Open AccessViolence Against Women in Russia and Brazil: International and Domestic Responses
Author(s) -
Galina A. Nelaeva
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
brics law journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.184
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 2412-2343
pISSN - 2409-9058
DOI - 10.21684/2412-2343-2021-8-4-76-102
Subject(s) - conceptualization , domestic violence , phenomenon , international law , political science , international community , public health , public international law , criminology , poison control , pandemic , suicide prevention , law , sociology , covid-19 , medicine , medical emergency , quantum mechanics , pathology , artificial intelligence , politics , computer science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , physics , nursing , disease
The problem of domestic violence and violence against women, despite being an age-old phenomenon, came to the fore of public debate relatively late. It entered the agenda of intergovernmental organizations in the 1990s, but became the subject of international litigation only in the 2000s and 2010s. While this belated response of the international community can be associated with the inadequate conceptualization of the problem and insufficient data, it also has to do with the ongoing public/private dichotomy that became especially pronounced in the recent years when various conservative groups increasingly question the necessity of specific laws and policies aimed at eliminating this kind of crime. In this article, I briefly trace the developments concerning women’s rights, and, particularly, domestic violence and violence against women in international law. Then, based on the analysis of international and regional court decisions, I try to see how and whether these decisions contributed to the domestic developments in the field of combatting this phenomenon in Russia and Brazil. It is also important to examine how COVID-19 pandemic impacted the narratives of violence and how the international community should respond to the challenge of protecting the most vulnerable members of the society in the conditions of health emergency.