THESecondary Victimization Observatory was created to strengthen the commitment of D.i.Re to end one of the more painful consequences of the judicial process that women face in order to put an end to the violence they suffer, or being made victims again due to procedures and approaches that do not recognize or minimize the violence suffered, question their credibility, blame them for the same violence suffered, underestimate the impact of violence witnessed by sons and daughters and forcibly impose forms of two-parenting that allow abusive men to repeat abusive behavior towards them.
With the investigation The (non) recognition of domestic violence in civil and juvenile courts, presented last July, D.i.Re has photographed in detail - through the work of the lawyers who support women in the anti-violence centers of the network - the ways in which secondary victimization is implemented:
- allegations and documentation proving violence are not taken into consideration suffered by women, which becomes "family quarrels", a formulation that places the woman who suffers violence on the same level as the man who acts her;
- forms of family mediation are imposed, also by entrusting them to social services, prohibited by the Istanbul Convention in situations of violence, which expose women and minors to serious risks of abuse;
- si subject women to CTU, official technical consultancy, which accuse women of being impeding or alienating mothers and that the magistrates transcribe in their decrees, going so far as to impose the forced separation of boys and girls from their mothers to be "re-educated" to the relationship with the father who refuse.
THESecondary Victimization Observatory of D.i.Re consists 30 experts anti-violence centers with different professional profiles: lawyers, psychologists, sociologists, operators, educators. All of them have a long experience in supporting women on their way out of violence while also addressing the suffering generated by secondary victimization.
THESecondary Victimization Observatory of D.i.Re will detect, through qualitative and quantitative research, the impact of secondary victimization on women who have been subjected to violence and their children, to offer concrete elements of reflection necessary to promote a change in the institutional approach, and in particular in the judicial approach, and in the procedures to put an end to secondary victimization.
The research field of the Observatory on Secondary Victimization of D.i.Re will be the 84 organizations that currently make up the network D.i.Re, present in 19 regions where they manage 111 anti-violence centers, 64 shelters and about 150 anti-violence counters. Over 3.000 workers work there, supporting over 20.000 women annually. 99 percent of the network's anti-violence centers D.i.Re also offers legal support, 91 percent psychological counseling (data collection 2020). A privileged field of observation, where the impact of secondary victimization is faced on a daily basis.
THESecondary Victimization Observatory of D.i.Re it will formulate, on the basis of the results of the surveys conducted, proposals and recommendations to institutions at all levels - government, parliament, judiciary, local administrations, social services, professional and category bodies of all the professional figures involved in the paths of escape from violence - to initiate the necessary changes to avoid secondary victimization.
“We keep seeing the distortions of an anti-violence system prisoner of stereotypes and prejudices against women, and the very serious consequences of judicial procedures which lead to inadequate protection of women and minors, or to impose absolutely unjustified suffering on them. An ordeal that must end", he claims Nadia Somma, national councilor of D.i.Re and referent of the Observatory on secondary victimization.