Opinion (Rogério COPETO / Official GNR): WOMEN SURVIVORS.
To mark the "International Women's Day", we commemorate this day 8 March, nothing better than to take the time to honor all women who survive the crimes of which they are victims, such as, female genital mutilation, ill-treatment, to domestic violence, the chase, forced marriage, trafficking in persons, rape, or sexual abuse, sexual coercion, sexual harassment or pimping.
Rogério COPETO
Lieutenant Colonel of the GNR
Master in Law and Security and Homeland Security Auditor
Head of the Education Division / Command Doctrine and Training
It is true that anyone, regardless of the genus, may be the victim of any of the crimes listed, as well as women can be victims of any of the specific offenses in the Criminal Code. But to list the types of crime mentioned in the beginning, we intend to reinforce that there are crimes, whose criminal conduct focus mainly on women, there are some that are unique, female gender, such as female genital mutilation.
When referring to the concept of "Survivor woman", we intend to extend this concept to a wider range of crimes, that victims are women, knowing however that the concept applies mainly to crimes committed in the context of intimate relationships such as domestic violence, what appears on the gear.
So, the crime of domestic violence have added some types of crime belonging to the group of crimes against the physical integrity and the other belonging to the group against sexual freedom, because all can be committed against men and women, it turns out that the listed crimes are mostly committed against women, as the aforementioned female genital mutilation, rape, forced marriage, pimping or sexual harassment.
However we did not include the crimes of sexual self-determination group, because while the crimes against sexual freedom punish behaviors that violate the right of every person to freely decide their life and their sexual practices, crimes against sexual self-determination punish behaviors that focus on victims, that in view of their age, They are not yet in a position to sexually autodeterminarem, so even in the absence of violence, They are likely to affect the free development of his maturity and sex life.
The aforementioned easily conclude that women are victims of a larger set of crimes than men and so it is only fair, which exist in all societies, appropriate responses for protection and support for women survivors.
Women who are victims of the offenses referred to, at any time of their life or even throughout your life, never betray, even when suffering is lived for years, and only when violence reached very serious levels, treatment and leading to hospitalization, this fact comes to the attention of authorities, because not prevention campaigns will be good enough, nor society is to fulfill its role to combat the scourge of women are victims, spiking is not uncommon in the woman's death.
To illustrate one of these situations, we had the opportunity to make known there exactly two years ago in the article entitled "International Women's Day: Domestic Violence, criminal phenomenon with visibility", one of those women survivors, who took the opportunity to remember.
In an interview to a morning program, a television channel, a woman coming from the hospital, after surviving a murder attempt, by her husband, who stabbed her 10 times, justifies such behavior, the fact of it being unemployed and had no intention of killing, devaluing the fact that the knife had left, when the assailant tried to stick in your head, fact that have saved, continuing however to love her husband and therefore forgives.
Although I have heard many victims of domestic violence excuse the aggressor, giving almost always says that "He only hits me when you're drunk"And that"He is a good father and never hit the children", this interview was for me, more learning about the phenomenon of domestic violence, because of the way the woman justified the offending behavior, after surviving a murder attempt.
And I believe that the only visit that this offender will be in jail to this woman, who survived years of violence and a murder attempt, by her husband who vowed to love forever.
Its desculpabilização attitude of the aggressor, for most people will be difficult to understand, but is the reality of our society, where women are seen as "property"And the attackers, before the possible separation, take the final decision "You're not my, You are not anyone".
It is this behavior which may explain, that every year are killed by their fellow dozens of women, de todos as classes sociais, and half of these women have complaint before being killed, as we learned through the article of yesterday's Daily News, with the title "Almost half of the murdered women had filed a complaint", where it is stated that "a study on 43 cases of femicide (murder of women), committed between 2010 and 2015, in the Greater Lisbon area, reveals that 46,4% of the victims had already filed a complaint for domestic violence to authorities". The study is the responsibility of PJ and is called "Murder, femicide and stalking in the context of intimate relationships"And it was presented yesterday at PJ's School in Seminar: "Murder, femicide and stalking in the context of intimate relationships: contributions to the study of Portuguese reality".
Therefore urges change behaviors, and the formation of the new, that should bet, where information campaigns on dating violence have a very important role in preventing the phenomenon, because unfortunately there are girls who find it normal that your boyfriend the ban to wear this or that garment and preventing him from talking to other guys, justifying her boyfriend's behavior, because the love. Nobody needs this kind of love, because this love kills. The girl who today excuse her boyfriend, tomorrow will be the woman who will excuse the husband who tried to kill, to survive ...
I finish making the disclosure of a manual with the title "Guide to Non-Formal Education for Women Survivors of Violence", which represents itself as a "European Education Product", funded by the European Commission and had a national contributor to Association of Women Against Violence (AMCV). The manual is addressed to women survivors of domestic violence and professionals working in this field, filling this form is lack of resources in the field of non-formal adult education for women survivors of domestic violence.
All women, I wish a good "International Women's Day".
