A preliminary analysis of the intersection between domestic violence, coercive control and migration statuses in Ireland and Spain

Judit Villena Rodó

doi:10.18543/djhr.2464

Judit Villena Rodó Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4043-7683

Keywords: gender-based violence, domestic violence, human rights, migration status, non-discrimination

Abstract

This article enquires into states’ obligations to provide remedies for domestic violence when the right-claimants are in a context of precarious, insecure or irregular migration status (“migration status precarity”). Through an exploration of the laws and policies in place in two case studies, Ireland and Spain, this article questions the role of law in ensuring that barriers posed by migration statuses do not hamper women’s access to remedies for intimate partner violence. This article posits that, in the case studies examined, the criminalisation of domestic violence and coercive control does not automatically serve as an avenue to remedies when it intersects with migration status. Rather, it can be a tool of (negative) regulation of women’s right to live a life free from gender-based violence. It argues that the states’ lack of remedying an unequal access to remedies due to hurdles posed by migration statuses creates distinct categories of more or less deserving victims/survivors depending on their citizenship and migration statuses.

Received: 24 June 2021
Accepted: 22 February 2022

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