As 2022 was coming to a close, the European Court of Human Rights issued a groundbreaking decision, taking a bold stand to address officer-perpetrated gender-based violence, an area of focus for Miami Law’s Human Rights Clinic.
As part of the Community Oriented and United Responses to Address Gender Violence and Equality Initiative, the HRC works on addressing gender-based violence. The clinic had the opportunity to collaborate with the European Human Rights Advocacy Center on a case addressing officer-perpetrated GBV before the European Court of Human Rights. In this case, a police officer in Georgia leveraged his official position to commit domestic violence with impunity, resulting in the tragic death of his former partner.
Under the supervision of Human Rights Clinic Founding Director Caroline Bettinger- López and Acting Director Tamar Ezer, law students Anabel Blanco ‘20, Caitlyn Burnitis ‘20, Damian Gonzalez ‘20, Fernando Rodrigues Da Motta Bertoncello ‘20, Meredith Shea ‘20, and Simone Smith ‘20 filed an intervention with the European Court of Human Rights, in collaboration with Casa de Esperanza, End Violence Against Women International, Futures Without Violence, and Women in Federal Law Enforcement.
“Officer-perpetrated GBV is so prevalent and yet so rarely addressed. It is often met with a ‘blue wall of silence,’ where police departments protect fellow officers from investigation.” said Ezer. “This completely undermines the justice system and is particularly troubling since many states rely on law enforcement as front-line responders to GBV.”
The HRC argued for heightened state responsibility in cases of officer-perpetrated GBV, noting that officers are uniquely positioned to use their state authority, training, and access to weapons and resources to facilitate abuse in their relationship. Moreover, heightened vigilance by the state is required to prevent impunity and safeguard the justice system’s integrity.
The European Court of Human Rights agreed. The court stated that it “expects Member States to be all the more stringent when investigating . . . their own law enforcement officers for the commission of serious crimes, including domestic violence and violence against women in general, than they are with ordinary offenders, because what is at stake is not only the issue of the individual criminal-law liability of the perpetrators but also the State’s duty to combat any sense of impunity felt by the offenders by virtue of their very office, and maintain public confidence in and respect for the law-enforcement system.” The court further referred to a “heightened duty to tackle prejudice-motivated crimes.”
The clinic’s former students were thrilled to have had this opportunity to influence global standard-setting. “This opportunity as a Miami Law student was incredible, and now, on an even larger scale, evolved into adding value to the international legal community,” said Shea. “All of the hours spent meeting with classmates and mentors to navigate the research, to consider the case and weeks of drafting and re-drafting to provide valuable input to the European Court of Human Rights — it was a memorable and formative part of my law school experience.”
The clinic subsequently expanded its analysis of law enforcement responses to gender-based violence in a report and case studies focused on Canada and Brazil. The report provides a human rights framework for improving law enforcement responses to GBV, addressing accountability for officer-perpetrated GBV, trauma-informed interactions with survivors, effective investigation of GBV reports, and intersecting discrimination.
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