Cultural taboos and lack of awareness about support groups make it tough to keep records and collect data on domestic abuse cases in Dubai, but law enforcement agencies and support organisations are intensifying efforts to raise awareness, provide support and encourage victims to come forward.
Some success has been encountered, but officials say that fighting domestic abuse is still an uphill battle. Gulf News Staff Reporter Wafa Issa investigates.
Dubai: Lina held her breath every time her husband came home in fear of provoking him into attacking her again.
"I was always sure that I was the one to blame, that it was my fault. After every attack, I would try to figure out what I had done wrong," said Lina, a mother of two in her mid-thirties.
She had accepted that being the victim was part of her daily life. Lina suffered abuse throughout the 10 years of her marriage. She can't count the number of times she went to the hospital for treatment of her injuries, finding a new excuse each time.
One day however, after sustaining severe injuries, Lina built up the courage to put a stop to the abuse and decided to seek help.
She moved to the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children for four months with her children, who had also been traumatised by seeing their mother being battered almost daily as they grew up.
The foundation provided medical and psychological help for Lina and helped her file for divorce in court as well as fight for custody of the children.
In this vein, organisations involved with family protection do not tend to view domestic violence as a phenomenon but acknowledge that it is a challenging problem.
Jamal Al Bah, chairman of the Arab Family Organisation, said: "Domestic violence is not yet a phenomenon, but we are getting increasingly concerned about the increased levels of violence within families because of the growing number of complaints we receive."
A challenge that Al Bah points out is a perception in the Arab world that violence against one's partner or children is considered a family affair that should be solved internally. This attitude makes it difficult for the authorities to track down violence cases.
Afra Al Basti, chief executive of the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (DFWAC), agreed with Al Bah on the assessment that domestic violence was not a phenomenon but instead a problem.
"The main problem is the lack of legislation protecting the rights of the victims which is due to the fact that it is a new problem in our society," said Afra.
Social attitudes and perceptions are also major challenges. These include pressure from the victim's family who believe that reporting domestic violence is not only taboo but is also harmful to a family's social status and reputation.
Ohood Al Suwaidi, marketing and communication manager at the DFWAC said: "Many people view us as the ones who break up homes. But our main role is to give guidance for the victims of domestic violence, and support families."
As the foundation's role is not clear to many people, social workers often face difficulty in dealing with government bodies.
"To remove this stigma we continuously work with different elements of society and conduct workshops in government bodies and schools to raise awareness of our role," she added.
Taking women into a shelter is the last resort for DFWAC due to the stigma attached to it, she said, adding that this was true especially for Emirati families.
"Many of the victims don't leave their abusers simply because they have no one else in the country. For those, we want to be the first resort," she said.
However, Lieutenant Colonel Arif Baqer of the Community Development Authority said they had noticed a decline in domestic violence cases in the country "due to the higher level of awareness in society as women and children are more aware of their rights nowadays."
"We cannot provide help for those who do not seek it. For instance if we are notified about an incident by neighbours, the only thing we can do is to go to the house and knock on the door, as we do not have the authority to enter people's houses," said Baqer.
