The Caged Virgin - Ayaan Hirsi Ali [55]
Plenty of mission statements have been produced in recent years. Apart from perfunctory declarations disapproving of and condemning violence, numerous promises have been made over the years to the Dutch House of Representatives, reports are published at regular intervals, and domestic violence has been the theme of dozens of symposia and conferences. The above figures come from a report circulated in March 2002 by the then outgoing government. At an international level the Dutch government even managed to get a resolution on honor killings accepted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. This resolution calls on member states to “take preventive action against this kind of crime and to combat it, through legislative, educational, social, and other measures.” This is all rather unconvincing when you realize that none of the successive cabinets have managed to turn their declarations of intent into actual policy. Since the initial acceptance of the motion against domestic violence, in 1981, no coherent plan of action has been proposed, and the campaign against domestic terror is still unformed, insubstantial, and ineffectual.
Despite several studies, the Counsel for the Prosecution has no idea, for example, how often honor killings occur in the Netherlands, because the police still record them as homicides. We also know far too little about genital mutilation of women and forced marriage. An added problem when dealing with domestic violence is that different cultures do not necessarily view it in the same light. Because the native Dutch population generally regards domestic violence as immoral, the approach of certain local authorities, to subject perpetrators of domestic violence to a fixed plan of treatment, has had some good results. Sadly, however, the government has not been able to develop these local methods (a good example is Utrecht) into one national policy.
THE MURDER OF Zarife, a Turkish girl, living in the Dutch city of Almelo, by her father, illustrates a category of domestic violence that is tolerated on cultural or religious grounds. The offender’s conduct is morally acceptable within his own community. What is more, the offender will often feel under pressure from others to use violence. If he fails to fulfill his duty, he can be literally “gossiped out” of the community. An offender who takes action with the knowledge and approval of his family and saves his honor, actually goes up in the estimation of his community. For the girls and women in this culture this is a strong deterrent, which thwarts the government’s emancipation policies.
At the root of the problem is the Islamic concept of premarital sex. What we need is a coherent cultural campaign to promote discussion about sexuality. Sex before marriage, as long as it is between adults, is not illegal. And although you may disagree about whether this is morally acceptable or not, violence should not be the response under any circumstances.
It is naive to think that organizations representing the target groups should lead such a campaign. Dutch social workers who take advice from these organizations are inclined to disguise the real issue. They reassure the parents of girls who have been threatened that their daughters are chaste virgins, while at the same time their colleagues in the medical clinics are helping girls to have their hymens restored.
Everybody agrees that domestic violence is a highly complex issue, but the Dutch government’s approach to the problem is just too fragmented. At least six departments dealing with no fewer than twenty-one laws are involved. At the local government level is a jungle of institutions, each responsible for a different aspect of domestic violence. Thus, there are different organizations for each of the following: identifying and reporting domestic violence, investigating the crime, supporting the victim, tracking down offenders, prosecuting, and preventing. None of these organizations sees it as its main task to prevent and tackle domestic violence. In this labyrinth a victim