Understanding the Impact of Domestic Violence on Women's Rights

Introduction

A 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women by the UN General Assembly stated that violence against women poses as barrier to achieving the equality, development and fulfilment of women human rights. Domestic violence is found to be the most common form of violence against women. Domestic violence or alternatively termed ‘domestic abuse’ or ‘intimate partner violence’ represents a pattern of behaviour in a relationship used by an intimate partner to gain or maintain control and power over the other partner.

The unfortunate result of domestic violence is the negative effect that it has on the children. The occurrence of domestic violence on women and its impacts on the children are frequently hidden. It can be either the men or women who could be the perpetrators of domestic violence. However, in a majority of case, the women are the victims.

Domestic violence occurs along with social and economic disadvantage, which interact with other family problems such as mental health, substance misuse and homelessness problems. These problems have an accumulative harm over the children. In such circumstances, the question is raised against the effectiveness of the law, both domestic and international, in curbing or addressing these issues. The current essay is an attempt to explore this aspect of domestic violence and its impact on women and children. It will take the case of the UK while this essay explores the relevant issues in consideration.

Characteristics of domestic violence and effects on women and law

International bodies and their instruments recognise the issue of domestic violence as a global human rights concern. Women are mostly affected by domestic violence. Domestic violence constitutes a human rights violation. As such, CEDAW provides for removing discrimination against women and along with other conventions such as the Convention on the Nationality of Women 1934, Convention on the Political Rights of Women 1954, Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women 1993 amongst other provide for safeguarding the well-being of women. Domestic violence is specific in nature when it comes to reviewing it from a human right angle. It harms women who are more vulnerable. Such harm is occurring in every society worldwide and hence, the states have particularly responsibility to protect women proactively.

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1. The United Nations, ‘The Shadow Pandemic’ accessed 28 October 2021.
2. Lynn Marie Sardinha and Eldin Fahmy, ‘Developing survey measures of attitudes to domestic violence amongst young people in India‘ in Nadia Aghtaie, and Geetanjali Gangoli (eds.), Understanding Gender Based Violence National and International Contexts (Taylor & Francis 2014)64.
3. UN, ‘What Is Domestic Abuse?’ accessed 30 October 2021
4. Lynn Marie Sardinha and Eldin Fahmy, ‘Developing survey measures of attitudes to domestic violence amongst young people in India‘ in Nadia Aghtaie, and Geetanjali Gangoli (eds.), Understanding Gender Based Violence National and International Contexts (Taylor & Francis 2014) 64.
5. Nicky Stanley, Children experiencing domestic violence: a research review (Research in Practice 2011).
6. Ibid.
7. Bonita Meyersfeld, Domestic Violence and International Law (Bloomsbury Publishing 2010) 1-3.
8. Ibid, 5.
9. Ibid, 108.

Cases of domestic violence are hidden due to the feeling of guilt and shame the victims go through acting as the barrier to disclosure. Women and children often feel powerless. According to the 2018 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) report, an estimated 1.3 millions women and 695,000 men experienced domestic abuse in 2017. However, it is also a fact that women are four times as likely as men to experience sexual assault by a partner. They are more prone to non-physical (emotional, financial) abuse and sexual assault by rape or penetration. To reiterate, domestic violence is one of the human rights concerns. The international community is firmly advancing human rights as one of its main agenda. There are international human rights laws that outline principles to bind states. The 1993 United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, in its Preamble, gives recognition to the existence of violence against women where it states that it involves an ‘unequal power relations. The 2014 Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence of the Council of Europe provides that CEDAW prohibits violence against women in both the public and private context.

