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Description
The project Research centre for domestic and gender-based violence (ReCeGe) will start in January 2022 and end at the end of December 2023. Its core focus is on the establishment of a Research centre for domestic and gender-based violence. Its research output will contribute to improving the protection and enforcement of human rights in the Czech Republic (CZ), namely the right to protection of life and the right to a life free from (domestic and gender-based) violence. For the establishment of ReCeGe, it is crucial to acquire representative data mapping the adult CZ population´s experience with domestic and gender-based violence. The first part of the project is therefore taken up by conducting a nationwide survey to collect such data. This data will then be interpreted in the light of up-to-date internationally competitive research, which addresses the gendered basis of such violence. The thereby accumulated knowledge base will then be used by the project team to start a discussion with experts from key institutions designated to assist survivors (esp. child services, the police, intervention centres, and civil society organisations) across the CZ but also to address the general public. These discussions will involve survivors introducing their perspective into institutional response to this type of violence and its prevention. We will present topical high-quality international research outcomes regarding domestic and gender-based violence to the expert public in the framework of round tables designed to stimulate networking. At the end of the project, an international conference will be held together with Kilden, the Norwegian project partner. A long-term objective of the project is to establish good research practice that will help to overcome often fundamentally flawed partial studies that are irrelevantly generalised. The project will thus improve general as well as expert public knowledge about violence, its causes, implications and prevention.
Summary of project results
The project improved human rights protection in the Czech Republic, specifically the right to life and freedom from domestic and gender-based violence. This was achieved by a) creating a website with a database of expert texts and reports; b) conducting a representative survey of adults; c) establishing inter-ministerial cooperation for assessing and recording femicides; d) conducting impactful qualitative research among those who experienced domestic violence as children and adolescents.
The project dealt with 5 activities and project publicity. A1: Quantitative research aimed at collecting information on the prevalence of violence in interpersonal relationships among the adult population of Czechia, which was lacking and necessary for setting agendas and further research on the topic of domestic and gender-based violence. A2: Establishment of the ReCeGe centre, a sustainable structure in the form of the website recege.soc.cas.cz, which can be built upon for further research. A5: Trip to the Norwegian partner Kilden, in order to obtain up-to-date information for the establishment of the centre; A6: Round tables, which led to the establishment of a longer-term cooperation in the field of femicide in the Czech context; A7: International conference, at which project promoter presented the main outputs of the project (research reports, methodologies, a database of expert texts on the centre''s website, etc.) and to which the Czech media responded.
The main outputs of the project are a website at https://recege.soc.cas.cz/ with a database of expert texts on domestic and gender-based violence, a research report from the survey Feeling Safe and Quality of Life, a qualitative research report on Children and Violence in Close Relationships, two expert articles, two guidelines and the establishment of interdisciplinary cooperation. Benefits include interdisciplinary collaboration, impact on public debate and the involvement of survivors in the project. In the long term, ReCeGe contributes to the programme''s objective of improving the human rights situation and countering discrimination and extremism by establishing a research centre. ReCeGe collects relevant research on domestic and gender-based violence and provides missing quantitative and qualitative data. Inter-ministerial cooperation should improve the long-term overview of femicides and lead to improved preventive programmes.
Summary of bilateral results
The partnership with the Kilden organization was key to the establishment of ReCeGe. As part of the partnership, Kilden organized a workshop for two members of the project team, where they presented the current state of Norwegian research on gender-based violence, including domestic violence, and helped establish long-term academic contacts with other relevant institutions in Norway. In addition to the presentation of current research and its authors, the aim of the workshop was also to map effective ways to transfer research outputs into practice. The established contacts made it possible to get feedback during the preparations for the launch of the Research Center and the direction of cooperation in the second year of the project, and at the same time they are already being used to establish further cooperation in Norway. In the second year of the project, the final conference of the project took place, at which the director from the partner organization also spoke. Director Kilden''s personal participation at the final conference increased the chance of transferring knowledge to the Czech environment, which would have been more difficult without direct involvement.