ROMANIA: Media Spotlight on Domestic Violence

By Claudia Ciobanu
BUCHAREST, Apr 11 (IPS) Campaigners in Romania have very effectively used
the media to break the public silence around the issue of domestic
violence against women, and lobby for changes in laws.

Over many weeks, public interest ads featuring celebrities, both male and
female, from the world of music and the electronic media, with artificial
bruises and scars, have been telecast on many TV channels and discussed in
the press and on blogs.

The images, created to shock audiences into understanding that this
aggression is not &com;normal&com;, were from a photo exhibition
that opened in Bucharest on Mar. 25 and closed on Apr. 8. The main
organiser was Foundation Sensiblu, a charity.

In another well-publicised effort, the Center for Independent Journalism
in Bucharest, with financial help from private companies and charities,
organised public debates on domestic violence.

&com;The campaigns against domestic violence run by civil society and
the public sector have been going on for longer but they only became
visible to the public recently,&com; remarks Cristina Horia, executive
director of the Sensiblu Foundation.

In an interview with IPS, she explains: &com;What is happening now is
the media has started to pay attention to the campaigns, and this is
partly because activist organisations have refined their techniques to
attract coverage and raise awareness.&com;

&com;Unfortunately, the involvement of state institutions with these
campaigns remains limited,&com; she adds. &com;They play the role
of either supporters or partners, but do not really initiate
campaigns.&com;

In many Romanian families, violence against women is still seen as
&com;normal&com;.

A study conducted last year in spring by the Centre for Urban and Regional
Sociology (CURS), in Bucharest, revealed that over 21 percent of women
have faced assault, either in their current relationships or in the past.

A staggering 63 percent of women abused at home said the violence took
place regularly and in multiple forms, from physical abuse and even sexual
violence, to denigration and verbal humiliation.

The study showed that 55 percent of the women who are victims of domestic
violence continue to live with their aggressive partners, and the main
reason for this is that women consider domestic violence as
&com;normal problems for a family&com; (the justification given by
26 percent of the women who continue in abusive relationships).

A law to counter domestic violence was passed by Romanian parliament in
2003, but the National Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations
Involved in Programmes Against Domestic Violence is now lobbying to have
it amended in several areas.

&com;The law is there, but it does not help either victims or
organisations active in the field too much,&com; says Horia.
&com;The most serious problem is related to its implementation. Since
2003, we have seen only one case where the provisions of the law were
applied fully against the aggressor.&com;

A serious legal loophole, according to activists, is the lack of a
restraining order against abusers. The police, as a result, cannot
intervene. They have no authority to enter a home without the approval of
its owner, which in most cases in Romania is the abusive man.

According to information provided by Foundation Sensiblu, a proposal to
provide for restraining orders was included in the 2003 law, but it was
shot down by the legislative, which claimed, &com;Romanian society is
not ready for this&com;.

Under the law, victims of domestic abuse and their children are entitled
to reside in shelters between 7 and 60 days, and, during this time,
receive counselling and legal help. Both state and private institutions
have run several pilot projects for shelters.

NGOs have been campaigning for more shelters, and that these be located in
both rural and urban areas.

Yet another stumbling block is the cumbersome process of obtaining a
medical-legal certificate to prove the holder is a victim of domestic
abuse. At present, the document costs close to 50 lei, almost 20 euros in
a country where average incomes barely go over 300 euros per month.

A survey of 400 female victims of domestic violence, conducted in October
2008 by the National Institute for Legal Medicine Mina Minovici in
Bucharest, revealed that only half were willing to admit to abuse; a mere
50 had persevered to complete the necessary formalities to claim shelter
and counselling, and just one of the 400 cases had taken legal action
against the aggressor.

&com;The procedure of getting the certificate is (just) the last
hurdle …,&com; family therapist Crenguta Vlas, who works with
abused women and their children in Brasov county, says. &com;The
biggest obstacles are psychological … fear of the aggressor and the
shame the victim feels,&com; she told IPS in an interview.

Vlas wants to see a simpler legal process that leaves the victim with more
time and energy to deal with the trauma.

Still, activists are hopeful that 2009 may turn out to be a breakthrough
year for their struggle. The planned amendments to the 2003 law are coming
up for discussion in parliament this year.

In the southern municipality Olt, the local council started last fall to
reimburse women for the costs of the medical-legal certificates. With
local governments in charge of domestic violence cases under the 2003 law,
other municipalities are being urged to replicate the Olt model.

The best news so far: Romanian media has assertively exposed the public to
the taboo issue of domestic violence.