CEDAW matters concerning issues related to domestic violence against women. For example, Article 16 requires member states to take measures to eliminate discrimination against women regarding marriage and family relations. Similarly, Article 3 requires states to take measures related to political, social, economic and cultural fields, for the full development and advancement of women. CEDAW provisions require states to take measures addressing any cultural stereotyping and prejudices, including issues arising from the dominant practice of patriarchy. They provide for an overall development in both the public and private life of women. The development of the CEDAW Committee has brought about significant development in addressing domestic violence. It determined that domestic violence is discriminatory against women, and that it is a violation of women’s human rights. States have an obligation to apply this principle. This determination also helped criminal law to recognise that sexual violence and rape are crimes against humanity.

While acknowledging CEDAW, it is also important to note that the positive effects of CEDAW are not uniform. For example, they are mostly pronounced when it comes to the political rights of women. It is not so with relation to their social rights and even absent in case of economic rights. One reason may be that the rights of women are subject to deeply ingrained cultural systems. Another limitation in the CEDAW framework is that it may not offer an effective transnational discourse on gender stereotyping. Its Article 2(f) and Article 5 provides for states to transform or modify gender stereotypes and remove wrongful modify gender stereotyping. The states have not made much progress in this field. Gender stereotyping creates assumption about characteristics of a person and the roles they play.

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10. Nicky Stanley, Pam Miller and Helen Richardson Foster, ‘Engaging with children's and parents' perspectives on domestic violence’ (2012) 17(2) Child & Family Social Work 192-201.
11. Office of National Statistics, ‘Domestic abuse: findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales: year ending March 2018’ (2018) accessed 29 October 2021 .
12. Ronagh J.A. McQuigg, International Human Rights Law and Domestic Violence: The Effectiveness of International Human Rights Law (Taylor & Francis 2011) 2.
13. CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation 19, UN Doc A/47/38 (1992), para. 9.
14. Meena Shivdas and Sarah Coleman, Without Prejudice: CEDAW and the Determination of Women's Rights in a Legal and Cultural Context (Commonwealth Secretariat 2010) 6.
15. Ibid.
16. Neil A. Englehart and Melissa K. Miller, ‘The CEDAW effect: international law's impact on women's rights’ (2014) 13(1) Journal of Human Rights 22-47.
17. Anne Hellum and Henriette Sinding Aasen, Women's Human Rights: CEDAW in International, Regional and National Law (Cambridge University Press 2013) 124-125.
18. Ibid, 127.

Failure to take steps to address wrongful stereotyping exposes women to harm. They will not be at liberty to make their own choices and develop their abilities and will be subjected to oppression or patriarchal attitudes. To cite an example, incidents of intimate partner sexual violence impacts women’s sexuality and relationship. They represent gender inequality where women feel powerless, helpless, shame, and the ongoing fear of violence.

The CEDAW obligation is central to the obligation of removing discrimination against women and of ensuring equality.133 However, there are instances that do not show consistent commitment from CEDAW Committee. For example, in the case of Munoz-Vargas y Sainz de Vicuna v Spain, it was only a Committee member in dissent who ruled a Spanish law to entrench male primacy concerning succession and to be discriminatory and to institutionalise stereotypes. In two domestic violence case, involving a Communications against Austria, the CEDAW Committee noted a link between traditional attitudes towards women as being subordinate to men and issue of domestic violence. However, it did not warrant for further findings regarding Article 5(a). However, in the Communications against Hungary, the Committee found the state violating the obligation regarding gender stereotyping related to domestic violence. The problem may lie in the ambiguous language regarding the state obligation where there is no definition or guidelines regarding the type and extent of measures states are required to take. Such broad terminology is devoid of clear instructions. Since the implementation is subject to the will of the state, the effectiveness of CEDAW may be impacted. The states’ commitment is affected by the provision of reservation allowed to states while implementing CEDAW. For instance, there is reservation against Article 2, a core provision, which provides for states to take measures to remove discrimination against women.

