The most pervasive violations of women's rights in Paraguay involve sexual and domestic abuse. On average one woman is murdered every 10 days. Although Paraguay has taken several measures to deal with this problem, including creating special police units for domestic violence victims, lack of adequate laws, as well as conservative attitudes within a male dominated society hinder progress.

Social background

Paraguay is a landlocked country in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. The vast majority of its population identifies as

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, and

religion in Paraguay The religious identities of the people of Paraguay, have since national independence been oriented towards Christianity, and specifically the Catholic Church. In the most recent census (2002) Paraguayans of all ages 10 and older had their religi ...

plays a very important role. Paraguay is a

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...

society; and has been slow to change traditional views on family:

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

was legalized only in 1991.

Extent of domestic violence

It is very difficult to assess the extent of domestic violence. Most cases are not reported to authorities, and victims endure the violence privately. In a 2008 survey, 20.4% of the women interviewed in the survey (aged 15–49) said they suffered physical or sexual violence by a current or former partner. This was lower than many other countries in the area, but these figures, being self-reported, may reflect differing personal understanding of what constitutes abuse. Of women who said they experienced domestic abuse in the past 12 months, 12.9% said they sought any institutional help for the abuse. In 2017, 770 instances of domestic violence against men by their partners were recorded (1,540 annualised).

Legislative response

The legal response of Paraguay to domestic violence has been very weak, even by Latin American standards. Although Paraguay enacted in 2000 ''Law No. 1,600 Against Domestic Violence'' (Ley No 1.600 contra la Violencia Doméstica), this law - while having a broad definition of domestic violence (including physical, psychological and sexual abuse "lesiones, maltratos físicos, psíquicos o sexuales" ) - is civil in nature, and as such does not provide for any sanctions against the perpetrators. While the Criminal Code provides for a crime of domestic violence, this crime has a very narrow definition, as physical violence that is carried out habitually, and is punishable by a fine only. As of 2014, there have been increasing calls, from both inside and outside of the country, for the enactment of a comprehensive law against

violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often consi ...

References

{{Domestic violence Violence in Paraguay

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Crimes against women Women's rights in Paraguay

Social background

Extent of domestic violence

Legislative response

See also

References