By Eleni Vetsika
In February, Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger brought forward a motion on gender-based violence (GBV) that identified and exposed ten serious shortcomings of the court system when dealing with GBV cases.
The WHO has declared gender-based violence as a global pandemic and the greatest threat to women’s and girls’ health worldwide. One girl or woman is killed every ten minutes by a partner or family member. The LGBTQ+ community are also reporting an increase in queerphobia incited attacks. This motion highlighted the shocking failings of current legislation and practices and how these affect GBV victims, obstructing their access to life-saving support and the court system.
Central among the issues raised in Ruth Coppinger’s motion was the need to get rid of the horribly traumatising practice where the accused can request and access the counselling records of victims / survivors. This grossly invasive practice has led to victims / survivors (overwhelmingly women) not accessing essential treatment or not pursuing cases, and constitutes a misogynistic attack on their ability to pursue justice.
Misogynistic character references
We need an end to character references, the implementation of ‘Valerie’s Law’ (removing guardianship rights for those who kill the other parent of their child(ren)), and the introduction of educational programmes both in education environments and the wider public to challenge misogyny.
We need radical changes within the actual court system, seeking to train the Gardaí on femicide and intimate partner violence, make judges accountable but also ensure that they receive compulsory training regarding sexual and gender-based violence, invest and recruit more personnel so that the waiting times for cases of sexual assault and rape are reduced, and more.
Disappointingly, despite the government not opposing Ruth Coppinger’s motion and allowing it to pass, they showed little interest and urgency. During the two-hour debate, from the 91 governmental TDs, only the Minister for Justice was present – for the first hour only – and then a junior Minister deputised.
The motion was welcomed and supported by victims, survivors and their families, some of whom followed the debate from the Dáil chamber. However, the poor level of contributions by many TDs (of opposition parties) together with the lack of engagement by Government TDs has to be noted and is definitely an indication of the need to keep up the fight for justice for victims of GBV.
We demand
— end the practice of character references before sentencing for those convicted in cases of gender- based violence;
— protect confidentiality, the right to privacy and therapeutic healthcare for victims and immediately legislate to prevent access to counselling records by the accused and their defence team;
— provide advocacy and representation for complainants in the court process;
— ensure that there is compulsory training of the judiciary and juries regarding sexual and gender-based violence and end the ability of rape myths and victim blaming being put by defence legal teams in court cases;
— invest and recruit court personnel, so nobody has to wait more than a year for a sexual assault, rape or gender violence case;
— introduce educational programmes in schools, colleges and the wider society to challenge misogyny and gender violence;
— introduce mechanisms to recall and make accountable judges who make misogynistic and insensitive rulings;
— move to implement “Valerie’s Law”, to remove any guardianship rights for those who kill the other parent of their children;
— femicide and intimate partner violence training for Gardaí; and
— introduce a domestic violence register “Jennie’s Law”, to make available information about anyone with a conviction for domestic violence.
