Holding the Perpetrator to Account

Holding the Perpetrator to Account

Unless and until the police take proper action against the perpetrator, an atmosphere of impunity will reign which will allow DV to continue unchallenged.Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the state, including the police, to hold abusers accountable. This cannot happen as long as police view these cases as “family conflicts” and do not understand the dynamics of DV. Too often, instead of holding abusers accountable, the opposite happens, and police place the rights of the abuser above that of the victim. When it is necessary to remove the abuser from the home, we hear police officers say such things as “Poor man, where will he go?” and “We can’t take the man out of his house!” and even, “No one thinks of the rights of the man.” (Accountability of the perpetrator will be further discussed in the section under Judicial System.)

The European Court of Human Rights, in the case of Opuz v. Turkey, recognized that states must bear the responsibility when they fail to protect women from domestic violence.13 Furthermore, in the case of Opuz v. Turkey, and also in the case of Kontrova v. Slovakia,14 the European Court of Human Rights recognized that violence against women is a systemic problem reflecting a fundamental inbalance of power. This imbalance of power is present in patriarchal societies with strong gender stereotypes demeaning the role and value of women and giving preference to men who then have a sense of entitlement.

13 See European Court of Human Rights, Judgement in Case of Opuz v. Turkey, https://hudoc. echr.coe.int/app/conversion/pdf/?library=ECHR&id=001-92945&filename=001-92945.pdf. 14 See European Court of Human Rights, Judgement in Case of Kontrova v. Slovakia, https:// www.coe.int/t/dg2/equality/domesticviolencecampaign/resources/Kontrova%20v.%20 Slovakia_en.asp.