Notwithstanding the limitations of CEDAW, it also influences enactment of domestic law against domestic violence. The UK signed CEDAW in June 2012. It enacted the Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Act in 2017. It has the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 and the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 as well as the Serious Crime Act 2015 that concerns coercive and controlling behaviour. Irrespective of these laws, the 2018 CSEW data shows an unfortunate picture. The result of the survey also undervalues the positive work undertaken by social care and other professionals to address domestic violence, especially concerning the experiences of women and children. Such professional often feel frustrated due to the uncoordinated and incohesive approach of professional discourses and practices concerning domestic violence, child protection and safeguarding, and child contact.

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19. Ibid, 130.
20. Ibid.
21. Laura Tarzia, ‘It went to the very heart of who I was as a woman”: The invisible impacts of intimate partner sexual violence’ (2021) 31(2) Qualitative health research 287-297.
22. Munoz-Vargas y Sainz de Vicuna v Spain (individual opinion by Committee member Mary Shantu Dairiam, dissenting) at 13.1-13.13.
23. Goekce v Austria (Communication No. 6/2005), 12.2; Yildirim v Austria (Communication No. 6/2005), 12.2
24. A.T v Hungary (Communication No. 2/2003).
25. Anne Hellum and Henriette Sinding Aasen, Women's Human Rights: CEDAW in International, Regional and National Law (Cambridge University Press 2013) 141.
26. Neil A. Englehart and Melissa K. Miller, ‘The CEDAW effect: international law's impact on women's rights’ (2014) 13(1) Journal of Human Rights 22-47.
27. Meena Shivdas and Sarah Coleman, Without Prejudice: CEDAW and the Determination of Women's Rights in a Legal and Cultural Context (Commonwealth Secretariat 2010) 7.
28. Marianne Hester, ‘The three planet model: Towards an understanding of contradictions in approaches to women and children's safety in contexts of domestic violence’ (2011) 41(5) British journal of social work 837-853.

In addition to an ineffective approach, the UK justice system, as shown by news reports, is inadequate in addressing the concerns of domestic violence victims. This shows that the criminal justice system has failed the plight of the victims. Quite so, in the recent past month, tree in four domestic abuse offences that were reported to the police ended without charging the perpetrator. Further, the pandemic lockdown has increased the cases of domestic violence in the UK and other countries. The fact, as reported by BBC News, that an increasing number of domestic abuse cases is being dropped raising the question on the efficiency of the existing legal enforcement system. The news states that since the time limit to charge common assault, including cases of domestic violence, is six (6) months, over the five years about 13,000 cases were dropped in England and Wales. The incidents of domestic abuse continue rising with decreasing number of charges brought.

One main reason for the ineffectiveness in the law may be rooted to the conceptualisation of human rights. This may be especially applicable to international human rights law, where international law is based on a liberal social contract theory. The states are regarded as individuals, which must have equality, freedom and independence and that they are bound by negative rights where they cannot interfere with an individual. International law requires only the states to be subject to it and individuals are immune. The negative rights suggest that states’ obligation are not formulated to take positive steps to protect individuals’ human rights. As such, violence against women may fall beyond the human rights instrument, which means that such violence falls within the private sphere. To address such a situation, domestic laws, such as the Domestic Violence Act 2021 or the Human Rights Act 1998, are enacted. This ensures private action as well as state action against breaches of human rights. However, the figures mentioned earlier regarding domestic violence present a gap in the justice system.

Impact of domestic violence on children and law

According to the 2018 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) report, it was found that in 40.9% of partner abuse cases, there was at least one child under the age of 16 years who were living in the household. Out of this, in 20.5% of cases, the children saw or heard about the abuse incidents. This number shows that children in a household experiencing domestic violence are exposed to the negative effect of domestic violence. The harmful effect of domestic abuse is recognised in statutes such as the Children Act 1989 (S31) or the

