HKU releases study findings on help-seeking behaviors of ethnic minority and immigrant victims

The Director of the Centre for Comparative and Public Law at the University of Hong Kong Ms. Puja Kapai released the findings of her comparative, empirical study into the help-seeking behaviours of ethnic minority women in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong on October 3, 2015.

Through an intersectional impact assessment and analysis of 32 ethnic minority victims, the research reveals the importance and indispensability of accounting for factors that impact help-seeking behaviours of ethnic minority and immigrant victims of domestic violence, including race, culture and religion, language barriers, knowledge, awareness and perceptions of the legal system and frontline responders. It is also found that systemic institutional incompetence of frontline responders often deters ethnic minority and immigrant victims from seeking help through existing mechanisms when they experience domestic violence, forcing these women to live at the peripheries of society, in isolation and grossly vulnerable to future violence and at risk of falling through 'the justice gap'.

For the detailed findings, please click :

http://www.hku.hk/f/news/13328/Press%20Release_DV%20Study%20Final.pdf

Source: The University of Hong Kong