The Uruguayan government at the end of October announced an app to protect victims of gender-based violence.
The app — called Élida 360, named after Uruguay’s first uniformed police officer, Élida Pensado Graña — will allow victims of gender-based violence to denounce their aggressors if they breach precautionary measures such as restraining orders.
It will offer a 24-hour chat option as well as a panic button.
The app will be issued by court order. To begin with, 2,000 phones with Élida 360 downloaded will be delivered to victims whose aggressors have been subject to measures such as restraining orders.
In the future, victims may be able to download the app onto their own phones, El Observador reported.
The launch will officially take place on 21 November, and Élida 360 will become operational in December.
Ana Lima — coordinator at the Uruguayan branch of the Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean for the Defence of Women’s rights (CLADEM) — acknowledged: “Uruguay has a solid legal framework that recognizes violence against women based on gender as a violation of their rights.”
She added: “There are various protective measures: restraining orders, removal of the aggressor from the family home, confiscation of weapons if there are any, referral of violent men to intervention programmes, and the use of electronic ankle monitors if a woman is identified as being at high risk.”
However, Lima says there is still a lack of provisions for female and child victims of abuse.
She emphasized the need for courts specialized in gender-based and sexual violence, for buildings where alleged victims can be interviewed confidentially, as well as better training for judges and public defenders.
She said of the app: “It is welcome as another way to prevent the murder of women,” though emphasized the need for the government to launch “massive and sustained campaigns about rights violations”.
Teresa Herrera Sormano, spokesperson at the Uruguayan Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, echoed a similar sentiment.
She said: “Legislation as a whole is progressive, it guarantees rights, and so on.”
However, Herrera Sormano added: “The problem is that, while the law exists, there’s no systematic approach to public policy, nor is there adequate allocation of budgetary resources for the defense — or rather the protection — of women, girls, and adolescents.”
Asked what measures the government should be taking in addition to initiatives such as Élida 360, she said: “First of all, there should be an adequate budget. The budget is minimal, and besides that [they need] to guarantee access to justice.”
Like Lima, Herrera Sormano emphasized the need for more public awareness campaigns for the prevention of gender-based violence.
She said: “A cultural shift is needed. And the only way to achieve that cultural shift is through prevention.”
Government data shows that 35,293 cases of domestic violence against women were reported in Uruguay last year, with 19 femicides documented.
Lilián Celiberti, director of Uruguayan feminist group Cotidiano Mujer (Everyday Woman), said that — while there are broad legal protections in place for victims of gender-based violence — injustices persist.
She said: “We truly have a society built on the foundation of inequalities.
“It seems to me that this is the context that laws don’t solve, because laws protect, but they don’t change the culture. They are an important framework, but it’s not punishment that’s in question; it’s not the punitive logic. No matter how many violent people we put in jail, we’re not going to eliminate violence.”
Celiberti added: “We have protections, we have laws, but we have difficulties in enforcing those laws, and also a difficulty in thinking not only about violence in this specific case, but also about the social framework in which it occurs.”
She had not heard about Élida 360 prior to Latin America Reports’ request for interview.
Though Celiberti celebrated the use of technology to improve women’s safety, she emphasized the need for better understanding of the context in which gender-based violence unfolds in Uruguay in order to truly tackle it.
She said: “There needs to be a policy aimed at raising awareness.”
Featured image credit:
Image: The annual March 8th feminist march, in 2019. Placard reads: “You will never have the comfort of our silence again”.
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mediareduy/46599707434/
Photographer: MediaRedUy
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
