URGENT PROTECTIVE MEASURES: AN “OFFICIAL” LOOK AT THE DEMAND, CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS IN THE ARARIPE SERTÃO REGION - PE

Abstract

Emergency protective measures, provided for in Law No. 11,340/2006 (Maria da Penha Law), represent an essential instrument in combating domestic and family violence against women, as they aim to ensure immediate protection for victims, safeguarding their physical, psychological, and moral integrity. The effectiveness of these measures depends largely on the swift and coordinated action of the public officials responsible for their implementation, particularly court officials, public security forces, and social service professionals, who together comprise the state apparatus for responding to violence.

The actions of court officials, for example, are crucial for enforcing court orders such as summonses, removing the aggressor from the home, and monitoring imposed restrictions, while psychosocial support for victims is generally provided by interdisciplinary social service teams. Effective compliance with these regulations requires technical commitment and sensitivity from agents to manage situations of extreme vulnerability and risk, often requiring action in hostile environments, especially in peripheral and rural settings.

The Sertão do Araripe region, located in the state of Pernambuco, has geographic, social, and economic peculiarities that challenge the effective application of protective measures. Unlike the capital and metropolitan region, the region studied has significantly larger rural areas, lower income, and a lower level of education.

The choice of the Sertão do Araripe region as a territorial boundary is justified by the lack of in-depth studies that consider its specificities and the growing number of demands for protective measures recorded in recent years, which imposes the need for accurate diagnoses and appropriate public policies.

Based on this delimitation, we seek to answer the following guiding question: how effective have emergency protective measures been in protecting victims in the Sertão do Araripe region of Pernambuco, considering the challenges faced by public officials, the coordination between the agencies involved, and regional specificities, compared to other areas of the state of Pernambuco? The answer to this question could support coordinated and strategic actions that consider both institutional limitations and local social demands.

Based on a documentary survey, institutional reports, and statistical data from 2018 to 2024, this research aims to analyze the operationalization of protective measures in the region, observing not only compliance rates with court orders, but also oversight mechanisms, victim service flows, and the functioning of the protection network. The aim is to provide technical support for improving public policies to combat domestic violence, contributing to the construction of a more effective, sensitive, and localized protection system.

A detailed analysis of the actions of public officials will enable an understanding of the institutional and operational barriers faced in the region, such as difficult access to remote locations, the scarcity of human and material resources, and the obstacles resulting from the disorganization between the various agencies involved. These elements will be essential for identifying possible avenues for institutional strengthening, including through training, expanding infrastructure, and improving inter-institutional service protocols.

Furthermore, the study will highlight the importance of collaborative work among police chiefs, prosecutors, public defenders, court officials, police officers, psychologists, social workers, and other professionals involved in the rights guarantee and oversight system. Coordinated actions enhance the effectiveness of protective measures, including with the support and participation of civil society. By mapping the existing support networks in the Sertão do Araripe region and examining their operating methods, it will be possible to identify successful practices and gaps requiring intervention, generating knowledge applicable at both the regional and state levels.

Therefore, the results of this study are expected to broaden understanding of the factors that determine the success or failure of emergency protective measures in the interior of Pernambuco, offering concrete proposals for improving the performance of public officials and the functioning of the protection network. The relevance of this study is anchored in the need to ensure the effectiveness of legal instruments aimed at protecting women, especially in historically more vulnerable regions, such as the Sertão do Araripe.

1.1 OBJECTIVES
1.1.1 General Objective

To critically analyze the structural, institutional, and cultural challenges faced in implementing urgent protective measures (MPUs) in the Sertão do Araripe region of Pernambuco, with an emphasis on the work of court officers, gaps in the protection network, and potential strategies for improving public policies to combat violence against women.

