Kia Ora Week 8: "Because Living in Fear, Isn't Living"

This week the family violence support group, Women's Refuge (www.womensrefuge.org.nz) hosted its annual appeal for awareness and donations. I attended the group's official launch complete with screenings of their new ad campaign entitled, "Because Living in Fear, Isn't Living", speeches by attending members of New Zealand Parliament including the Minister of Justice, the Honorable Simon Power, and a live performance by New Zealand singer songwriter Anika Moa all in the name of garnering community support and enhancing community awareness of just how real the problem of domestic violence in New Zealand is. Women's Refuge estimates that one in three women in New Zealand experience domestic violence. It is also estimated that the rate is substantially higher among the indigenous Maori population, though underreporting complicates the figures. A great emphasis of the campaign is that domestic violence means far more than just physical abuse; it includes verbal, psychological, financial, emotional and many other types of abuse.

The idea that domestic violence compels a constant feeling of living in fear is truly encapsulated through the ad campaigns. Television ads show a kitchen with an infinite number of eggshells and a mother stopped in fear when her child steps on one of them and she hears the father slam down the remote control from the other room and the viewer hears his footsteps inching towards them. Radio ads voice over a stream of consciousness as a woman counts down the five minutes sweating through all of the things she needed to have done to perfection to prepare for her husband coming home from work and then the listener hears the door slam. Posters depict a woman in public places where each person's face appears that of her abusive spouse.

The appeal followed substantial changes effective 1 July 2010 to the Domestic Violence Act of 1995. These changes were significant in that they allowed for the creation of Police Safety Orders ("PSO") which allow police to remove an individual from the home for up to five days and are applicable in cases where there may not be enough evidence to charge the individual with a domestic violence offense but there is still nonetheless strong reason to believe that the individual poses a real threat. This is a step forward for domestic violence law in New Zealand, while at the same time it potentially raises real issues as to what will happen when that individual returns to the home after the five days expire if no further steps are taken to issue protection orders and evidence still lacking for charging the individual with an offense. There are real risks to consider as to whether the violence may escalate as a result of the PSO being issued so it is an area in which police need to exercise great caution and one in which groups like Women's Refuge need to remain active and available to people vulnerable in these situations. Another real issue to consider from the removed person's perspective is where exactly that person is to go if the person is "removed" from the home, because this means that the person cannot return to the home, but this provides no option of where that person should go. For this purpose, the first "men's refuge" was created in Gisborne, New Zealand. Gisborne remains an exception as these services are not widely available or accessible around New Zealand.