European Court for Human Rights Case Details Website: http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001-119968#{"itemid":["001-119968"]}
Ms Eremia was the victim of sustained abuse at the hands of her husband, a
police officer, who regularly beat her in front of her two daughters when
drunk. The daughters’ psychological well-being was adversely affected by
witnessing the abuse. Ms Eremia sought the State's assistance on a number of
occasions. Though her husband was fined and she was granted a protection order,
it didn't prevent further abuse. She applied for divorce but could not get her
case dealt with urgently. On one occasion police officers urged her to withdraw
a complaint, arguing that her daughters’ future career prospects would suffer
if their father had a criminal record. Despite substantial evidence of abuse,
criminal proceedings against her husband were suspended for a year, to be
reopened if he committed another offence in that time.
The European Court of Human Rights noted that Moldova did have a legislative
framework in place to deal with domestic violence and had at least fined Ms
Eremia's husband and granted a protection order. However, as these measures
were ineffective, the Moldovan authorities' failure to protect Ms Eremia
violated her Article 3 rights. The Court also found that the State had violated
her daughters’ rights to privacy and family life (Article 8).
The Court also held that there had been a violation of Article 14, which
prohibits discrimination, in conjunction with Article 3. The applicant claimed
that the State failed to implement the legislative protections for victims of
domestic violence on the basis of preconceived ideas of women’s roles in the
family. In particular it was noted that when the applicant sought the help from
social services she was urged to reconcile with her husband as she was “not the
first nor the last woman to be beaten up by her husband”. The Court held that
the “authorities’ actions were not a simple failure or delay in dealing with
violence against the first applicant, but amounted to repeatedly condoning such
violence and reflected a discriminatory attitude towards the first applicant as
a woman.”
The Equal Rights
Trust, an international equality and social justice organisation, was
granted permission to make written submissions in the proceedings. It argued
strongly that the Court should recognise domestic violence as a gender equality
issue in addition to being a violation of Articles 3 and 8. The Trust said,
“Domestic violence, if it is to be effectively tackled, demands a particular
response, which recognises the discriminatory causes and consequences of this
phenomenon... domestic violence is one of the most serious and pervasive forms
of discrimination against women.”
Click here to view a Council of Europe press release on the
case.
Click here to read the judgment in full.
Click here to view submissions by the Equal Rights Trust.
Ireland is one of only 18 Member States in the Council of Europe which has
not signed the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating
violence against women and domestic violence. The National Women’s Council of Ireland is currently organising
a campaign urging Ireland to sign the convention before the end of Ireland’s EU
presidency.