Intimate Femicide Research: MRC Briefing; Presidency’s Office of Status of Women Strategic Plan and Budget: Briefing; Committee

Meeting report

IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE AND STATUS OF WOMEN JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE
20 May 2005
INTIMATE FEMICIDE RESEARCH: MRC BRIEFING; OFFICE OF STATUS OF WOMEN BRIEFING ON ITS STRATEGIC PLAN AND BEIJING + 10 REPORT

Chairperson: Ms M Morutoa (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Medical Research Council Powerpoint Presentation on Intimate Femicide research findings
Medical Research Council Femicide research findings
Office on the Status of Women Strategic Plan and budget
Notes from National Gender Machinery meeting in Pretoria, 12-13 May 2005
Beijing Plus Ten Report
Commission on the Status of Women Declaration (see Appendix)
Office on Status of Women report on 49th Session of Commission on Status of Women - Beijing + 10

SUMMARY
The Committee was briefed by Ms S Mathews of the Medical Research Council (MRC) on research into intimate femicide. The MRC had investigated how widespread the problem was in South Africa, its legal aspects, and how such cases were managed. They presented recommendations with a view to building awareness of intimate femicide and to developing a sense of ‘national surveillance’ in monitoring trends, having an accessible database, and allowing the legal process to run its course.

The Presidency’s Office on the Status of Women gave a presentation on their Strategic Plan, Budget, and the Beijing +10 Report.

MINUTES
Medical Research Council briefing
Ms S Mathews, a researcher at the MRC, said that intimate femicide occurred worldwide and that between 40 – 70% of women were murdered by their partners, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) findings. The MRC needed to know how significant the problem was in South Africa, what the risks were for women, what the legal aspects were, and how the murder of women and femicide was managed

The MRC research team physically identified female homicide victims at the 25 mortuaries in South Africa. They needed the physical data to identify femicide victims. The women were aged from 14 years. The team collected data from the death registers, which had been compiled from pathological reports, forensic evidence and the investigating officers.

They had been able to collect data from only 81.4% of 3 396 cases, because of untraceable police dockets and case numbers. In South Africa, 8.8% per 100 000 of women were killed by their intimate partner. In the United States, which was considered to be a violent country, 1.6% per 100 000 were killed and in Canada 1.26% per 100 000 were killed.

As for the rate of femicide, over 50% of the victims had lived in co-habitational relationships. Less than 30% had been killed while living with a boyfriend. In customary or traditional marriages, the husband was the perpetrator in more than 18% of the cases. There was a low percentage for same sex and incestuous relationship murders.

In terms of age distribution, women killed by their intimate partners tended to be around 25 – 30 years old in 30.4% of the cases. The age of the perpetrator was older by 40 – 45%, i.e. 30 – 39 years. Female homicide victims aged between 20 – 29 years, had been killed by perpetrator was older than the victim by four years. As for employment, a large number of intimate femicide perpetrators were employed (15%) as security personnel, and many more were farm workers or other blue-collar workers.

There was no difference between intimate and non-intimate femicides as far as the legal outcomes were concerned. There were less than 24% convictions. This did not always mean jail sentences, but included fines and suspended sentences. For non-intimate femicides, the perpetrators often committed suicide, while 11.5% were never arrested because of insufficient evidence. It was difficult to obtain evidence because of the intimate and private nature of this femicide.

There was many differences in sentencing: The perpetrators of intimate femicide received a lesser sentence (5 – 9 years) than the non-intimate femicide perpetrator (20 years plus). Medical legal evidence had been obtained from mortuary data and pathology reports. Both the forensic team and investigating officers did not visit the crime scenes. In 43.7% of cases, a blood-alcohol specimen had been taken to determine if the woman was drunk at the time of her death. Even with a sophisticated medical legal system and forensic laboratory, only 11.1% of DNA analyses were undertaken.

In intimate femicide, the victim usually sustained multiple blunt injuries, while in non-intimate femicides, the woman tended more often to be strangled. A firearm had been used to kill a third of the women, and 7% of these firearms were illegal firearms, 11% of perpetrators owned their own firearms. About 70% of cases could have been prevented if no gun had been around. Of the 10% of perpetrator employed as security workers, 89% owned a legal gun that was used in the murder. A previous history of violence by the perpetrator had regularly never been investigated by the investigating officer, even though this as an important factor in the prosecution of cases.

