RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Community Activists Contain Domestic Violence

By Mario Osava and Clarinha Glock Reprint | | Print |

Clarinha Glock and Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 23 1999 (IPS) - Domestic violence in the crowded neighbourhood of Bom Jesus, in the city of Porto Alegre, has been halved in the past six years, thanks to community activists.

The driving force behind assistance to the women and children – the main victims of violence in the home – has been the Women’s Information Service (SIM), which gives advice and legal assistance to the local population.

It all started in 1993, when Maria Helena Mello da Silva and 30 other women from Porto Alegre participated in the first course of “popular legal activists” offered by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Themis Legal Consultancy and Gender Studies.

Over a six-month period, she became familiar with basic concepts of family, labor, reproductive and constitutional rights, in addition to attending workshops on sexually transmitted diseases, gender issues and fundraising.

Mello da Silva’s mission, as a type of unofficial prosecutor, started in the area where she has lived since childhood – a group of ramshackle houses called the “Villa Nuestra Senora de Fatima,” one of the poorest and most violent neighbourhoods in the city.

With her newfound legal knowledge, she assisted abused women in filing charges with the police and and learned to argue cases before the local authorities, who often dismiss cases of domestic violence out of hand.

Mello da Silva now compiles a variety of legal papers and guides people in gathering the necessary documentation. She also is called upon to intervene in cases where men refuse to acknowledge the paternity of children conceived outside of marriage, and makes every effort to change their minds without resorting to the law.

“Sometimes, if there is a real dialogue, it is not necessary to go to court, it’s enough to send them to family therapy,” she says.

This type of activism became a calling for Mello da Silva, 41, who recalls it probably began in her adolescence when she dared to publicly reprimand a policeman who had slapped the mother of a detained teenager.

The daughter of a policeman, Mello da Silva was all too familiar with violence growing up, and saw its consequences later when she worked as a nurse, treating women who had been beaten by their husbands.

The activist knows just about everybody in the neighbourhood, including trying to help drug addicts, and has even won the respect of local drug dealers.

Among the initiatives that SIM is putting in place this year is a campaign to collect food and cast-off clothing to give to the poor. Another, involving prison psychologists, consists of combating the aggression faced by women visiting their boyfriends in jail.

“The victims don’t press charges because they are afraid they will be replaced by another woman for the visits,” affirmed Mello da Silva.

Themis has already trained 150 community activists in Porto Alegre and another 93 in the nearby cities of San Leopoldo and Canoas, said Samantha Buglioni, a technical advisor to the NGO.

The work of these female activists is often performed on an individual basis, but also coordinates to a large extent with SIM, which has offices in six areas of the city.

Many of the activists consolidate their public leadership by running for office, seeking posts like those on the Guardian Councils which protect the rights of children and adolescents, as mandated by law.

The success of the programme was recognised by the National Secretariat for Human Rights, which decided to fund its expansion in the state of Rio Grande del Sur, of which Porto Alegre is the capital, and throughout eight other states, under a project entitled Multiplication of Citizenship Agents.

The project was launched with a seminar at the end of July in Salvador, the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia, with the participation of another 24 NGO’s, which will lay the groundwork in the eight states, said Patricia Audi, the coordinator of the National Human Rights Programme led by the Secretariat.

The NGO’s will receive training in how to teach courses on basic human and women’s rights. The model developed by Themis, of 80 class hours spread over a four or five-month period, will be adapted to the specific conditions of each area, Buglioni said.

Domestic violence – physical, sexual and psychological – is a common problem throughout the world. In Latin America, it affects some 30 to 50 percent of women, according to various studies, including several carried out by the Inter-American Development Bank.

In Brazil, the issue has won increased visibility with the creation of Women’s Police Precincts, according to Buglioni. But these are still few in number – there is only one in Porto Alegre – which has limited that programme’s effectiveness.

The activists, in addition to working closely with their communities, are mobilising women to turn to both these special precincts and to the courts to defend their rights, concluded the Themis consultant. (FIN/IPS/mo/ag/hr/ks/mk/99)