Tulika Srivastava's analysis of the different legal responses to domestic violence makes interesting reading.
I am wondering whether there is a fourth way (apart from the welfare, criminal and civil) of looking at domestic violence. This is to see domestic violence as a 'rights violation' and to treat it as such in domestic law. This would require legislation that recognizes DV as a human rights violation, or a Bill of Rights which recognizes VAW as a rights violation. It would also require attaching human rights liability to non-state actors (not problematic to many non lawyers ). The South African Bill of Rights does contain elements of this approach and Albie Sachs' judgement in the Baloyi Case makes interesting reading. This approach would respond to some of those who favour 'criminalizing' DV. By recognizing it as a human rights violation one is treating it with the same (or more) gravity that one would a criminal offence. It also eliminates reliance on the police and would allow groups to support the victim in the litigation (public interest litigation). It also allows the use of a lower standard of proof than the criminal standard. A judicial finding that DV was a violation of human rights would be of tremendous symbolic value. Of course it would not eliminate reliance on judges and lawyers! An approach that combines a 'rights approach' with an 'innovative legislative approach' as suggested by Tulika, looks to me to be the best approach. Sometimes a lack of precedents can be a good thing and help develop new and effective legal responses. Tulika's comments also illustrate the need to develop the capacity of women's groups to draft (and then implement) effective legislation. Mario Gomez Fellow Carr Center for Human Rights Policy Harvard University Member, Law Commission of Sri Lanka On Tue, 12 Mar 2002 09:55:43 +0800, Beng Hui <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >I'm attaching here for your reference as well, relevant sections from a >piece written by Tulika Srivastava outlining the various possible legal >approaches to domestic violence. Hope you find this useful. > ***End-violence is sponsored by UNIFEM and receives generous support from ICAP*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe end-violence OR type: unsubscribe end-violence Archives of previous End-violence messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/end-violence/hypermail/