Intimate partners tended to kill younger women at home. Domestic workers and street women were a particularly vulnerable group. Perpetrators abused alcohol, and then used illegal firearms and blunt force. Conviction was less likely in alcohol abuse cases, because it was seen as a mitigating factor.

The MRC team had experienced problems in their research: They had had to use the death register to collect data, but not all mortuaries had them and 12% of data was incomplete. Police case numbers had often not been entered into the death register. In 6.9% of the cases, there had been no evidence of police investigation at all. For instance, police databases had no names of victims or their identity numbers. 64% of police dockets had gone missing as a result of an inadequate police filing systems. The reason usually given by police for missing dockets was that these had not been returned.

In conclusion, the study showed that South Africa had the highest rate of reported intimate femicides. To prevent further deaths, it was important to effectively manage such deaths. The question was whether legislation offered women protection – and it clearly did not.

The recommendations of the research team included that awareness be built around the issue of intimate femicide. The Department of Social Services should develop adequate plans to identify women at risk. A conscience of ‘national surveillance’ should be developed to monitor trends through legislation. The legal process should follow each case to its conclusion. An accessible database should be developed.

There were positive signs of opportunities to improve the status quo: The mortuaries were now managed by the Department of Health. Gun-control legislation had been implemented, but the enforcement of this legislation had to be monitored more closely.

Discussion
Ms J Semple (DA) wanted to know what the worldwide figure for femicide, whether the co-habiting partner included the husband or boyfriend, and who the complainant was most often during the investigations.

Ms Mathews replied that women were killed in 50.1% of murders worldwide. The relationship status of ‘co-habit’ meant ‘to live with partner, but not married’; of ‘boyfriend’ meant ‘to have a relationship, but not live together’, and of ‘husband’ meant ‘within legal or customary marriage’. During a police investigation, the complainant’s name was entered into the police docket or computer database, not the name of the deceased. Police case numbers were not entered into death registers which made it difficult to trace the investigation. Sometimes women came in as ‘unknowns’, because no-one had reported her as lost.

Ms A Qikani (UDM) wanted to know whether there was a platform where men and women could discuss why men committed intimate femicide.

Dr Naeema Parker (MRC Specialist Scientist) responded that in a study on communication between men and women, men did not voluntarily admit to having a problem. No profile existed on the typical perpetrator of violence against women. They had had very little success and should rather address issues around the behaviour of men.

Ms Mathews added that even though their study looked at the year 1999, they needed to monitor trends in crime databases to develop strategies for collective action. The MRC would hold a seminar with Gender Equality on intimate femicide on 1 June 2005.

Ms Mathews responded that intimate femicide was treated like any other case, and that it was difficult to influence the investigation. They could only hope that the investigating officer was sensitive.

Ms S Rwexana (ANC) asked whether South Africa had the highest rate of intimate femicide, and whether the research had been conducted countrywide. She wanted to know whether the MRC had included an item on girl children in their programme on 1 June, as it was International Children’s Day.

Ms Mathews replied that South Africa was the first developing country to have conducted a study on intimate femicide, because not all countries had done national studies. The researchers had visited rural and peri-urban mortuaries across South Africa and sampled statistically. The study showed no difference between urban and rural areas. The Free State had a better conviction rate than other provinces, probably because their particular investigating officers did a better job. As for 1 June, there was no focus on this issue on International Children’s Day. They were planning to discuss gun violence.

A Gauteng Member felt the research study had emphasised women’s rights, and that the attention needed to be focused more on the Domestic Violence Act and its implementation. She also felt that investigating officers did not deem intimate femicide important enough. They tended to lose case dockets, test the victim for alcohol abuse as if the perpetrator had a right to abuse her when drunk, and did not follow up on the perpetrator’s previous history of violence and drug abuse.

Ms Mathews responded that it sometimes took them six to eight months to locate dockets for mortuaries. Gauteng and the Eastern Cape were the worst provinces for losing dockets.

The Chairperson was concerned about the missing dockets and would make it a priority to speak to the area commissioners during her provincial visits. Ms Ngele (ANC) felt that dockets do not just ‘get lost’ and that it was the responsibility of the mortuary or police station to trace these. Ms Mabe agreed that the Domestic Violence Act should be implemented and that this Committee should be seen to be exercising its role. Ms Qikani advised that the data should be captured on computer.

