What Potential Does the Human Rights act Hold for Domestic Violence Groups?

Domestic violence is an issue that affects vast numbers of women throughout the world. It seems to constitute a clear violation of Arts 2, 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, but it has only been recognised as being a human rights issue relatively recently. Indeed, until 2007 domestic violence had not been directly addressed by the European Court of Human Rights. However, the European Court has now clearly established that domestic violence constitutes a human rights abuse, as highlighted by recent judgments such as Bevacqua and S v Bulgaria; ¹ Opuz v Turkey; ² and E.S. and Others v Slovakia. ³