STA, March 9, 2018 - Every fourth to fifth woman in Slovenia has suffered domestic violence, which is much more wide-spread than people would have imagined, Tjaša Hrovat of the Association for Non-Violent Communication has told the STA.
While the police process up to 3,000 cases of domestic violence a year, data for 2016 show they dealt with almost 2,760 cases, a nearly 1% drop from 2015.
In the same year, the police issued almost 860 restraining orders, up 4.4% from 2015, but perpetrators of domestic violence often disregard them.
Perpetrators are largely men, according to the association's data in 90-98% of cases, while victims are mostly their women partners.
When women are the perpetrators, which is very rare, their victims are mostly children, Hrovat explained.
"People are often very surprised to learn about a certain case, saying the perpetrator was known as a calm person."
Hrovat also noted that while much of domestic violence is hidden behind the walls of a family home, domestic violence usually escalates.
"It is our experience that where the perpetrator is not told that violence is not acceptable, the violence does not stop but gets more severe."
"Not many perpetrators realise by themselves that what they are doing is wrong and stop doing it, because they profit from it - they manage to subjugate their victim," she explained.
This is the reason why she believes it is important for all institutions and the society as a whole to send out a clear message that violence is inadmissible and should be stopped.
She said that when the perpetrator is first faced with a restraining order, realising they could go to jail, they would often stop doing it or considerably lower its intensity, she said.
As for preventing the worst-case scenarios such as death, Hrovat said counsellors must always trust the victim's assessment of how dangerous the perpetrator is.
"Their fears must be taken very seriously. The victim always knows the perpetrator best and is able to predict what he is capable of."
Perpetrators of domestic violence are a very heterogeneous group. The only thing they have in common is their conviction that the use of violence is an appropriate way of achieving their goal.
What is more, many of them were victims of domestic violence in their own families, where they learned that violence is acceptable. But "a learnt behaviour can be changed", she stressed.
The STA talked to Hrovat on Thursday, after there were two cases of domestic violence reported, both resulting in deaths and injuries.
