The Link Between Refugees and Domestic Violence

As September comes to an end, Human Trafficking Awareness Month gives way to a new social awareness issue and a new month. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. As Vox Culture continues to progress through its trimester on “Refugees at Home”, we will take a moment to look at how the issue of domestic violence affects refugees.

For the audience to grasp the connections that may exist between domestic violence and refugees, it is important to first note the different types of domestic violence that exist and that Vox Culture seeks to fight.

Domestic violence is the abuse of an individual or group that consists of a physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, and/or economic nature. Physical abuse involves contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, pain, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm. Sexual abuse consists of the use of force or threat to obtain participation in unwanted sexual activity. Emotional abuse involves the intentional psychological degradation of an individual to obtain a form of mental control over the individual. Verbal abuse is emotionally abusive behavior involving the use of language. Economic abuse happens when one intimate partner has control over the other partner's access to economic resources.

Refugees can be, and have been, victims of all these various forms of domestic violence. While there are numerous individual reports and stories that can be found through a quick online search, Physical and Sexual abuse have been continuously prevalent amongst refugees, with the victims more often than not being women and children. These two types of abuse, together with Emotional, Verbal and Economic occur in refugee communities largely due to cultural differences. Examples of such vary, from families forcing their children to marry before adolescence due to tribal customs, to women being subjugated to domestic servant roles where they are forced to stay at home and have limited to no personal rights.

In many cultures, domestic violence is not considered a crime, and often refugee victims are unaware that they can report abuse. Even when these victims do report abuse, mainstream domestic violence victim services agencies might find themselves lacking the personnel with the appropriate multicultural skills as well as ill-equipped to deal with issues specific to foreign cultures and different refugee communities.

While many domestic violence services agencies and non-profit organizations have been gradually making progress in seeking to address domestic violence within refugee communities, more has to be done by society to help break the cycle of domestic violence within refugee communities. We must help empower the victims, invest in their talents, and offer them the opportunity to build upon themselves. We must also take the time to learn about the specific refugee communities that reside around us, listen to their stories, and try to understand certain aspects of their culture. By educating ourselves about others we are better equipped to educate these same individuals or groups in return - especially as to why domestic violence IS a crime. If we are to take these or similar actions, we can help give a voice and further empower refugee victims of domestic violence.

To learn more about what other organizations in Texas, such as The Houston Area Women's Center and the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA), are doing to combat domestic violence and/or help refugee victims, you can visit their websites by clicking on the following links:

The Houston Area Women's Center

Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA)