A protest organized last week at Al-Erada Square, in front of Kuwait Parliament, saw women dressed in black holding placards that read ‘Blood on your Hands’ , ‘End Gender-based Violence’ and ‘Do we have to die in front of you for you to hear us?” The march was organized to protest the brutal murder two days earlier of a Kuwaiti woman, by a citizen who had been harassing her after she and her family spurred his marriage proposal.
The horrendous murder of the young Kuwaiti woman on 20 April shocked the country and sparked unprecedented outrage among the public, and on social media platforms. The protestors at Al-Erada Square were marching to highlight, both the heinous nature of the crime, as well as to demand protection for women from continued harassment and all other forms of violence.
They called on parliament to form a committee to study the problem of harassment, stalking and tormenting of women prevailing in the country, and to come up with appropriate and comprehensive plans, and suitable punishment for perpetrators, so as to prevent such crimes from occuring in future.
Significantly, the latest murder comes two months after activists in the country had launched a nationwide campaign to end sexual harassment and violence against women. That campaign had brought out dozens of testimonies on social media sites from women in Kuwait about their bitter experiences of being stalked, harassed or assaulted in Kuwait.
In recent years, Kuwait’s legal code has increasingly come under attack from community-based organizations and activists for its generally tepid response to crimes against women. Activists say that the detached and apathetic approach by the legal and legislative appartuses to recurring instances of violence against women have led to exacerbating the problem and emboldening perpetrators of violence in the country.
The Kuwait Penal Code treats the crime of ‘honor killing’ as a mere misdemeanor and provides only reduced punishment — a maximum of upto three years in prison, or only a fine — to a citizen for the killing of his female relative, if he finds her committing adultery.
The Code also states if a man kidnaps a woman intending to abuse, rape, pimp, murder, or extort her, he will not receive punishment if he marries the woman with her guardian’s (wali) approval; the woman apparently has no say in the matter.
These penal codes are not only inconsistent with Sharia law, which governs family law for Muslims in the country, it also conflicts with Kuwait’s Constitution, which provides equality before the law for both men and women.
Incidentally, a survey conducted in 2016 found that most people were not aware of this law, with nearly two-third (63%) of respondents denying its existence. In light of continued violence and sexual harassment of women in the country, activists and civil organizations are now calling for revamping the law and enforcing stricter punishment for perpetrators of violence against women, including the dealth penalty for gender-based violence that leads to the death of the victim.
Many citizens including lawmakers have also demanded urgent punishment as a top priority for heinous crimes, while asserting the need for a clear and systematic mechanism to study and address the growing problem of gender-based murders that have worsened in recent years. Experts in the field of human rights and law are reported to be preparing a special draft law to protect victims of violence and outline a legal and regulatory framework that overcomes existing legal deficiencies and bridges legal loopholes, so as to ensure that such crimes do not reoccur.
Incidentally, it was only in last August that Kuwait passed its first law specifically targeting domestic violence. The new law “sets the minimum standard and legal protection procedures for victims of domestic violence, in a way that maintains the family unity without threatening its stability in the society”, said the parliament’s Women and Family Committee, which drafted the legislation.
Gender-based violence (GBV) is nothing new in Kuwait, it has been going on furtively behind closed doors of homes, workplaces, and on streets for ages. It has been perpetuated by a culture that has failed to criminalize such acts, or at best condones such behavior. The only element new is that GBV has shunned its veil of discreteness and is now happening brazenly, and it is also being covered more widely in the media.
While the recent murder and protests against it have hit headlines, there have been numerous murders and callous gender-based crimes in the past that have received far less media attention. One probable reason is that those crimes were perpetrated mainly against the country’s large pool of foreign domestic workers who have less access to law enforcement and legal representation.
