A report from CSW60 by Hafdis Karlsdottir

 

“Today I attended a
side event that filled my Icelandic heart with pride. The event was called
‘Keep the Window Open’. It was organised by the Permanent Mission of Iceland to
the UN, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Police and Women‘s NGOs in
Iceland. The expert panellists focused on priorities to oppose violence in
Icelandic society and its detrimental consequences.

The Minister of Social
Affairs began by saying: “the women here in
the panel are the women that are changing Iceland, they are ‘a force of nature’
– they are saying that how we have been doing things is not acceptable, we need
to change. We are here at CSW to showcase what we are doing and to learn from
others to bring back home.”

A report, 2008-2013,
showed that 22% of women over 16 had suffered an abuse. In Sudurnes, a small
community in the south-west of Iceland the figures were the highest. Two crises
affected the area: a NATO base that had been located there since the Second
World War was closed down leaving many stationed there working for the
American Army, out of work; and the financial crises hit Iceland – full force.
So the income in this area and unemployment rate were poor. At the time the
Chief of Police (now the Chief of Police in Reykjavik), and the now Chief Attorney for the Metropolitan Police,
introduced new rules of procedure in the handling and recording of cases of
domestic violence, that are in accordance with the Restraining and Exclusion
Orders Act. By enhancing co-operation as well as changing working methods and
attitudes, this multi-disciplinary project aimed at improving the first
response of the police and the quality of investigations, preventing repeated
offences and using the available legal resources to provide better support for
victims and offenders.

“It is not the responsibility of the survivor,
nor the Police, we all need to work together and that is what we are going to
be showing here today. Co-operation always works.”

The law says that
victims have to press charges. A video was shown where victims of sexual abuse
said that they had not pressed any charges, that they were in a traumatic state
so they simply could not press any charges. They felt dirty and kept this to
themselves, so how could they press charges?

The Chief and the Chief Attorney for the Metropolitan
Police expressed that “Domestic Violence is our main focus now,
but we want to use this same method in sexual violence, so hopefully we will be
able to talk about our success there later.”

In 2013 a pilot
project was being started. Inconsistencies in handling cases and registration
were looked at and changes were being made. A new approach was adopted in 2014
and since then cases reported have escalated.

When the police are called
to a home where there is a suspicion of violence, they always ask for the assistance
of social workers to work with the children and with the victim, as they are
the specialists in doing so. They are also more likely to know the history of a
particular family, if there are any previous conflicts or a history of abuse.

When police are called
in ‘a window opens’, this is where they start to prepare a case, so that they
can prosecute and in the end convict. Domestic
violence is a circle; normal, tension, chaos, regret – the chaos phase is the
opportunity to work with the victim so they have to ‘keep that window open’.

The police deliver a
clear message to the victims, that this is not a private matter and that it
would be worked on. The social services put up a 24/7 operation and they come
to the home when needed. Police do a thorough investigation and eviction of the
abuser from the home and restrictions are being used much more than before. A
follow up visit is done within a week and a risk assessment is prepared in
order to assist in foreseeing if the violence will happen again or not.

The importance of
social workers is crucial. They support victims and children locally, they can
be a witness in the case, and they may have valuable information about previous
cases from that household.

60% of manslaughter in Iceland is
due to domestic violence.

Since 2014 the cases of
domestic violence reported have multiplied. Domestic violence is mostly
happening after midnight Saturday and between 8 pm to 1 am. 83.5% of perpetrators are male, 72.8% of victims are female.

The UK has calculated
that for every dollar that is put into this matter, six dollars will be saved
by society. Domestic violence is more costly than warfare.

Children growing up in
a violent household are six times more likely to end up in a violent relationship.
Cooperation between the politicians, police, social workers, and health care is
the key. Cooperation!

Does it work?

Cooperation between
social services, police and health care has improved and more families are
receiving help. We have the legal system but we need to use it and ensure the
priorities are right. We need to listen to the victim so that we can help them.
We have to break the silence.

The numbers coming out
show that what is being done is working, but in the end it is the political power
that can change things.

To quote Linda Witong, a Soroptimist from the US, when asked how she felt about the
Icelandic model. She replied that “the
Icelanders were not only thinking outside of the box, but they were creating an
even bigger box and they were putting the perpetrator inside of the box,
wrapping it up in a gift paper with a big bow on it and sending it off to the
police.”

Awareness
raising among children and young adults, as well as the role of digital media
in revolutionising attitudes towards gender-based violence.

The panel also
included Thordis Elva, a well-known
author and Women’s Rights Activist in Iceland. She talked of how to approach
teenagers and children, how to educate them on what is right and what is wrong
when it comes to your own body and rights, to determine boundaries and to
develop self-respect.

Thordis Elva was commissioned by the Icelandic government to reinvent the approach
to violence prevention and sex education in elementary schools. This resulted
in the short-films ‘Get Consent’ and ‘Stand By Yourself’, both of which are
being used in schools across Iceland with unprecedented results. The former is
for the age group 13 to 15 and the latter for 10 to 12. Together with
instructions to the teacher on how to present the films and with the school
counsellor present, this has proven to be an eye opener for the young people.
The focus is on the healthy not just the negative.

The Internet is a good
way to present information to teenagers and shorter clips travel longer
distances online. After watching ‘Get Consent!’ on line, 70% said that they
understood the concept of sex better. How powerful the internet is to get a
message through!

Last year thousands of
women in Iceland changed their image on Facebook to orange or yellow to show that
they had been a victim of sexual violence themselves, or that they knew someone
that had been a victim. A parliamentarian said that the internet was being
flooded by orange so that it looked like a natural disaster. If it had been a natural disaster then a disaster shelter would
have been opened and a lot of money would have been put into this matter, but
nothing was being done.

“Think in digital
means, when structuring a message that is to reach young people”