Brazil: Violence against Women and Information Communication Technologies

Read the English abstract of the paper below. Full paper is available in Spanish.
For
every 100 women murdered in Brazil,
70 were killed in their homes, and 66 of them by their spouses,
partners or boyfriends. Forty percent of
the violence women suffer leaves serious physical consequences. The
Interamerican Convention against Violence against
Women (1993), that was passed in a Brazilian city, Berem do
Para, and the Brazilian Maria da Penha Law
changed society's and the courts'
perspective on violence against women (VAW).
From then on, VAW has been taken seriously in Brazil, slowly
overcoming patriarchal perspectives, discrimination and
prejudices. The state now provides VAW prevention measures, and
dignified support and protection for
survivors and their children.
Thirty-four
percent of Brazil's population
regularly uses the internet (approximately
65 million people), but cell phones are even more
common (82 cell phones per 100 people).
According to statistics, people
spend more time connected to the internet in Brazil than in any other
country, an average of 25 hours per month. Brazil's
broadcasting law contemplates radio and TV while a separate
telecommunications law refers to satellites and cyberspace.
VAW in media is discussed in the report, with examples of
advertisements and TV shows. The first National
Conference on Communications will be held in
December 2009, where government, civil society and media
companies will discuss communications issues. Social
movements have high expectations regarding this national debate.
Social networks like Orkut and Twitter are popular in Brazil and
there are denouncements of VAW practices, like cyber-bullying teenage
girls. But ICTs are also used for prevention and assistance of VAW
survivors and government services and police maintain assistance
phone networks using ICTs. Twitter and Orkut have also been used for
anti-VAW campaigns.
Main
recommendations for action:
There
are recommendations for government:
to use ICTs to prevent VAW, to enhance women´s rights by their
own use of ICTs to communicate if they suffer violence, to use ICTs
for assisting survivors (hotlines, counseling by phone or the
internet, etc.) There are also
recommendations to government to increase digital inclusion in the
country.
For
social movements,
recommendations include ICT strategic use to prevent violence and
assist survivors, for campaigning, research, identifying
prevention mechanisms, etc. The
prevention of VAW should also be included in social
movements´agendas.
Recommendations
for the APC WNSP
include working with Brazilian organisations on several gender and
ICT issues, already discussed in APC WNSP main documents and papers:
access, control, education, training and skills
development.