On November 22, 2021, 19-year-old local resident Darya takes photos in St. Petersburg, Russia. Darya was shot in the head by her boyfriend during an argument and survived. Now she is studying for a law degree to help protect women facing domestic violence in Russia. REUTERS/Dmitry Vasiliev

St. Petersburg, Russia, November 25 (Reuters)-When Russian student Darya had a dispute with her boyfriend in April last year, her life changed drastically.

Shaig Zeinalov, who was drunk at the time, took out a gun and shot her. The bullet missed, but she was hit in the eye by bullet fragments ejected from the wall. When she yelled at him for an ambulance, he refused.

"He said I still have a second eye to do this, I can call it myself," 19-year-old Darya recalled in an interview with Reuters to commemorate the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

So she picked up the phone and said three words: "I am 18 years old, shot in the head, and dying."

The United Nations estimates that nearly one-third of women in the world are abused, and this number will rise during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

This problem is particularly serious in Russia, where masculine male behavior patterns are deeply ingrained, and rights groups say that laws to protect women are seriously inadequate.

In 2017, President Vladimir Putin signed a law that relaxes some penalties for domestic violence to reduce state intervention in family life, but activists call this a step backwards.

"Russia is still one of the few countries in the world that does not have a national defense mechanism against victims of domestic violence," Mari Davtyan, head of the Protection Center for Domestic Violence Victims, told Reuters.

Progress on the draft law aimed at strengthening the protection of women has stalled due to the pandemic. The Speaker of the House of Lords said that a bill will be introduced this fall, but it has not yet been submitted.

Darya, who asked not to use her last name, is rebuilding her life. She has a "bulletproof" tattoo on her leg, runs an Instagram account called "One-eyed Beauty", and publishes a book on physical and emotional abuse. Her partner was sentenced to five years in prison.

When she earns a law degree, she plans to use it to help protect more women from what happened to her.

"Before the gunshots sounded, I was a young and beautiful 18-year-old woman with a great job..." she said.

"After the tragedy, I left a mutilated face. I can't work... I can't take care of myself. In fact, a single shot took everything from me."

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