Peer calls on UK government to urgently fund culturally specific domestic violence services
Baroness Shaista Gohir says focusing on issues like FGM overlooks intimate partner abuse and calls for victim support run ‘by and for’ Black and Asian women
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A Muslim peer has called on the UK government to urgently fund domestic violence services run “by and for” Black and Asian women, warning that the current lack of support is putting lives at risk.
Baroness Shaista Gohir criticised the government for focusing on headline issues like female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage, while overlooking intimate partner abuse.
“What is killing Black, Asian, minority and Muslim women is the same as what is killing white women,” she told Hyphen. “It is your husband or your boyfriend killing you. Yet they [the government] try to link it to honour-based abuse when it’s not — it’s just standard domestic abuse.”
Gohir argues that the current funding model actively blocks culturally specific, community-led services, known as “by and for” services, where victims are able to see themselves reflected in staffing and management structures. “You have to have a high income threshold, which most BAME charities don’t reach,” she said, referring to recent Home Office funding rounds.
Earlier this year, she was told by civil servants that no additional funding would be available until at least 2026-27. “That’s two years away. There are a lot of organisations that will shut down,” said Gohir.
Her intervention follows 2020-2022 data from the Home Office showing that ethnic minority women are disproportionately affected by domestic homicide. While they make up 22% of the population, they account for 22% of female victims.
A 2023 report by Imkaan, a group focused on violence against Black and minoritised women and girls, and the Centre for Women’s Justice, reviewed the deaths of 44 Black and minoritised women. Of those, 38 were killed by a partner or ex-partner, and six died by suicide linked to abuse.
The majority, 68%, were not receiving any support at the time of death. Only two had contact with a “by and for” service, and neither was receiving ongoing help. Although 71% had disclosed abuse to police, GPs or other professionals, they were rarely referred to culturally specific services.
The report concluded that a properly resourced “by and for” sector could mean the difference between life and death.
Yet, according to Gohir, the services best placed to help, particularly faith-based ones, are often excluded. “Just because a service is minority ethnic doesn’t mean it caters to Muslims,” she said. “Some Muslim women don’t feel comfortable in secular feminist spaces. They want support that understands their faith and culture, without judgment.”
She added: “We may help them navigate polygamy, religious coercion, and trauma in a sensitive way. We’re not telling them, ‘Your religion’s the problem.’ We’re telling them, ‘Your abuser is misusing it.’ That distinction matters.”
National figures further underline the urgency. In 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council reported that, for the first time, suicides among domestic abuse victims surpassed intimate partner homicides. In the year ending March 2023, there were 93 suspected suicides linked to domestic abuse, compared to 80 intimate partner homicides.
Gohir is now calling for urgent reform to the government’s funding model, which she says disproportionately favours large national charities. Since 2007, more than half of all specialist refuges developed for Black and minority women have either closed or been taken over by generic providers. With the Home Office’s next funding round potentially years away, that figure could rise.
“We need to influence the tackling violence against women and girls strategy,” added Gohir. “It’s not enough to tick a box and say those organisations reach Muslim women — that’s not the same as Muslim women reaching out to those organisations.”
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