DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND FEMICIDES IN PANAMA

IMPORTANCE OF SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC POLICIES

Abstract

Public policies express the courses of action that governments define to solve the problems of a city, county, state, country or region. The objective of this work is to establish the contribution of scientific evidence to the development of public policies to eliminate domestic violence and femicide in Panama. To this end, the concepts of domestic violence, violence against women and femicide are reviewed from the legal framework; official sources of data on the subject are identified and published research on domestic violence and femicide in Panama in recent years is reviewed. It is concluded that there is a regulatory framework in the country to guarantee women´s right to a life without violence. And although the institutions have made efforts to implement programs, plans and projects in that direction, domestic violence remains a public health problem and there are insufficient statistical data and studies available to understand it. It is urgent to build bridges or weave networks between public and private management and research to nurture the design, execution and evaluation of effective policies.