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29. Emilia Belli, ‘Domestic violence victim says UK justice system is 'like the abuse’’ (2021) accessed 29 October 2021 .
30. Jamie Grierson, ‘Three in four domestic abuse cases end without charge in England and Wales’ (2021) accessed 29 October 2021 .
31. Emma Graham-Harrison, Angela Giuffrida, Helena Smith, and Liz Ford, ‘Lockdowns around the world bring rise in domestic violence’ (2021) accessed 29 October 2021 .
32. Patrick Cowling and Alex Forsyth, ‘Huge rise in domestic abuse cases being dropped in England and Wales’ (2021) accessed 29 October 2021 .
33. Ibid.
34. Ronagh J.A. McQuigg, International Human Rights Law and Domestic Violence: The Effectiveness of International Human Rights Law (Taylor & Francis 2011) 3.
35. Ibid, 4.
36. Ibid, 6.
37. Ibid, 7.
38. Office of National Statistics, ‘Domestic abuse: findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales: year ending March 2018’ (2018) accessed 29 October 2021 .

Adoption and Children Act 2002, as highlighted in Practice Direction 12J, titled ‘Child Arrangements & Contact Orders: Domestic Abuse And Harm’. The statutory framework is important given the high incidence of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and a risk of child homicide in households experiencing domestic abuse. There is a diverse range of negative impact domestic abuse in a household can have on a child. The Ministry of Justice, in its review of the issue of domestic abuse cases regarding impact of children, stated that the perpetrators can intentionally damage the mother-child relationship employing manipulative tactics, including criticising, demeaning, and insulting the mother in front of the children or even encouraging the children to participate in the abuse. A perpetrator when in contact with the children can expose them to the abuse and coercive control of the mother.

Despite the recognition of the risks to which a child is exposed, there is a gap in the justice delivery. For instance, the Court of Appeal in Re L, V, M, H (Contact: Domestic Violence), laid down the guidelines for courts and professionals in contact cases involving allegations of domestic violence. However, the guidelines were found to be largely ignored and moreover inconsistently applied as the courts and professionals prioritise contact over the safety of the children and resident parents. This also means that there is a gap between practice and the guidelines. Only recently, the courts have considered severe physical violence relevant to contact. Further, the courts have held fact-finding hearings in less than 10% cases involving domestic abuse. There are suspicion and disbelief associated with women’s allegations of abuse when in absence of external evidence to corroborate the allegation.

The issue of domestic abuse is an important public policy. However, the question regarding the safety and support of women and children still remains. It is only when health and social care professionals undertake surveillance including routine inquiry about their health care that cases of domestic abuse come to the limelight. Children in households experiencing domestic abuse display adverse reactions. This is sometimes considered an indirect form of abuse. The main problem is when children are not listened to and not understood. There is a lack of a general awareness. Moreover, there is a general tendency to see domestic violence as a child protection issue, which is not so as there is a complex interactions between the safety of the women and the well-being of the children. Women who are victims are exposed to continuous fear, which in turn affects their abilities and opportunities to keep the children safe. Children react in specific ways and there is no uniform pattern in terms of

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39. Stephen Gilmore and Lisa Glennon, Hayes and Williams' Family Law (Oxford University Press 2016) 100; Ministry of Justice, ‘Domestic abuse and private law children cases: A literature review’ (2020) accessed 30 October 2021 .
40. Ministry of Justice, ‘Domestic abuse and private law children cases: A literature review’ (2020) accessed 30 October 2021 .
41. Re L, V, M, H (Contact: Domestic Violence) [2001] Fam 260.
42. Ministry of Justice, ‘Domestic abuse and private law children cases: A literature review’ (2020) accessed 30 October 2021 .
43. Ibid.
44. Sue Peckover, ‘Domestic abuse, safeguarding children and public health: Towards an analysis of discursive forms and surveillant techniques in contemporary UK policy and practice’ (2014) 44(7) British Journal of Social Work 1770-1787.
45. Audrey Mullender, Gill Hague, Umme F Imam, Liz Kelly, Ellen Malos, and Linda Regan, Children's Perspectives on Domestic Violence (SAGE Publications 2002) 1.
46. Ibid.

responses and syndromes. As such, they need specific interventions. given that they construct their own meaning and understanding about the incidents of abuse shaped by the impact of the power and control of the perpetrators.

