WUNRN
COHRE - Centre on Housing Rights
& Evictions
LATIN AMERICA - LACK OF HOUSING
FORCES VICTIMS OF
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TO STAY WITH
ABUSERS - REPORT
Sao Pedro slum,
COHRE
report on domestic violence and housing in Latin America (July 2010)
download pdf [Full
Report - Spanish]
download pdf [Summary
of Report - English]
16 July 2010 – An investigative study on domestic violence and
housing in Latin America released today reveals that likely hundreds of
thousands of women remain in homes where they are subjected to violence simply
because they have no alternative place to go.
The
50-page report, released by the Geneva-based international housing rights
watchdog the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), exposes the
reality facing women in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, where lack of access to
adequate housing, including emergency shelter, prevents victims of domestic
violence from escaping their abusers.
COHRE
interviewed scores of women in cities across Argentina, Brazil and Colombia who
experienced domestic violence first-hand and the report presents some of their
stories.
The
vast majority of the women interviewed by COHRE found it impossible to find a
place to escape to when they were targeted by violence in the home – and for
many this predicament alone prevented them from fleeing their abusive
relationships.
“It
is incomprehensible that public policies designed to combat domestic violence
have not taken into account women’s housing rights, when it is such a critical
factor for women’s safety and security. It is not an exaggeration to say that
this is a life or death issue for many of these women,” said Mayra Gomez,
COHRE’s Senior Expert on Women.
Most
countries in Latin America have high rates of domestic violence – between 30
and 60 percent of women have suffered from domestic violence in the region,
though the real figure is thought to be far higher, as many women do not report
such violence. In Colombia alone, an estimated 40 percent of women have been
attacked by their male companions.
However,
safe-housing options for women fleeing such violence are almost non-existent in
the region.
COHRE
visited battered women’s shelters in Bogota, Colombia; Porte Alegre, Brazil;
and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The lack of shelters in these three large cities
was striking.
In
Bogota, there is only one private shelter available to victims of domestic
violence. In Porto Alegre, there is also just one battered women’s shelter. In
Buenos Aires, a city with over 12 million inhabitants living within the city
and its surrounding areas, and in a country where an estimated one in three
women will suffer from physical, psychological, sexual or economic abuse in her
home, there are only two government-run shelters where women can stay for a
short time only – typically no more than six months.
“The
lack of emergency shelters usually leaves women little choice but to stay in a
violent home, often risking their lives,” said Mayra Gomez.
“It
is not always easy for women to leave their abusers for a whole range of
reasons – but lack of housing alternatives should never be one of those
reasons. The government has a responsibility to provide alternatives for these
women so that they can live in safety and dignity.”
COHRE
said that although emergency housing is important for women forced to flee
violence in the home, shelters alone do not ensure adequate housing for women
in the long-term. According to the women COHRE interviewed, they need their
governments to ensure that women have access to permanent housing solutions
when they are forced to end a violent relationship. The women also said that
help in navigating the sometimes labyrinthine justice system was crucial for
them to be able to get legal protection from their abusers.
COHRE
also called on governments to enact protective measures to ensure the exclusion
of abusers from the household and the right of the victim to remain within the
family home, even if not owned, at least until she is able to access
alternative housing.
“The
right to adequate housing goes beyond the right to have a roof over your head –
it is the right to live in security, peace and dignity, and it is a
government’s obligation to ensure that right for victims of domestic violence.”
“For
too long, the link between domestic violence and housing rights has been
neglected by policy-makers – it is time for governments in Latin America to
rectify this mistake and provide women with the secure environments they are
entitled to.”
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