement accompanying the report, the group explained that batterers enjoy near impunity for their violence, often facing criminal penalties only if their victims commit suicide. In one of the cases documented in the report, a 20 year-old woman committed suicide by drinking vinegar concentrate, the statement said.

“Women suffer doubly,” said Anderson. “First at the hands of their husbands, and then at the hands of the state. This has to stop,” she said.

HRW called on the Uzbek government to prosecute cases of domestic violence vigorously, to introduce criminal penalties for stalking and marital rape, and to ensure that women who report domestic violence have ready access to the courts and to social services.

[For a complete copy of the report see:
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/uzbekistan/]