Venezuela has not yet established a support system for battered women as promised, Amnesty International said in a report issued on Wednesday.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s government passed new domestic violence legislation last March requiring that, among other things, Venezuela’s 23 states and more than 300 municipalities construct women’s shelters.
But more than a year later, no new facilities have been built, the London-based Amnesty said.
Just two such shelters exist across the nation of 27 million people — and both were up and running two years before the law was passed, the National Women’s Institute said. But the government-run institute reported that at least three more are under revision or have been approved by local authorities.
Chavez said after passing the law that it is important as Venezuela is “a very machista [male chauvinistic] society and we need to be equal,” the state-run Bolivarian news agency reported.
A government spokesperson could not be reached on Wednesday for comment.
Carlos Lusverti, Amnesty’s general coordinator in Venezuela, said shelters are fundamental to helping battered women.
“One of the first things you can do is separate them from the place where they are the victim of aggression,” he said.
Amnesty urged the government to follow through on the measure, saying it will encourage women to report domestic violence.
Local organizations estimate just one in nine battered women report assaults.
Some women think such abuse is normal, said Amnesty volunteer Nancy Farlan, who left a former boyfriend 25 years ago after he pulled her hair and knocked her to the ground for going out with friends.
“It was the first and last time” for her, Farlan said. But “many women die.”
Caracas police inspector Henry Ruiz said officers have begun receiving training on domestic violence cases but often find it impossible to remove victims from danger because of a lack of facilities.
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