Dear Members of End-violence, You have often called for more and better research and documentation on violence against women. Research can be a powerful advocacy tool to expose violence, reveal its causes and consequences, and support demands for action.
But there are also ethical questions related to research. One of the most important involves protecting victims. Some methods used to document VAW endanger women, even if confidentiality is maintained. Example: an international organisation sent male staff members in identifiable vehicles to locate and interview women who had been raped, without any procedures to protect women who agreed to be interviewed. In another case, women in prison who were abused by guards faced retaliation if they talk to investigators. We would like to learn of your efforts to research and document VAW, and the obstacles and ethical dilemmas you face in doing so. KEY QUESTIONS: 1. Are you conducting research and documentation? What have been your greatest accomplishments? What obstacles do you face? 2. Where are research and documentation most urgently needed? 3. How do you balance the need to document VAW with the interests of victims whose cases are documented? 4. What steps should be taken to prevent exploitation of witnesses by the media or NGOs themselves? Who should take those steps? 5. Who determines the purpose research and the methodologies used? How does that affect the outcomes and the protection of victims? 6. Are there "best practices" in conducting research and documentation? Who is using them? What methodologies are best for which purposes? 7. Have you used research findings to support advocacy, e.g., law reform or action in the courts? How successful was that effort? 8. How can we use research results most effectively as advocacy tools? We look forward to learning of your experience related to research and documentation! Warm regards, End-violence Moderators ***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/
