Israel Launches SHATIL-Initiated Campaign to Stem Ethiopian Domestic Violence
November 30, 2008
The camera slowly pans over a well-dressed woman, starting at the tips of her fashionably high black boots, and ending at her badly bruised face. The short film about domestic violence was shown throughout the day on Israel's Amharic-language television programming on November 25, the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and will be broadcast repeatedly all month. Along with newspaper articles and radio spots, the film launched the government's public education campaign to prevent domestic violence in Ethiopian Israeli families. The campaign was the initiative of Yachdav (Together) the SHATIL-led Ethiopian Women's Coalition to Prevent Domestic Violence.
Although extreme domestic violence was virtually unknown among Jews in Ethiopia, 22 Ethiopian women have been murdered by their husbands or partners in the past 11 years. Yachdav was organized in response to this crisis and has been actively educating the Ethiopian community and recruiting government support since its founding three years ago. Six Ethiopian immigrant women were murdered in 2006, three in 2007 and none so far in 2008.
Ethiopian community's spiritual leaders (kessim) chanting a prayer for peace in the family (composed at the behest of Yachdav) at a recent Yachdav conference
In the film, Ethiopian men and women of all ages caution viewers about the warning signs of domestic violence. Against a background of ominous music and after the slow camera pan, young Ethiopian Israeli actors declare: "Beatings, curses, humiliation and forced sex are violence that must be prevented." This is followed by warning signs women should be on the lookout for:
"He hurts you and then apologizes."
"He yells at you for no reason."
"He threatens suicide if you don’t do as he says."
The film continues, educating women who come from a society in which a certain amount of physical force against women is tolerated, but which did not know wife murder. It ends with the number of a national hotline and encouragement to call. The film, which has Hebrew subtitles, can be seen here.
The campaign was planned by a group of organizations brought together by Yachdav and paid for by the Prime Minister's Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women, the Ministry of Absorption and the Ethiopian National Project. Co-sponsors include the Coalition, WIZO, the Ministry of Welfare and other bodies.
"After two years of intensive work, the Yachdav Coalition sees the fruits of our collaborative efforts translated into facts on the ground and to data that point to a decrease in violent episodes," said SHATIL's Shulamit Sahalo, Yachdav's coordinator and newly elected vice mayor of Kiryat Gat. "We believe that only a collaborative effort with the relevant government offices and organizations could bring about such results. Yachdav, made up of Ethiopian Israeli women and men who are active in the field, brought the cries of the community to the tables of the decision- makers and succeeded in achieving real change."
