Fatima Jannatova, who requested that her actual title be withheld, is a 22-year-old sufferer of home violence in Azerbaijan. She shared her harrowing expertise with VOA, which, she says, has left her bodily and psychologically traumatized.
“I’m having severe issues with my well being,” Jannatova advised VOA.
“Regardless of having acquired remedy, I’m nonetheless carrying the implications of the violence.”
In response to Jannatova, abuse by the hands of her husband and mother-in-law compelled her to show to regulation enforcement businesses. Nevertheless, after dealing with stress from her husband’s household, she withdrew her grievance.
“I forgave him, reasoning that he was the daddy of my youngsters. Nevertheless, the person didn’t change. I’ve been very afraid for myself and my youngsters,” Jannatova mentioned, including that she has now filed for divorce.
“He took away the numerous amount of cash and jewellery bequeathed to me by my father, but when I demand something again, he may maybe homicide me.”
Jannatova is amongst many Azeri ladies who turn into victims of home abuse.
In response to the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan, 1,260 prison situations of home abuse had been documented nationwide in 2020. Activists for ladies’s rights consider the true determine is far larger.
Vafa Rustam has been a human rights activist in Azerbaijan for over a decade. The local weather of impunity for perpetrators, in accordance with her, is the first supply of home violence within the nation.
“Home violence must be registered within the prison code as an aggravating issue,” she advised VOA’s Azeri Service. “If an individual is assaulted in home circumstances, the penalty must be extra extreme.”
In response to Rustam, Azerbaijan additionally lacks sufficient shelters for victims of abuse. Most shelters are full, stopping extra ladies from discovering security from their abusive spouses.
Azerbaijani authorities declare that the speed of violence towards ladies is on the decline, citing a 3.7% drop in situations from 2019-20.
The State Committee for Household, Girls, and Kids Affairs advised VOA about steps made in response to the presidential decree issued in September 2020, which established a three-year plan to fight home abuse.
The institution of a hotline and a bunch to observe and assess progress within the battle towards home abuse are among the many steps adopted.
But Azerbaijan has not signed the Istanbul Conference, a landmark treaty of the Council of Europe that goals to create “a authorized framework at [the] pan-European stage to guard ladies towards all types of violence, and to forestall, prosecute, and remove violence towards ladies and home violence.”
Probably the most severe points, in accordance with lawyer Zibeyda Sadigova, is the problem in getting restraining orders for battered spouses in a well timed method.
“Acquisition of restraining orders have to be attainable. The orders have to be taken from the chief establishments and handed to the police,” Sadigova says.
She additionally mentions the extra difficulties that ladies who decide to depart violent marriages face attributable to an absence of revenue.
“The ladies, who’ve been victims of home violence, are dealing with severe monetary hardships,” Sadigova says, emphasizing the need for a fund to help ladies of their transition to a life freed from abuse.
This story originated in VOA’s Azerbaijan Service.
