Media

HKU to release study findings on Help-Seeking Behaviours of Ethnic Minority and Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence - reveals institutional incompetence of frontline responders

02 Oct 2015

The Director of the Centre for Comparative and Public Law at the University of Hong Kong, Ms. Puja Kapai, will release the findings of her comparative, empirical study into the help-seeking behaviours of ethnic minority women in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. Through an intersectional impact assessment and analysis of 32 ethnic minority victims, the Research finds 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.  The Study also reveals 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’.

Please join us at the Launch:

Date:     October 3, 2015 (Saturday)

Time:    10:00 am

Venue:  Academic Conference Room, 11/F, Cheng Yu Tung Tower, Centennial Campus, The University of Hong Kong

The research findings will be submitted to the Legislative Council meeting of the Subcommittee on Strategy and Measures to Tackle Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence (Panel on Welfare Services) on Tuesday, October 6 2015.  The public hearing on October 6 will be focused on the support services for ethnic minorities facing domestic and sexual violence.

For media enquiries, please contact Ms. Joyce Fung at 3917 4238.

About Centre of Comparative and Public Law, The University of Hong Kong
The Centre for Comparative and Public Law (CCPL) was established in 1995 as a non-profit virtual research centre at the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong.  Its goals are to (1) advance knowledge on public law and human rights issues primarily from the perspectives of international and comparative law and practice; (2) encourage and facilitate collaborative work within the Faculty of Law, the University of Hong Kong, and the broader community in the fields of comparative and public law; and (3) make the law more accessible to the community and more effective as an agent of social change. It has over 20 years of experience in conducting contract and other research in the field of public and comparative law. See: http://www.law.hku.hk/ccpl/.