The EU’s legislative framework and the issue of violence perpetrated against migrant women

Abstract

Following the traces of the introductory section of this book, the present chapter focus on the emerge intersection of the phenomena of violence and migration, through the chronological evolution of the European legal framework on the subject. As previously remarked, the western society in the last century brought up into the public attention a shared concern on the issue violence (Warr 1994), that has expanded through time (Gelles & Straus 1979). At an initial phase, the phenomenon has been mostly characterised by the gender aspect, there is, the association of violence to an asymmetric distribution of power between the genders (Bourdieu 1998). It is exactly on the asymmetric distribution of power that violence tends to broadening its targets, victims that are structurally discriminated by belonging to a minority or a considered vulnerable groups (Exner 1949). This extension, that includes migrants and potential intersections (Crenshaw 1991) is not only identified in the social context, but is also recognised through time by the European Legal Framework. This legal framework is developed, not only to identify these victims, in a context of overlapped needs, but also to fulfil the gap of rights that are neglected in a setting of structural violence (Farmer 2003).