A survey commissioned in 2019 by Orange Kuwait, a community-based organization focusing on violence against women, found that 82.16 percent of those surveyed believed domestic violence was a significant problem in Kuwait. The survey in which the overwhelming respondents (83.5%) were women, found that 62.91 percent had experienced abuse themselves. The survey dovetailed with an earlier survey conducted in 2011 by Kuwait University, which found 40 percent of women reported at least one instance of physical abuse from their husband, while a similar survey the same year by the Kuwait Minister of Justice found 35 percent of women reported abuse.
At 31 percent, the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean region, which includes Kuwait, also has one of the highest prevalence estimates of lifetime intimate partner violence among the organization’s regional rankings. Despite being so prevalent, gender-based violence is largely under-reported because of stigma and lack of access to resources and support systems. Failure to address this issue also entails a significant social cost for the future. Numerous studies have shown that children growing up with violence are more likely to become survivors themselves or perpetrators of violence in the future.
In all societies, women and girls have been found to have less power than men — over their bodies, their decisions and in the resources available to them. In places where social norms condone men’s use of violence as a form of discipline and control, it also adds to the sense of impunity that perpetuates gender-based violence and reinforces gender inequality. Violence against women can happen in the private or public sphere, and can include street harassment, such as groping, whistling, or unwanted attention in publish spaces, as well as marital rape and intimate partner violence within private spheres.
According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) — which works to address the physical and emotional consequences of GBV — one of the most pervasive but least visible human rights violations in the world is GBV.
This form of violence includes any physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, and psychological abuse, threats, coercion, and economic or educational deprivation, whether occurring in public or private life, and inflicted on a person because of socially ascribed power imbalances between males and females. GBV can impact anyone regardless of their geographical location, socio-economic background, race, religion, sexuality, or gender identity. While women and girls are the most at risk and the most affected by gender-based violence, boys, men, and sexual and gender minorities also experience gender-based violence. GBV not only has serious physical and mental repercussions on the impacted individuals and on their families, but it also carries economic costs to the community and the country.
The prevalence of intimate partner violence and sexual violence can be best guaged accurately through population-level surveys based on reports from survivors. A 2018 analysis of prevalence data from 2000-2018 across 161 countries and areas, conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), on behalf of the UN Interagency working group on violence against women, found that worldwide, nearly 1 in 3, or 30 percent, of women have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner or non-partner or both. Globally as many as 38 percent of all murders of women are also committed by intimate partners.
The WHO survey also revealed that over a quarter of women aged 15-49 years who have been in a relationship have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner at least once since age 15. In addition, the WHO survey found that globally 6 percent of women report having been sexually assaulted by someone other than a partner, although data for non-partner sexual violence are more limited. Intimate partner and sexual violence are mostly perpetrated by men against women and is the result of factors occurring at individual, family, community and wider society levels that interact with each other to increase or reduce risk.
Intimate partner and sexual violence cause serious short- and long-term physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health problems for women, including fatal outcomes such as homicide and suicide, said WHO. It leads to unintended pregnancies, induced abortions, gynaecological problems, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. In addition, such violence creates a heavy social and economic cost for women, their families and societies. In some countries, violence against women is estimated to cost countries up to 3.7 percent of their GDP, which is more than double what most governments spend on education.
There is growing evidence on what works to prevent violence against women, based on well-designed evaluations. In 2019, WHO and UN Women with endorsement from 12 other UN and bilateral agencies published RESPECT women – a framework for preventing violence against women aimed at policy makers. Each letter of RESPECT stands for one of seven strategies: Relationship skills strengthening; Empowerment of women; Services ensured; Poverty reduced; Enabling environments (schools, work places, public spaces) created; Child and adolescent abuse prevented; and Transformed attitudes, beliefs and norms.
However, reducing and eliminating violence against women and girls requires a community-based, multi-pronged approach, and sustained engagement with multiple stakeholders. The most effective initiatives address underlying risk factors for violence, including social norms regarding gender roles and the acceptability of violence in societies, cultures and among individuals. Change cannot happen without change at these levels, but this requires concerted efforts on the part of multiple stakeholders, including policy makers, civil society and individuals.
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