Domestic violence continues to haunt the women of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has much to be proud of, it was the first country in the Muslim world to establish a democratic and secular government, it has contributed significantly to peace-keeping operations in Iraq, it has a rich history and much diversity in both its people and its landscape, and yet there remains a shameful reality in Azerbaijan, that casts a shadow on much of the country’s success: the prevalence of domestic abuse, and especially the abuse of women.

According to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, the majority of women in Azerbaijan suffer from some form of domestic abuse, either through verbal, psychology or physical harm inflicted upon them by their husbands. Often, this abuse is also found to be inflicted upon children as well.

The government of Azerbaijan has made several attempts to address the problem.

In 2007, parliament implemented the Draft Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Prevention of Domestic Violence. The law contained a number of progressive elements, better counseling services for abused women, tougher laws that categorically prohibited physical abuse of women or children, and the implementation of a number of social programs aimed at educating the public about their rights and their obligations.

This was followed the next year by the National Plan of Action on Family and Woman’s Issues. According to the Stop Violence Against Women campaign, supported by the council of Europe, the new law “envisages prevention of cases of domestic violence and violence against women, to detect such cases timely, institution of criminal proceedings against offenders, intensifying measures on restoration of victim’s rights, improvement of legal protection and socio-psychological rehabilitation of victims of violence, conduction of research on reasons and factors favourable for violence, education of professionals for rehabilitation of victims of violence and for ensuring preventive work with offenders, raising awareness of population on reasons and consequences of the violence against women.”

Yet Azerbaijan is lagging in these efforts, domestic violence remains as prevalent as ever, and the director of Woman’s Crisis Centre in Azerbaijan has said that as many as 80% of woman are abused at some point in their lives.

“The main problem is that many men do not think that this is in anyway wrong,” she told Azerbaijan news media, and indicated that her field workers, dealing with families in which abuse was occurring, were often met with surprise by the men, who did not realize their actions were wrong morally or legally.

This seems to point to the need for greater public awareness of the law and the duty of all citizens to report cases of abuse, and to seek help if they themselves are being abused, furthermore, instead of women feeling ashamed of themselves for the abuse, the men inflicting it should be named and shamed, a common culture of mutual respect needs to be developed in Azerbaijan.

Such steps, however, deal with issues of changing the views of society, of educating the public, which is a long-term undertaking, and it has been only a few years since the government first started to take seriously the task of rooting out domestic abuse.

Another major impediment to woman and their equal rights is the patriarchial nature of Azerbaijan society. It is difficult for women to advance their careers, and employment opportunities for women are typically in lowering paying, less skilled positions, if they work at all.

“I have never worked a single day and I depend on my husband completely for money. And we don’t live on a large amount – just 89 manats [111 US dollars] a month,” one victim of domestic abuse told Leyla Leysan of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.

She is, therefore, entirely dependent on her husband in all matters, because she was not allowed to work and was kept in her father’s house until marriage, leaving her naïve about, and vulnerable to, the complexities and difficulties of married life.

“A man appealed to me once who had been pushed to the edge by his wife. She shouted at him every day, threw domestic objects at him, and picked up on the smallest things. Abuse from wives is often psychological rather than physical. They start rows and accuse their husband of not earning enough, and of not being able to support them as they should,” he said.

But he said most problems were experienced by women. In the last month alone, two pregnant women had turned to him for help.

According to Rabiyat Aslanova, chairwoman of parliament’s committee for human rights, changing social attitudes must remain the central goal of new legislation.

“Society must not be indifferent to these cases. These problems need to be resolved with a complex set of measures,” she said.