Women's Refuge welcomes joint venture to tackle family and sexual violence

28th September 2018

Women’s Refuge welcomes the announcement of the new joint venture approach to tacking the serious family and sexual violence issue. Chief Executive Dr Ang Jury, says “this has been a long time coming! Bringing together and properly coordinating the work and resources of agencies across the public sector has the potential to really create positive change”.

Dr Jury agrees with Under-Secretary Jan Logie, that family and sexual violence are complex problems and efforts to create change are not well served by government agencies operating in a disconnected fashion. She cautions however that coordination efforts must extend beyond government agencies.

“This must be a joint government and non-government project – and must be undertaken via a genuine partnering approach that acknowledges and values the knowledge, experience and expertise of all of agencies working within the sector.”

“Being free from violence or the fear of violence is a basic human right, this should and must become a central value for each and every New Zealander! If it is not, it is inevitable that we will, as a country, continue to reap the ugly harvest resulting from our failure to properly address this corrosive issue”

The evidence of this is clear. Research recently completed by Women’s Refuge highlights the clear connection between poor mental health outcomes and family violence, explicitly linking experiencing violence with rates of suicide and and self-harm. Australian research identifies family violence as the leading driver of homelessness and housing insecurity for women and children, as well as the link between family violence, poverty and child neglect and harm.

Women’s Refuge hopes that the announcement today signals the beginning of a sustained and committed effort, and looks forward to contributing to this work.

ENDS

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