Fifteen years on from landmark law, domestic violence continues to plague Brazil

Most cases of violence against women, including homicide, are perpetrated by intimate partners or relatives of the victims. Indeed, women face the greatest danger in their own homes, as a 2018 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime demonstrates. In Brazil, “simply reporting abusers to the police” is often held as the solution. But the reality is, Brazilian authorities have a poor record in protecting victims of domestic abuse, with little done to break the cycle of gender-based violence.

A female victim of domestic violence is 17 times more likely to later be murdered by a partner — compared to those who have not suffered or reported any aggression. If a woman files a complaint on more than one occasion, she becomes an even bigger target, with the likelihood of her dying at the hands of her abuser increasing 30 times, according to a 2020 survey by the Federal University of Minas Gerais, with support from the Inter-American Development Bank.

This week, Brazil celebrates the 15-year anniversary of the Maria da Penha Law, a landmark in the fight against violence against women in the country — and a testament to the failure of law enforcement in protecting women. 

The law, considered by the United Nations as one of the three most advanced pieces of legislation for the curbing of domestic violence, is named after pharmacist Maria da Penha, who was brutalized by her former husband over years. 

In 1983, Ms. Penha was the target of two femicide attempts at the hands of her then-husband, Marco Antonio Viveros. He shot her in the back (a wound that saw her paralyzed from the waist down)...