March 4, 2015 To help combat family violence, the Federal Government is promising to help make court proceedings more accessible for women from non-English speaking backgrounds.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has committed $120,000 to the task during a UN Women’s Day breakfast at Parliament House in Canberra.
The money will help train judges, court administrators and officials to deal sensitively with cases involving child marriage, forced marriage, family violence, female genital mutilation and human trafficking.
In addressing violence Prime Minister Tony Abbott says child marriage should be called out for the crime it is.
Speaking at the UN Women’s Parliamentary Breakfast Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the Judicial Council on Cultural Diversity and the Migration Council of Australia will work to help make the Australian court system more sensitive to migrant women and their families.
“I want to focus on the problems faced by some migrant women in our Australian community who often don’t understand their rights under Australian law, who sometimes have unsupportive communities and sometimes have oppressive families and even face problems of forced marriage, child marriage and worseâ€_x009d_ Mr Abbott said.
It was a daunting task to approach courts at the best of times, Mr Abbott said.
“But it must be terrifying if your language skills are poor and you do so without the support of your family and community.”
“It’s a problem in our migrant communities, it’s a problem in our remote communities and it’s a problem in our wealthiest and leafiest communities as well and this is why domestic violence will be addressed by the Council of Australian Governments this year,” Mr Abbott said.
Rates of domestic violence are higher within migrant communities.
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