In the Dominican Republic, violence against women is addressed through two major laws: Law 24-97, on violence against women and
domestic violence, and Law 88-03, which provides for safe houses and shelters. The State is also party to the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of
Belém do Pará).
[22] In addition, the 2010 Constitution provides that: “Domestic and gender-based violence in any form is prohibited. The State shall guarantee by law the adoption of the necessary steps to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women.”
[23] The 2014 Bill for the New Family Code also establishes that families have the right to a life free of violence.
[24]
Domestic violence policy and legislation is overseen by the Ministry of Women, and violence against women is included in topic six of the country’s 2007-2017 National Gender Equality Plan, its ten-year Health Plan (2006-2015) and the National Strategy to Address the Link between HIV and AIDS.
[25] Special units have also been set up under the Office of the Attorney General for the reporting and prosecution of violence against women crimes, as well as the collection of statistics. In addition, the Ministry of Women, together with the Supreme Court of Justice, have established training workshops for judges. In 2012, the Ministry of Women also set up a hotline for victims of violence.
[26]
At the time of writing, legislation regarding violence against women was pending: a draft of the “Organic Law for Prevention, Treatment, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women” was being considered in Congress. The law, which provides a comprehensive plan to address victims of violence, including the recognition of “battered wives syndrome” and femicide,
[27]has been criticised by civil society organisations for its failure to include reproductive rights.
[28]
According to 2013 data from the
Oficina Nacional de Estadística (Office for National Statistics), there were 66 cases of domestic violence in which the final outcome was the death of the wife in 2009, 83 in 2010, 81 in 2011 and 60 in 2012.
[29]
The Penal Code, amended by Act No. 24 in 1997, criminalises
sexual assault and makes it punishable by 10 to 15 years’ imprisonment.
[30]The punishment is longer (30 years) where there are aggravating circumstances, such as pregnancy, physical or mental impairment, or
rape of a child.
[31] Rape within marriage and de facto unions is a crime under the Penal Code.
[32]
Data from the Dominican Attorney General indicates there were 66,177 reports of gender and domestic violence in 2011 alone.
[33] According to the latest Demographic and Health Survey (2007), around 17% of women interviewed reported at least one act of sexual violence in their lifetime.
[34]Moreover, Dominican civil society organisations reveal that conviction rates are low. Over the course of 15 years – from 1997 to 2012 –only 220 cases of gender-based violence received judgments, including 64 cases of rape and 9 sexual assaults.
[35] According to the NGO CLADEM, part of the reason for the low conviction rate is that “[t]here is no public defender service for the victims in a vast majority of cases that go to trial, and the lawyers as litigants are unaware of the complexity of the phenomenon of gender violence…”
[36]
Proposed changes to the Penal Code could affect legislation regarding violence against women, though not necessarily in a positive sense. According to Amnesty International’s latest country report, “[w]omen’s rights organizations expressed concern that [the] proposed changes … represented a backward step in combating violence against women and girls. For example, it did not include the crime of gender-based violence and reduced the penalties for certain forms of violence against women and girls.”
[37]
Sexual harassment is included both in the Penal Code
[38] in the Dominican Republic, as well as in the Domestic Violence Law No. 24 (1997).According to both texts, sexual harassment is defined as any order, threat, offer or constraint intended to obtain favours of a sexual nature, made by a person (man or woman) who abuses the authority conferred upon him/her by his/her occupation. The Labour Code not only protects employees from sexual harassment, but mandates that employers take action if it occurs.
[39] Sexual harassment is punished by one year of imprisonment and a fine, ranging from 5 to 10 000 pesos.
Civil society organisations argue that the current law as it exists in the Penal Code is insufficient in that it does not recognise cases where the harasser and victim are at the same hierarchical level. Further, sexual harassment is only considered based on gender discrimination, not on gender identity or sexuality.
[40]
According to data from the Ministry of Women, sexual harassment is a problem in Santo Domingo and the surrounding district, with incidents reported by 28.3% of women interviewed face-to-face and 31.7% interviewed by phone.
[41]Further, NGOs have documented severe sexual harassment and sexual violence committed against Haitian women who work as domestic workers, particularly in the area on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
[42]
There is no evidence that female genital mutilation is practised in the Dominican Republic.
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Femicide is considered a widespread problem in the Dominican Republic. According to the latest civil society alternative report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (citing the Dominican Attorney General), from January 2005 to December 2012, 1,580 women have been victims.
[43]Despite the number of reported crimes, cases of femicide were prosecuted only eight times between 1997 and 2012, and three of these were reversed under a Criminal Code exception for intoxicated aggressors.
[44]
Human trafficking also remains an issue in the Dominican Republic. Despite policies set out in the National Plan against Trafficking, no progress has been made in implementing prevention campaigns, and there have been only three sentences against trafficking since 2007.
[45]
The Penal Code criminalises
abortion with no exceptions.
[46] However, at the time of writing there were “proposed changes to the Penal Code [that] would allow for an exception to the ban when the life of the woman is at risk.”
[47] Government intervention has recently taken place in certain such instances. For example, in 2012, the government intervened in the case of a pregnant 16-year-old whose doctors would not treat her leukaemia due to the dangers posed to the foetus. The intervention came too late, however, and the teenager died.
[48]
[22] Paragraph 2 of article 42; CEDAW (2011), p. 41 [23] CEDAW (2011), p. 15 [24] Articles 3 and 13 of the 2014 Family Code Bill [25] OAS (2012), p. 139 [26] CEDAW (2013), p. 18 [27] CEDAW (2011), p. 15 [28] Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres et al. (2013), p. 5 [29]Oficina Nacional de Estadística (2013), p. 595 [30] Article 303 [31] Article 303-4 [32]Article 303-4.7 [33] Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres et al. (2013), p. 3 [34] CESDEM and Macro International, Inc. (2008) [35] Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres et al. (2013), p. 3 [36] CLADEM (2012), p. 2 [37] Amnesty International (2013) [38]Article 333-2 [39] Article 47.9 [40] Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres et al. (2013), p. 15 [41] Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres et al. (2013), p. 14 [42] Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres et al. (2013), p. 15 [43] Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres et al. (2013), p. 3 [44] Article 64; Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres,et al. (2013), p. 3 [45] CLADEM (2012), p. 2 [46] Article 137; CLADEM (2012), p. 4; UN DESA (2013) [47] Amnesty International (2013); CEDAW (2011), p. 33 [48] Center for Reproductive Rights (2012)