JUSTICE IN COURT

I am working on two initiatives based on my research on these issues: Domestic Violence and Campus Violence. My first initiative is JUSTICE IN COURT FOR ABUSE VICTIMS by creating a non-governmental organization. This non-governmental organization will also support my second initiative for the SAFE UNIVERSITIES - END CAMPUS VIOLENCE. 

There is a need for improvements in the legislation, policies, and procedures and for creating a central database between governmental and non-governmental organizations. Furthermore, this non-governmental organization will offer support and empowerment to victims and coordinate, implement, monitor, and evaluate policies to combat all forms of violence and also monitoring of the perpetrators as there is no continuous cross-checking for any previous violations of the perpetrator until they reach the court. 

I want to create a non-governmental organization to fight for victims' rights. This organization will deal with the representation of abuse victims in court and fight for victims' rights.

This organization will collect perpetrators' violations and victims' reporting from the police, welfare, and other similar NGOs. There is no primary data collection between governmental and non-governmental organizations. Unfortunately, no cross-checking for previous violations of the perpetrators in court, and valuable documentation are not presented in court, victims face secondary victimization, and abusers are not in jail because of this. There isn't any connection between governmental and non-governmental organizations and no central database for victims' reporting. 

 Furthermore, it will also have free support for all victims or survivors from lawyers, therapists, doctors, educational programs and research, a Helpline, reporting to the court, and improvements in the policies and proceedings. All of the above was part of my research, and I have my proposal ready, and this is my vision. I intend to help victims break the silence and escape abuse; this organization will help them do that. 

I imagined a world where victims could feel safe to report and receive justice from the law and the court; that is my vision and mission. 

It's terrifying for a victim to escape without help and support. But, being a victim myself, I obeyed rules, felt not enough, was ashamed of who I was, and was not allowed to raise my voice and have an opinion.

Children that grow up in an abusive, controlling environment are scared to free themselves from victimhood even after adulthood. Because their parents never gave them space to flourish or allowed them to make their own choices or decisions. They controlled them; they tended to walk in life seeking approval and were afraid to escape their miserable land and free themselves from victimhood. So, it takes a lot of courage to walk away and say no to abuse. I know because I was a victim.

I was a victim that escaped and thrived. So, I wrote a book that today is taking part in an international book award as a finalist. With my story and books, I want to show people how to live life to its fullest and never look back, heal them from past events, and fulfill my vision, mission, and destiny. And this is my story, and I will continue to share my story to encourage and inspire victims and survivors to follow my lead.

I researched the causes of domestic violence in Cyprus. I am taking the next step now with my first initiative to reform the existing system that needs improvements. 

My suggestions for breaking the silence and improving the system are the following:

1. Require compensation paid to the victim by the perpetrator.

2. Provide an accessible representation of a lawyer to all victims.

3. Courts must sell immediately and distribute properties and require loans to be repaid equitably so that the victim does not continue to suffer secondary and repeated victimization from the abuser for many years, as happened in my case. Victims shouldn't have to lose all of their money and possessions when escaping an abusive relationship. Unfortunately, there are delays in the procedures either from the court or the bank. Although this delay benefits the perpetrators, unfortunately, it keeps victims stuck and the continuation of their revenge against their victim.

4. Create a central database among the police, welfare system, NGO, and court for recording domestic violence to protect the victims from secondary victimization in court. There is no monitoring of the perpetrators by authorities in Cyprus for previous violations. When abusers perpetrate violence, we need all the documentation to protect victims from further abuse.

5. Create shelters with educational programs for perpetrators to learn about zero tolerance for abuse and the benefits of a healthy family.

6. Create a new NGO for victims to report incidents and provide them with psychological support amid court proceedings until the victims recover from the cycle of violence. This NGO will collect all their recordings to present them in court from the police, welfare, and NGOs. This way, there will be cross-checking for previous violations, valid documentation will not be hidden anymore but shown in court, and the abuser will be finally in jail because they should be there.

7. Educate children on violence-related issues to help change prevailing social norms.

8. The court trial should occur immediately, not as it is happening now but without further delays. But unfortunately, it takes a lot of years for the final decision.  

9. Victims want justice and protection from the law, court, and the state to escape violence, and perpetrators should be in prison, not set free, paying a small amount for the repeated abuse they caused to their victims and clearing their records to set them free.

I faced victimization in my life from my parents, and my abuser, for 20 years. Also, I met victimization from the court while my abuser was, set free, paying a small amount for the repeated abuse he caused me for 20 years instead of going to jail. On top of all this, he was suspended for two years for beating someone else besides me, and the authorities knew about it. But he was presented in court with a clear criminal record and that it was his first episode of abuse, which was a lie.

I also faced victimization from the bank because I had signed up for the abuser to get a loan, and the bank took all my money and possessions away from me because my abuser never paid the money back to the bank for the loan he got. 

Also, I own half of the house that my abuser is living in, and I can't get my share because I missed out on the law deadline, which says three years after the divorce. I had to complete the sharing procedures, but I couldn't do that because there was a loan to pay first and then the sharing of all possessions. So that leaves me now without a house. Victims shouldn't have to lose all of their money and possessions when they escape an abusive relationship and face repeated victimization from the bank, court, law, and the state.

My initiative is to raise awareness of this issue and to put forward my vision plan so that victims will feel safe to break the silence because they will know that if they report, the abuser will be placed in jail. They will receive justice in court and not secondary victimization as they have received. This initiative aims to end corruption in court, protect victims' rights, and reform the existing system that isn't working anymore.