KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 – In a new report on gender-based violence (GBV), survivors explain how gaps in the country’s criminal justice, health, and care systems exacerbate their suffering and prolong their trauma.
The report, by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Malaysia and the United Nations International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH), is based on a study involving 12 in-depth interviews with GBD survivors, including a male GBV survivor. Among those interviewed included survivors who had been raped, assaulted, and physically, emotionally and mentally abused.
The interviewees include single and married individuals, Malaysians and foreigners, working in a variety of fields such as marketing, social care, and administration and in a range of organisations including in a community based organisation, research organisation and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Some had been abused for many years, including one who had suffered sexual violence for 15 years. A married woman in the study was physically assaulted and threatened with a knife by her mother-in-law and brother-in-law, along with her husband.
One woman was assaulted publicly by her ex-husband. The Malay man in the study was subjected to oral and penetrative sex repeatedly from the time he was young until he moved out of the city.
Among the foreigners was a Russian, who had married a Malay man, and was residing in the country legally having obtained a visa.
Other foreigners in the study included a Somalian refugee woman who experienced domestic violence and a Burmese refugee seeking asylum with support from the UNHCR.
Two of the interviewees had some knowledge of social and legal policies concerning GBV survivors: one of the rape victims had been involved in social work and used to work for UNHCR, and another one used to work for an international organisation and was at the time of the interview working as an advocate of children rights.
At The Hospital
The majority of the women interviewed did not have a good experience at the hospital, with seven of them speaking negatively about their efforts to seek treatment. However, four of the women spoke in favourable terms about their experiences at the hospital.
Their complaints include insensitivity and lack of empathy from the staff, difficulty in getting medical treatment, inability to comply with requests for female doctors, and medical professionals who lacked the experience and training necessary to handle their cases and offer proper support for GBV survivors.
The survivors who had negative experiences during their time at the hospital were two rape victims, a GBV survivor with a 15-year history of sexual and physical abuse, and a woman who was battered by her ex-husband.
In two cases, the women’s effort to maintain their calm was construed as evidence of falsehood as they could not have suffered from abuse since they appeared so composed.
In some cases, it was unacceptably difficult to get treated. The two rape victims were denied treatment until they had submitted a police report.
One of them had to visit several hospitals before she could receive post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent possible HIV infection. Both rape victims asked for a female doctor to attend to them but without success.
The women also indicated their discomfort with the hospital environment including the waiting area and the area where the medical examination was conducted, which was located in the hospital’s bustling emergency ward.
A woman whose ex-husband broke her nose felt exposed (“out in the open”), especially after her assailant also arrived at the hospital. One of the rape victims mentioned that people were coming in and out of the examination room.
The women said they were given little information and advice on the next steps, including counselling and social welfare support referrals.
Most interviewees could not obtain a copy of their medical report, which is critical in securing a protection order and other legal proceedings.
Two women with positive experiences at the hospital noted the kindness, empathy, and insight shown by their doctors.
In one of these cases, one doctor understood that her patient had suffered domestic abuse with the few words that the woman managed to utter and connected her to WAO.
At The Police Station
In general, all the interviewees did not trust the police to protect them and help them seek justice. Their dissatisfactions include difficulty in getting police to make progress on their cases, being detained at the station and threatened with arrests, police siding with perpetrators, being victim-blamed, and the slow response to pleas for help.
Only one study participant, a married Russian woman, had a relatively constructive interaction with the police. The inspector at the police station, where she submitted her report, called her to ensure that she felt safe and to offer his protection.
Many interviewees spent hours and days trying to convince the police to act on their behalf and set legal proceedings in motion.
In one case, an interviewee was kept at the police station for six hours and was threatened with arrest unless she dropped the charges against her mother-in-law, who had sought the intervention of the village elder on her behalf.
The women indicated that police officers were often judgmental and insensitive towards GBV survivors. A woman who was raped said that the police officers who accompanied her from the police station to the hospital for her medical exam told her she was essentially the one to be blamed for the rape.
Another interviewee who wished to amend her original report to increase her chances of obtaining a restraining order was told that “she was creating trouble”.
Some of the GBV survivors surveyed said the police did not respond promptly to their pleas for help or take steps to ensure the safety of the victims.
One interviewee who called the police while being threatened by her husband was advised to lock herself in her room and stay quiet until the following morning when a police officer would be dispatched to her home.
Another woman was advised to drop the charges against her mother-in-law and was told that the police would intervene the next time she was assaulted.
The women said the police did not explain the choices available for their protection and its implications. Two GBV survivors were unaware that they could obtain a restraining order against their abusive husbands, as this option was never suggested to them by the police.
After The Incident
Most interviewees had yet to find a satisfactory legal resolution and carried scars that would take time to heal. The court hearing of a rape victim was repeatedly postponed, which was particularly distressing as she wanted to keep her ordeal secret from her family.
Anothe rape victim had to wage a battle to uncover the identity of her assailant, whom she had met over a dating app, to press charges formally.
Two of the married GBV survivors were in the process of getting a divorce. Another saw her case dropped as she had specified in her police report that she did not wish for her husband to be arrested.
The man who abused his wife physically and sexually for over fifteen years was never brought to justice because the medical report did not support the charges.
The GBV survivor in question spent two years without seeing her children and suffers epileptic seizures because of the brain injuries he inflicted on her.
Many interviewees benefited from the legal and emotional support provided by the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO), highlighting the significant role NGOs play in filling service provision gaps and providing support to GBV survivors.