Presidency’s Office on the Status of Women briefing on its Budget and Beijing +10 Report
Ms Susan Nkomo (Chief Executive Officer OSW) said that concerns have been raised about the related offices for the youth and the elderly that would be introduced. As yet, no advances have been made in terms of budgetary considerations.

She mentioned the national report back by a high-powered delegation to New York attending the 49th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women - Beijing + 10 (28 February to 11 March). These looked at two documents, namely the Beijing +10 Report and the CSW meeting report. The CSW outcome was important, because it was a political declaration of Beijing +10. The document reaffirmed Beijing +10 as it looked at poverty and women.

In the Declaration, 176 United Nations member countries had reviewed the Millenium Development Goals and what the global community had done to meet their obligations in eight of the ten millenium goals, such as the eradication of poverty and maternal mortality. The goals were inter-related, because if it dealt with women, it simultaneously dealt with the issues of the world. The onus was on how to prepare for reviews in terms of the millenium goals.

She felt that they should not lose the momentum of the New York meeting and that South Africa should look at a programme of action around the 10 critical areas of the Beijing +10 report to advance the cause of women for the next decade. On a national level, a national programme would be launched in August 2005 and the Committee would be part of this.

Discussion
The Chairperson said the priorities and long-term issues of trafficking of women should form part of the agenda according to. A Committee should be formed to work under the auspices of the speakers. The report should be adopted by Parliament so that the issues could be dealt with. The National Gender Machinery and NGOs should have input on the programme of action.

The Presidency’s Office of the Status of Women reiterated its commitment to working with the Committee on specific action in terms of women’s empowerment emanating from the programme of action.

Ms Mbali Mncadi from the South African Police Services: Social Crime Prevention Unit added that violence was perpetrated against women in the absence of discussion around the issues of domestic violence and rape. She added that the Men’s Forum should form part of training sessions on conflict resolution in order to prevent gender-based violence. Information-sharing formed a key issue around trafficking from a demand perspective. Poverty made people vulnerable to trafficking.

Committee Provincial Visits discussion
Mr F Maserumule (ANC) and Mr D Mabena (ANC) felt that the Committee needed to be well-informed about disaster management before they undertook visits to provinces. Mr Mabena added that the national offices and the provinces needed to work as a team and not as separate entities. An unco-ordinated relationship had been evident at Women’s Day in Mpumulanga.

Ms M Ngwenya (ANC) stated that it was important to visit informal settlements and rural areas when disasters occurred.

Ms Morutoa felt it was important to visit the provinces of the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo and Free State for oversight.and invite the MRC to give a presentation to the provincial officials on intimate femicide. Some provinces were so excited about the National Gender Machinery that they had launched their own committees already. Frustration had been expressed by the Gender Focus meetings, and wondered if they could consider issues that came out of these meetings.

Ms Semple wanted to know whether the Committee would be proposing a snap debate on Parliament's Report on the 49^th session of the United Nation's Commission on the Status of Woman held in New York from 28 February to 11 March 2005.The Chairperson agreed that two Members (a woman and a man for a balanced view) should address the snap debate that could take place in June this year.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.

Appendix:
Declaration adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women at its Forty-ninth session
28 February-11 March 2005

We, the representatives of Governments gathering at the forty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, in the context of the review of the outcomes of the Conference and of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled .Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century., and its contribution to the high-level
plenary meeting of the Assembly on the review of the United Nations Millennium Declaration,1 to be held from 14 to 16 September 2005;

1. Reaffirm the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action2 adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly;

2. Welcome the progress made thus far towards achieving gender equality, stress that challenges and obstacles remain in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, and, in this regard, pledge to undertake further action to ensure their full and accelerated implementation;

3. Emphasize that the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is essential to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration,1 and stress the need to ensure the integration of a gender perspective in the high-level plenary meeting on the review of the Millennium Declaration;

4. Recognize that the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the fulfilment of the obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women are mutually reinforcing in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women;

5. Call upon the United Nations system, international and regional organizations, all sectors of civil society, including non-governmental organizations, as well as all women and men, to fully commit themselves and to intensify their contributions to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly.