Domestic Violence Task Force - History & Achievements

ACHIEVING FAMILY HARMONY: ADDRESSING FAMILY VIOLENCE
AUSTRALIAN INDIAN COMMUNITY


The issue of Family harmony and Family Violence (FV) in the Indian community of Victoria is of major significance. The family is the anchor of Indian culture and Indians regard family harmony of utmost importance. A common saying “Home is where the heart is .” if home is not a happy place then there is no place there for the heart. Depression, Anxiety, Aggression, Abuse , Unhappy Children are consequences no community wants

Our concern is based on a number of factors. Primarily, there appears to be a distinct lack of meaningful engagement by Indian women with current family violence services. We are disturbed by the silent suffering of Indian women, some of whom are students with no rights to access current services. Research is needed in Australia to understand culturally determined barriers to acknowledging and culturally determined responses to family violence, we need sound evidence based data to guide current police responses, legal and health services, to raise awareness of issues in the community, in the Indian women on their rights to seek appropriate medical and legal help and advocacy, in the Indian men their right to good mental health and happy home.

Indians live in an extended family in Australia as in their homeland and violence can be perpetrated not only by husband but also mother in law and /or father in law. Indian culture emphasises family unity as opposed to divorce despite family violence. Divorce rates in Indian marriages are 2% as compared to 30% for western marriages. This main difference from the mainstream Australian and other immigrant cultures leads to barriers in service utilization for Indian women and families. The aim of this project is to create educational material for the police, lawyers and courts on understanding this complexity and culturally appropriate means of handling the situation.

A further aim is to assess culturally determined barriers to accessing Legal services and provide a better understanding of Legal Services to the Indian women and the community generally.

To achieve our goals we have designed an innovative research design combining art in the form of Forum theatre (requiring Indian community participation) with qualitative research. This project will be conducted by a unique partnership of four bodies- the Indian community through Australia India society of Victoria, FIAV, Drummond Street Services, The University of Melbourne’s Centre for International Mental Health and Artistic Director Ms Xris Reardon. The project requires in kind and financial assistance. We need your help in making this project successful. Please contact Dr G Aurora for further discussion.

Domestic Violence Task Force - History & Achievements


Mission statement of AISV taskforce

Domestic Violence Task force History & Achievements

Reference - Family Violence Protection Amendment Bill

Article by Natasha Chaku by India News.

Contact in case of Family Problems or Violence.

AISV – President -- Dr Gurdip Aurora Tel 97635005 / gaurora@ozemail.com.au

FIAV – 1800 342 800
Your General Practitioner