1.1.2 Specific Objectives
To analyze the volume of demands for urgent protective measures in the Sertão do Araripe region of Pernambuco.
To investigate the role of the public officials involved, such as court officers, members of the Judiciary, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Public Defender's Office, and multidisciplinary teams, as well as the main difficulties these professionals face in enforcing the measures.
To examine the interaction between the various actors in the justice system and the protection network, identifying gaps and potential opportunities in inter-institutional coordination. Conduct a comparative analysis with other regions of the state of Pernambuco, aiming to identify good practices and successful experiences that can serve as a benchmark for improvements in the Sertão do Araripe region.
Propose strategies and solutions that contribute to improving the effectiveness and speed of the implementation of emergency protective measures.
1.2 JUSTIFICATION

This dissertation is justified by the urgent need to deepen the understanding of the effective implementation of emergency protective measures in the specific context of the Sertão do Araripe region of Pernambuco, a region marked by socioeconomic vulnerabilities and structural inequalities. The Maria da Penha Law (Law No. 11,340/2006) constitutes a historic milestone in combating domestic and family violence against women. However, its effectiveness depends on coordinated action among the various public agents involved and the adequacy of local institutional structures. The choice of this theme stems from the need to highlight the obstacles faced by victims in the process of requesting and implementing protective measures, as well as to propose viable ways to overcome these challenges, especially in peripheral regions where access to justice and protective services is still limited. The scarcity of studies focused specifically on the Sertão do Araripe reinforces the relevance of this research, since the invisibility of certain regional realities compromises the formulation of effectively inclusive public policies that are sensitive to local specificities (CUNHA; SANTOS, 2022).

Another point that underpins the importance of this work is the complex coordination between the various stakeholders involved in the process of granting, monitoring, and enforcing protective measures, such as judges, prosecutors, public defenders, civil and military police officers, social workers, and other support network professionals. The lack of efficient communication between these stakeholders often results in overlapping roles, slow legal proceedings, and failures in victim protection. Furthermore, the lack of ongoing training and integrated protocols exacerbates the ineffectiveness of these measures, which can culminate in revictimization or even femicides that could have been prevented. Understanding the challenges faced by these professionals in light of the reality of the Sertão do Araripe region is essential for improving institutional strategies to combat domestic violence. Therefore, this research aims to support the formulation of more effective public policies aligned with the realities of the municipalities that make up the Sertão do Araripe region (ALBUQUERQUE; MELO, 2023).

Furthermore, the rationale for this dissertation is supported by the growing demand for protective measures in the region in question, which signals not only an increase in violence against women but also a growing awareness of legally guaranteed rights. This growing demand, however, has not been accompanied by a proportional strengthening of support and protection structures, creating a mismatch between the need for immediate protection and the state's capacity to respond quickly and effectively. Analyzing this demand, therefore, is key to understanding the complexity of the phenomenon and developing contextually appropriate solutions. This dissertation will provide an in-depth and proactive diagnosis, thus contributing to the advancement of the academic and legal debate on the topic (SILVA; ROCHA, 2021).

It is also important to emphasize that the issues addressed by this study directly connect with the constitutional principles of human dignity, gender equality, and access to justice, which should guide all state actions aimed at protecting women in situations of violence. The implementation of these principles, however, still encounters severe obstacles in the daily practice of law enforcement agencies and the justice system, especially in rural areas with low institutional density. This dissertation therefore aims to help reduce this gap between legal normativity and social reality, proposing concrete measures that can be implemented in the short and medium term, based on successful experiences and empirical evidence gathered throughout the research. This pragmatic and contextualized approach reinforces the socially relevant nature of this work (FERREIRA; LIMA, 2022).

Furthermore, it is imperative to consider intersectionality as a central axis of the analysis, given that the women most vulnerable to domestic violence and the failure of protective measures are, for the most part, Black, poor, with low levels of education, and living in rural or peripheral areas. The intersectional approach allows us to understand how different forms of oppression overlap, exacerbating conditions of vulnerability and hindering access to institutional protection mechanisms. Thus, this dissertation aims to shed light on the need for public policies that consider the specificities of these multiple oppressions, contributing to more just, equitable, and efficient state action. This aims to strengthen the fight for gender equity and social justice, objectives that are priorities in the current Brazilian scenario of setbacks in women's rights (GONÇALVES; MOURA, 2023).
Finally, the scientific and social relevance of this study is directly related to the possibility of establishing a critical mapping of the weaknesses of the domestic violence victim protection system in the Sertão do Araripe region, while proposing practical and innovative solutions based on real data and local experiences. Overcoming the structural and institutional barriers that limit the effectiveness of protective measures requires integrated and systemic action, but above all, one based on research that accurately reflects the reality of the populations most affected by violence. By focusing on a region still little explored in the legal and sociological literature, this work seeks to fill an important academic gap, serving as an instrument for social transformation and the improvement of public policies for the protection of women (MARTINS; DIAS, 2024).