International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Men Will Spotlight Serious Human Rights Violations

PRESS RELEASE

Rebecca Stewart: 513-479-3335

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Men Will Spotlight Serious Human Rights Violations

WASHINGTON / October 3, 2022 – The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Men will be observed on November 18, 2022. The Day will highlight the long-standing neglect of male victims of domestic violence, including the human rights violations that arise from this neglect.

As a result of the recent trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, millions of persons around the world have become aware of the problem of domestic violence against men. The trial revealed that Heard was repeatedly abusive of Depp, both physically and emotionally (1).

On one occasion, Heard threw a bottle at Depp, severing the end of his finger. Later, Heard taunted her victim by saying, “Tell them, ‘I, Johnny Depp, a man, I’m a victim of domestic abuse,’ and see how many people believe or side with you”

Across the globe, domestic violence against men represents a hidden epidemic. A compilation of 343 scholarly investigations conducted in 40 countries concluded that “women are as physically aggressive as men (or more) in their relationships with their spouses or opposite-sex partners.” (2) A second international review found that 43% of men, compared to 41% of women, reported being victimized by coercive abuse of their partners (3).

As a result of this neglect, males experience a range of civil rights violations:

Abused men are refused assistance by domestic violence service agencies (4).
Police may arrest the male victim rather than the female perpetrator (5).
False abuse stereotypes serve to enable and justify false allegations against men (6).
Negative stereotypes deter the shared parenting efforts of fathers, serving to weaken the family unit (7).
Abuse myths become part of broader, derogatory stereotypes of men, eg, “traditional masculinity” (8).

The neglect of domestic violence against men represents a severe human rights violation that government officials and others need to remedy.

Male survivors of domestic violence view the Depp-Heard trial as a turning point in their efforts to be recognized and believed by legal authorities (9). The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Men will be observed by organizations located in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and North America (10).

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