Brazil expands emergency protections for gender-based violence beyond the home

Brazil’s Supreme Court has unanimously expanded access to emergency safeguards under the Maria da Penha Law. Women facing gender-based violence may now receive protection even when the alleged aggressor is not a relative, household member or intimate partner. Because the ruling has general repercussion status, its interpretation must guide similar cases across the country.

The decisive question is now whether violence was motivated by the victim’s gender, rather than the nature of her relationship with the aggressor. The ruling extends the law’s protective tools to community, professional, institutional, social and political settings. Available measures can include orders barring an aggressor from approaching or contacting a woman and restricting access to certain places.

The court also addressed delays that can arise over jurisdiction. If an urgent request reaches a judge who is not ultimately responsible for the case, that judge must still assess it when there is an immediate threat to the woman’s physical or psychological safety. The case can then be transferred to the appropriate court. Gender-based political violence falls under electoral courts.

The decision grew from the case of a woman in Minas Gerais who reported stalking and death threats by a neighbor. A state court had denied her protections because it found no domestic, family or intimate bond. The Supreme Court rejected that narrow interpretation, affirming protection from gender-based violence in public as well as private life.