As part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, Respect is supporting a new campaign from The European Network for the Work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence (WWP EN).
WWP-EN is an umbrella organisation, supporting 63 member organisations that work with perpetrators of domestic abuse. The network’s new campaign, #ResponsibleTogether, focuses on perpetrators from migrant backgrounds, and calls on services to develop the tools and knowledge needed to handle the complex and intersecting challenges of working with perpetrators from this cohort.
As part of the campaign, WWP draws attention to the fact that gender inequality and male entitlement are global issues. Migrant men of all backgrounds and non-migrant men are equally likely to perpetrate domestic and gender-based violence, but they don’t have equal access to appropriate, culturally competent interventions that give them meaningful opportunities to change their behaviour. The stressors and issues presented by migration make developing interventions for perpetrators more complicated, so it’s important that services working with migrant men understand these factors and develop their interventions accordingly.
As part of the campaign, WWP is calling on perpetrator services to stand together and say: we are #ResponsibleTogether for ending gender-based violence in all communities.
The campaign calls on people to examine their own biases and privileges:
- Educate themselves on the lives of marginalised groups in their town, region or country.
- Speak up against racist and discriminating attitudes in their family and friendship groups.
- To question their own biases and prejudices.
- To donate their time or money to organisations fighting for migrant and women of colour.
It also asks services to reflect on the services they deliver, ensuring they are:
- Reaching out to local communities or organisations.
- Developing services in additional languages.
- Learning about legal rights and the problems faced by survivors and perpetrators. without permanent residency in their host countries.
- Addressing their own biases that keep them from effectively working with migrant men.
- Training facilitators in trauma-informed responses & cultural sensitivity.
Learn more about the campaign here, and check out our Twitter to see how Respect is getting involved.