Children often try to understand domestic violence with a cause-effect relationship. They may associate physical punishment with bad behaviour, or have problems trying to understand the unequal power relationship existing in domestic violence. They may also feel the sense of powerlessness and may also blame themselves for the abuse. There are complications in terms of the impact of domestic violence. For instance, cases of domestic violence may be discrete. Women who are abused may be scared when contacted by social workers as they feel that their children may be removed from them. This situation is susceptible to be exploited by the perpetrators. The same fear is experienced by the children. In such a circumstance, helping the women and the children may go through various stages. During these stages, when the women cannot get a satisfactorily answer regarding the support or the role of the social worker, and coupled with their fear of losing the child, they do not report domestic abuse incidents. There are instances when women are not being acknowledged properly by social workers and health care professionals. The cases where women and children feel safe is when the concerned professionals and entities acknowledge the situations of the victims and when victims have clear understanding of the role of the professionals and entities.

While considering the impact of domestic abuse on the children, it is also pertinent to review whether the children are also directly abused. A 2019 report by the Home Office on the economic and social costs of domestic abuse found that child victims who are exposed to high-risk domestic abuse will be substantially more likely to witness it. A 2018 report by SafeLives covering 1,800 children who are at-risk across 15 different care services found that 94% of them were exposed to domestic abuse and 28% were direct victims of child abuse. Further, 95% of 1,695 cases were at home, and 74% of them directly witnessed the abuse. Thus, there is always a chance that children who witness the abuse could also become the victims. Depending on the type of households where abuse occurs, the effect on children varies. For instance, as reported by the Office for the Children’s Commissioner 2018, there is a link between households experiencing domestic abuse and where the adult members misuse substances or mental ill-health symptoms. Thus, children who are exposed to domestic abuse have adverse childhood experience such as physical abuse, neglect, sexual

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47. Ibid, 3.
48. Ibid, 4.
49. Catherine Itzin and Jalna Hanmer, Home Truths About Domestic Violence: Feminist Influences on Policy and Practice - A Reader (Taylor & Francis 2013) 80-81.
50. Ibid, 82-83.
51. Ibid, 84.
52. Catherine Itzin and Jalna Hanmer, Home Truths About Domestic Violence: Feminist Influences on Policy and Practice - A Reader (Taylor & Francis 2013).
53. Children’s Commissioner, ‘Estimating the prevalence of the ‘toxic trio’: Evidence from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey’, Vulnerability Technical Report 2.’ (2018) accessed 30 October .

abuse, exposure to substance abuse, or mental illness. They may become victim when they are adult or may end up in a single-parent household.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 provides for protection of children who are victims or exposed to domestic violence. Section 67 provides for necessary protection orders concerning children under Section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989. There are other provisions that provide for the arrest of a person breaching protection orders of the court or making offences of any abusive or violent behaviour (Parts 5 and 6). CEDAW and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) specify the rights of the girl child from discrimination. Both of them provide for non-discrimination as their core principles. CRC, Article 2 provides for enforcing rights of children without any discrimination, and states should take appropriate measures to that effect. Domestic violence can, however, penetrate the protection of the family through prejudices and discrimination of women.

Protection from violence is central to the rights of women to equality in marriage and in family life. This demonstrates that the protection of children is dependent on the rights of women to their family life. However, the social care system regarding children safety involving domestic violence has consequently impacted the right to family life. For instance, where domestic violence is reported there is more likelihood of a child-protection referral instead of arresting the perpetrator. This is seen in the West Midlands where the child referral rate is 68% and the arrest rate for domestic violence is 27%. Further, domestic violence is found as the most common factor for ‘children in need’. This suggests that when the women and the children enter the social case system, their right to family is disrupted.

