why women will continue to die from domestic violence in Belarus

2023-10-25 09:00:00

The epidemic of domestic violence in Belarus is not abating. A new tragedy happened in the Vyaleysk district – there, a man drank and beat his wife for two weeks, who physically could not leave him due to her health. And he beat her until he killed her.

Of course, he will be convicted and even, most likely, imprisoned for several years, but will the authorities change something in terms of prevention of such terrible crimes? Or, as always, will they remember that Lukashenka is against the law on combating domestic violence, and pretend that there is no systemic problem?

I am one hundred percent sure that they will hide their heads in the sand according to the old bad tradition, because it is easier and safer for them in the current system. Any departure from the general policy of the party can lead to the impeachment of the government representatives themselves. And probably about the same term that murderers get.

And no, I certainly do not justify the inaction of local authorities at different levels. This is how I demonstrate the logic that allows them to remain part of the system. They should not care about the well-being of people, for whom, in fact, they should work, but to ensure the integrity and homogeneity of the system itself.

It is impossible to change anything in the system, because this is how they admit that they used to work somehow incorrectly. That’s why you need to stand your ground and focus as much as possible in your work on finding and punishing politically unreliable elements. And everything else will wait, it will not go anywhere. And if it happens to another world, then there is no person – there is no problem.

Of course, you might say that not every crime can be predicted, and you’d be right. But there is a big difference between a system that works for prevention and a system that does not care about a certain criminal sphere. And the current Belarusian authorities clearly do not care about the well-being of women in general and their (us) safety in families in particular.

What do we have in a specific story from the Vela region? The woman found it very difficult to move, so she was physically unable to leave her husband, who beat her during a two-week binge. Did the village precinct officer not know who in his precinct had problems with alcohol? He had to know, of course. Did he not know that this man is drunk and that a woman lives with him, who cannot walk on her own and is in a particularly vulnerable state? He also had to know. If there was an appropriate system aimed at supporting people, then the precinct officer would have to pass on information about this crisis situation to the social service, which could help the woman or at least check if everything is okay with her.

But no one helped her.

And this is not a separate sad story, but a part of the great tragic Belarusian narrative, in which the police are so busy with mass arrests for politically incorrect comments on the Internet that they do not have time or do not want to deal with their immediate duties – to maintain order and protect citizens. She lacks desire, time, competence, or all at once for good work. But in any case, the result is the same, and it is disastrous. And there is not a single hint that the situation can improve even a little.

The opinions expressed in the blogs represent the views of the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect the position of the editors.