A community health centre in Melbourne's western suburbs has launched a program to address domestic violence in the region's growing refugee populations.
(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
The Western Region Health Centre runs a five-week course for community leaders to help them in mediating between victims and police or legal services, as they say most are unwilling to contact the authorities themselves.
The Centre says levels of domestic violence may not be higher than the general population, but that women from refugee backgrounds are even less likely to seek outside help.
(Click on audio tab above to hear full item)
In a community centre in Melbourne's west, 15 Karen men and women are undergoing training on how to assist those experiencing domestic violence - or as they call it, family violence - in their community.
The training program is part of a family violence prevention project known as UPSCALE, being run by the Western Region Health Centre.
It involves local government, health and community organisations in training community leaders to deal with family violence in the region's growing refugee communities and enable better understanding of the Australian justice system.
Waan Tardiff is a community support worker for a not-for-profit migrant support group called VICSEG New Futures.
She's worked extensively with women and children in refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border
Ms Tardiff says it's imperative for refugees in Australia to have someone within their own communities to go to if they need help with family violence.
"They don't call triple 0 at all in any emergency because they're not used to the phone and they're not used to being seen by uniformed people. So they won't call police straight away. They put up with it and when it's cooled down in the morning they come to one of us to talk about the situation or they might leave it for the next time."
Ms Tardiff says the experience of living in refugee camps - which many of the Karen population in Australia have had - has developed an intense mistrust of people in uniform.
She says cultural attitudes also mean that many Karen women believe that leaving their husbands is not an option.
Karen woman Baby Kunoo says there is a common saying in the Karen community that if you chose a violent husband, it's your fate to live with the consequences.
"This is because of the way we are brought up. It is because of tradition, it's because of religion, so it's like when you get married, divorce is not a possibility you have to stay with that partner forever because you have a commitment and you need to follow through with that commitment."
Ms Kunoo says in the Karen refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border, women have no rights and no avenues to seek help about abusive husbands.
She says changing the attitude of an entire community towards family violence is a long process, and providing help for those who want it is the main aim of community leaders undergoing the training program.
"It's because it's very imbedded in the Karen culture, especially the elders, what elders say, what elders encourage or advise, and they same to follow that. But we have to try and change this way and educate more the community.
One of several men undergoing the training, Zun Dal says changing attitudes towards family violence must start with the elders in the community.
Mr Dal says in migrant communities - particularly the Karen community - many people refer to their elders for advice on family matters.
"It is common there is a lot of pressure for a woman to stay in the relationship, but with this program I hope to help the community leaders and religious leaders not dddto encourage the woman to stay in the relationship but to learn about the options and to encourage men not to behave in this way to behave according to the Australian law and standard.
Waan Tardiff says she is currently assisting several women experiencing family violence.
She says one such situation involves the sexual abuse of a child and physical violence towards the mother.
But she says both were too frightened to contact the police directly, so they contacted her instead.
"She's underage for having a boyfriend. There's a situation where the families will come to me and ask for help, what is the next step. And I consulted with the police and the legal services to say what is the best thing for this kind of family and how do I refer the family in this kind of situation."
The training program discusses the cycles of abuse, and has involved presentations from the police on Australian laws and organisations that may help in situations of family violence.
But as discussion opens up to the community leaders in training, some still express certain levels of tolerance with family violence.
One woman indicated that one or two incidents of violence may not require action, while another said perhaps it would be appropriate to see who was at fault.
Robyn Gregory is the program manager of Children, Counselling and Victims of Crime at Western Region Health Centre.
She's worked in family violence services for over 20 years.
Ms Gregory says the attitude that a woman can prevent family violence by becoming a better wife, or better understanding her husband, is not unique to migrant or refugee communities.
"I think that's very common across all communities that women feel like they're to blame, that they're responsible for how the relationship works and have to be the ones to do everything in their power to improve things. So I don't think this is particular to any Karen or African community, I think this is very common across all Australian communities as well."
But the difference, she says, is that women with a refugee background are far less likely to call the police if they're being abused by their husband.
Ms Gregory says that's why the program specifically targets community leaders of various migrant groups, to create a pathway between the populations and the various services.
"Community leaders have a traditional role really to intervene in any sort of dispute that might be going on in their community so really they're in a prime position to be able to support and influence outcomes around family violence. So that's why we thought we'd target them."
Ms Gregory says the African and Karen communities have been chosen to undergo the training as the population of these communities have greatly increased in recent years.
She says the next program to run will focus on the Chin community in 2014.
Share