Even the existing legal framework facilitates this situation. For instance, the Children and Families Act 2014, s14 has introduced the 26 weeks’ time cap to establish permanency when the children are removed from their mothers. This time cap cannot be sufficient to recover from the trauma of domestic violence together with the issues associated with mental health issues, substance abuse or any learning disabilities. This is supported by the finding of a pilot programme run by the Tri-borough authorities in London (Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster) that cases take longer than 26 weeks. This means that there is certain flexibility regarding the length of proceedings considering the interests of children’s welfare and justice. The flexibility ranges from 26 weeks involving a single child to 28 weeks involving siblings and some with joint applications took over 40 weeks. This shows the complexity involved in the child-care proceedings.

Article 5 of CEDAW provides for the states to take measures to:

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54. S.R. Dube and Anda, R.F, ‘Exposure to abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction among adults who witnessed intimate partner violence as children: Implications for health and social services’ (2002) 17 Violence and Victims 3–17.
55. Office for National Statistics, ‘People who were abused as children are more likely to be abused as an adult: Exploring the impact of what can sometimes be hidden crimes’ (2017) accessed 30 October .
56. Centre for Research on Children & Families, ‘Concluding Care Proceedings: Within 26 Weeks: Messages from the Evaluation of the Tri-borough Care Proceedings Pilot’ (2014) accessed 30 October 2021 .

“modify social and cultural patterns of the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women; (b) To ensure that family education includes a proper understanding of maternity as a social function and the recognition of the common responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and development of their children, it being understood that the interest of the children is the primordial consideration in all cases.”



To reiterate, the obligations of the state in this regard are not clearly specified. For example, this article focuses on the formulating the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women and promoting a family education with focus on the interest of the children. However, the system in place may favour a restorative approach. In a 2007 paper by Sherman and Strang, it found that restorative justice offered advantages in the form of reduction of repeat offending, post-traumatic stress symptoms in victims, victims desire to take revenge and costs of criminal justice. However, restorative justice is controversial as it is found to be used on a widespread basis while responding to domestic abuse cases. The manner in which it is used does not correspond with the intended justice it is meant to deliver. For instance, the police may use the language of restorative justice to respond to cases where it would not benefit from any further criminal justice intervention.

The first action plan is not to view domestic violence as a gendered problem. It concerns unequal relationship involving the control and abuse of power. It does not lie in the private sphere, but in the public sphere imposing duties on the states to take positive action. Courts have enforced equality between men and women addressing the traditional view of men and women power relations. For example, in the Queen v Jackson, Lord Halsbury LC ruling was against the proposition of husband having a right over his wife in regard to conjugal rights without the consent of the wife. Lord Keith of Kinkel, in Regina v R highlighted the changing social, cultural and economic developments that advocate equality among men and women and ruled that it is an unacceptable proposition that the wife, by marriage, gives an irrevocable consent to sexual intercourse. However, the prevalence of domestic abuse cases and the inability to address the issue shows the level of effectiveness or non-effectiveness of the existing domestic and international legal framework. For instance, the 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women imposes a duty on states to prevent violence against women, committed by the state or private persons. However, there seems to be a challenge in enforcing legal provisions concerning domestic violence. The CSEW reported that only 17.3% of the victims of partner abuse reported to the police. Victims that did not

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57. Lawrence Sherman and Heather Strang, Restorative justice: The evidence (Smith Institute 2007).
58. Anne Hayden, Loraine Gelsthorpe, and Allison Morris, A Restorative Approach to Family Violence: Changing Tack (Taylor & Francis 2016).
59. Nicole Westmarland, Clare McGlynn, and Clarissa Humphreys. "Using restorative justice approaches to police domestic violence and abuse." (2018) 2(2) Journal of gender-based violence 339-358.
60. Joanna Miles, Rob George, and Sonia Harris-Short, Family Law: Text, Cases, and Materials (Oxford University Press 2019) 208.
61. Ibid.
62. Queen v Jackson [1891] 1 QB 671-9, 680.
63. Regina v R [1992] 1 AC 599, 616.
64. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, GA Res. 48/104, 20 December 1993, Art. 4(c).
65. Office of National Statistics, ‘Domestic abuse: findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales: year ending March 2018’ (2018) accessed 29 October 2021 .

