Domestic violence in Russia

One in four families in the Russian federation experience domestic violence. Amnesty International reports that each day, 36,000 women in the Russian Federation are beaten by their husbands or partners. Furthermore, sociological studies show that 30 per cent of married women are regularly subjected to physical violence. The situation is exacerbated by the lack of statistics and indeed by the attitude of the agencies of law and order to this problem, for they view such violence not as a crime but as 'a private matter between the spouses'.

Yelena Makkey, the legal consultant of the Yekaterina Crisis Centre in the Urals, lamented when facing victims of domestic violence very often police just don’t understand that they should treat the cases as a violation of human rights. Very often, they even do not register the complaints. The number of police inspectors willing to work with us is still small.

Lara Griffith, an AI advocate who is also affiliated with the campaign for human rights in the Russian Federation, explained: - Economic difficulties, experienced by a significant number of Russian families in the past decade, have put additional strain on family relations and have led to an upsurge in domestic violence in which women are most often the victims. Men who beat or rape their wives or harass them in other ways are unlikely to face prosecution. One reason for this is that the law does not recognize domestic violence as a distinct crime. Law enforcement officials and society in general tend to view domestic violence not as a crime, but as a private matter. Many women who have suffered such abuses do not seek redress because they fear further involvement with the authorities.

References

• http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR460192003?open&of=ENG-326