15,000 women killed by husbands: Russian wives fight back against domestic violence

[theHandpuppet]

2. More recent statistics, with link

http://www.refworld.org/docid/52a83c964.html

1. Overview

Sources indicate that domestic violence in Russia is "pervasive" (RFE/RL 19 Sept. 2010), "widespread" (AI Feb. 2013a, 10), or a "major problem" (US 19 Apr. 2013, 38; Russia Press Digest 4 July 2012). According to the Prague-based publication Transitions Online, which focuses on post-communist countries in Europe and the former Soviet Union, there is "almost routine violence" in Russian families (12 Mar. 2012). Several sources describe Russian society as patriarchal (UN 16 Aug. 2010, para. 22; TO 12 Mar. 2012; RFE/RL 19 Sept. 2010). Domestic violence is reportedly viewed as a private issue (UN 16 Aug. 2010, para. 22; Reuters 20 Aug. 2013) or as something "normal" (TO 12 Mar. 2012; RFE/RL 19 Sept. 2010).

Sources report that the number of women who die annually in Russia as a result of domestic violence ranges from 10,000 (Reuters 20 Aug. 2013; RFE/RL 28 Jan. 2013; AI Feb. 2013b, 7) to 14,000 women (ANNA July 2010, 6; BBC 28 Feb. 2013; US 19 Apr. 2013, 38). The 14,000 figure reportedly originates from the Russian Ministry of Interior [or Internal Affairs] in 2008 (ibid.; ANNA July 2010, 6). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, the director of the Moscow-based NGO ANNA National Centre for the Prevention of Violence said that there are no recent official statistics provided by the Ministry of Interior on their website, but that the trends from 2010 to 2013 remain similar to the previously reported time period (23 Oct. 2013).

The Moscow News reports that, according to data released by the Federal State Statistics Service, 40 percent of women in Russia are subject to verbal abuse and 20 percent are subject to physical violence by their husbands, but further details about the data were not provided (29 May 2013). Two sources report that, based on law enforcement statistics, 40 percent of all violent crimes in Russia occur in the family (Reuters 20 Aug. 2013; ANNA July 2010, 6). The BBC reports that 600,000 women in Russia are annually facing physical and verbal domestic violence "according to estimates, based on studies in a few selected regions conducted by the Russian interior ministry" (28 Feb. 2013).

An alternative report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which was prepared by a group of experts on domestic violence led by ANNA, indicates that statistics on crimes of domestic violence are "fragmentary, difficult to obtain, or simply do not exist" (ANNA July 2010, 6). Amnesty International (AI) notes that authorities do not keep centralized disaggregated statistics related to domestic violence, and so the "true scale of domestic violence against women in Russia remains unknown" (June 2010, 12). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, an associate professor of political science and women's studies at Brooklyn College, City University of New York (CUNY), who has conducted long-term research and has had work published on violence against women in Russia, similarly stated that there are no credible statistics regarding rates of domestic violence between 2010-2013 and "[t]here is no system for collecting credible data on incidence or number of cases reported to the police, prosecuted or convictions" (Associate Professor 22 Oct. 2013).