report the abuse cited the abuse as too trivial; private, family matter; and not the business of the police and also that they thought the police could not help. At the same time, the report of CSEW saw a decrease in the number of female victims reporting to the police. This finding represents a mix of a socially and culturally ingrained system and mistrust on the enforcement agencies.

More needs to be done in terms of addressing the wrongful stereotyping of women and men in the society; the inadequate formulation of human rights concept in terms of domestic violence; the general approach to child safety and protection where the child experiences domestic violence, and states’ duty to provide clear and enforceable legal framework.

Conclusion and recommendation

This essay has analysed the impact of domestic violence on women and children. It has found a diverse range of impacts differently applicable to women and children in a household experiencing domestic violence. Although CEDAW provides for removing discrimination against women and to further protection of children exposed to inequal treatment of women and domestic violence, there is an implementation gap offering inadequately protection.

The CEDAW provisions such as Article 16 and Article 3 must be accompanied with some level of direction citing clear direction for states to comply. This may potentially reduce the non-uniformity in the positive effect of CEDAW, such as uniform pronounced effect on political, social and economic rights. It may help free the rights of women from the deeply ingrained cultural systems and reduce wrongly gender stereotyping regarding the social status of men and women.

The discretion left to the states to define appropriate measures is the key to ineffective implementation of relevant CEDAW provision. The principle of liberty and equality cannot be shaped by culturally bound states’ practices, which affects the provisions of material well-being of victims, including their housing, rights to family life; state benefits, or child-care and support. The gap in justice is a representation of such practices that increase the exclusionary effects regarding delivery of justice to both the mother and children exposed to domestic violence.

Despite the existence of the statutes, such as the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 , or the Serious Crime Act 2015, there is a practice gap. The reason may lie with the conceptualisation of human rights where domestic violence is formulated within the private sphere. It is a public issue and has to be addressed by the state. Restorative justice may not be the appropriate and the standard response as it is subject to case-to-case. Women’s care must be prioritised and cannot be subservient to children’s best interest. States must have positive rights along with negative rights to deliver protection to women and children. Domestic violence cannot be seen as a child protection issue, which must be considered with separate and specific social care considerations given the complex interactions between the safety of the women and the well-being of the children.

To conclude, the current legal and social structure is not strong enough to remove the continuous fear and anxiety of separation experienced by both women and children. CEDAW and the domestic legal framework are not appropriately implemented in practice given the wrongful stereotyping and social and cultural influence on responding to domestic violence. The rights to a family life can be enjoyed only when the individual rights of the women and the children are protected.

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67. Ibid.

Books

Gilmore S and Lisa Glennon, Hayes and Williams' Family Law (Oxford University Press 2016)

Hayden A, Loraine Gelsthorpe, and Allison Morris, A Restorative Approach to Family Violence: Changing Tack (Taylor & Francis 2016)

Hellum A and Henriette Sinding Aasen, Women's Human Rights: CEDAW in International, Regional and National Law (Cambridge University Press 2013)

Itzin C and Jalna Hanmer, Home Truths About Domestic Violence: Feminist Influences on Policy and Practice - A Reader (Taylor & Francis 2013)

McQuigg RJA, International Human Rights Law and Domestic Violence: The Effectiveness of International Human Rights Law (Taylor & Francis 2011)

Meyersfeld B, Domestic Violence and International Law (Bloomsbury Publishing 2010)

Miles J, Rob George, and Sonia Harris-Short, Family Law: Text, Cases, and Materials (Oxford University Press 2019)

Mullender A, Gill Hague, Umme F Imam, Liz Kelly, Ellen Malos, and Linda Regan, Children's Perspectives on Domestic Violence (SAGE Publications 2002)

Sardinha LM and Eldin Fahmy, ‘Developing survey measures of attitudes to domestic violence amongst young people in India‘ in Nadia Aghtaie, and Geetanjali Gangoli (eds.), Understanding Gender Based Violence National and International Contexts (Taylor & Francis 2014)

Sherman L and Heather Strang, Restorative justice: The evidence (Smith Institute 2007).

Shivdas M and Sarah Coleman, Without Prejudice: CEDAW and the Determination of Women's Rights in a Legal and Cultural Context (Commonwealth Secretariat 2010)

Stanley N, Children experiencing domestic violence: a research review (Research in Practice 2011).

Journals

Dube SR and Anda, R.F, ‘Exposure to abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction among adults who witnessed intimate partner violence as children: Implications for health and social services’ (2002) 17 Violence and Victims 3–17.

Englehart NA and Melissa K. Miller, ‘The CEDAW effect: international law's impact on women's rights’ (2014) 13(1) Journal of Human Rights 22-47

Hester M, ‘The three planet model: Towards an understanding of contradictions in approaches to women and children's safety in contexts of domestic violence’ (2011) 41(5) British journal of social work 837-853

Peckover S, ‘Domestic abuse, safeguarding children and public health: Towards an analysis of discursive forms and surveillant techniques in contemporary UK policy and practice’ (2014) 44(7) British Journal of Social Work 1770-1787.

Stanley N, Pam Miller and Helen Richardson Foster, ‘Engaging with children's and parents' perspectives on domestic violence’ (2012) 17(2) Child & Family Social Work 192-201.

Tarzia L, ‘It went to the very heart of who I was as a woman”: The invisible impacts of intimate partner sexual violence’ (2021) 31(2) Qualitative health research 287-297

Westmarland N, Clare McGlynn, and Clarissa Humphreys. "Using restorative justice approaches to police domestic violence and abuse." (2018) 2(2) Journal of gender-based violence 339-358

Reports

Centre for Research on Children & Families, ‘Concluding Care Proceedings: Within 26 Weeks: Messages from the Evaluation of the Tri-borough Care Proceedings Pilot’ (2014) accessed 30 October 2021 .

Children’s Commissioner, ‘Estimating the prevalence of the ‘toxic trio’: Evidence from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey’, Vulnerability Technical Report 2.’ (2018) accessed 30 October .

Ministry of Justice, ‘Domestic abuse and private law children cases: A literature review’ (2020) accessed 30 October 2021

Office of National Statistics, ‘Domestic abuse: findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales: year ending March 2018’ (2018) accessed 29 October 2021 .

Office of National Statistics, ‘Domestic abuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2017’ ((2017) accessed 30 October 2021

Office of National Statistics, ‘Domestic abuse in England and Wales - Appendix tables’ (2017) accessed 30 October 2021

Websites

Belli E, ‘Domestic violence victim says UK justice system is 'like the abuse’’ (2021) accessed 29 October 2021 .

Cowling P and Alex Forsyth, ‘Huge rise in domestic abuse cases being dropped in England and Wales’ (2021) accessed 29 October 2021

Graham-Harrison E, Angela Giuffrida, Helena Smith, and Liz Ford, ‘Lockdowns around the world bring rise in domestic violence’ (2021) accessed 29 October 2021 .

Grierson J, ‘Three in four domestic abuse cases end without charge in England and Wales’ (2021) accessed 29 October 2021 .

Office for National Statistics, ‘People who were abused as children are more likely to be abused as an adult: Exploring the impact of what can sometimes be hidden crimes’ (2017) accessed 30 October .

The United Nations, ‘The Shadow Pandemic’ accessed 28 October 2021

The United Nation, ‘What Is Domestic Abuse?’ accessed 30 October 2021 .