Dalli: ‘We must address violence, not just take victims away from it’

Social dialogue minister Helena Dalli said that more awareness was needed on domestic violence in spite of victims currently being given the support they need.

Speaking at the annual seminar of the Commission for Domestic Violence, Dalli said that addressing the issues that led to violent behaviour by the perpetrators was essential to eradicate it.

“In essence what we are doing is taking the victims away from the problem, but the problem remains there unless we treat it at its core,” Dalli said.

She said efforts were being made to offer therapy and treatment for perpetrators as part of their court sentences. “In the long-term, we also need to address education and awareness at a young age, to make discrimination and violence unacceptable to these younger generations.”

Dalli said that engaging with perpetrators was essential to build a sense of social responsibility for their own actions, to ultimately make them understand their behaviour is wrong.

Yana Micallef Stafrace, chairman of the domestic violence commission, spoke of the importance of addressing the issues that trouble the perpetrators of violence. “It is often not just the victims of the abuse that need assistance, but even the perpetrators themselves,” she said, explaining that many members of society including family members and friends could help to address the issues that lead to such violent behaviour.

Professor Aisha Gill from the University of Roehampton, London said violence was not always just physical and that perpetrators can come from any gender or social background. “Characteristic behaviour of perpetrators includes victim blaming, threatening, excusing behaviour, sexual abuse and post separation violence among others,” she said.

She added that perpetrators were hardly ever uniformly violent, but that they changed their behaviour according to the situation, making it harder for society to spot them and to believe the victims.

Prof. Gill said that although domestic violence was a largely gender-based crime, data was emerging showing that women could also sometimes be perpetrators including in cases of mother in law relationships, or even mothers to daughters.

Looking into the situation in her native UK, Gill questioned the effectiveness of the justice system. She explained that many victims of domestic abuse continued to experience post separation violence after the perpetrators were convicted and whether some forms of aggression are recognized as abuse or whether they have become normalized in society.

“Many who don’t sustain injuries in the abuse experience minimization, with police and authorities not reacting given the lack of proof,” she said, explaining that this often led to the victims losing faith in the structures that could help them when they need it the most.

Gill also spoke about the various perpetrator programmes used around the world, and said that a recognition of the multiple forms of domestic violence was essential to making them effective.

“Not all violence is a result of anger, but some are results of beliefs like honour killings and female genital mutilation among others,” she said, drawing from her own experience working with ethnic minorities in the UK.

“Proper programmes need to redress attitudes in perpetrators towards their victims,” she said, pointing out that violence was not always merely a result of anger.

Gill also stressed the need for agencies to work across disciplines and to collaborate with one another.

In their reactions to the presentation members from various organisations in the field, said that Agenzija Appogg was the only perpetrator programme in the country and they also stressed the importance of following up perpetrators and their progress, and that perpetrators needed help in the long-term.