Domestic abuse is a serious social issue that occurs across all demographics and can impact individuals regardless of gender, age, socioeconomic status or cultural background. Domestic abuse can be mental, physical, economic or sexual in nature. Incidents are rarely isolated, and usually escalate in frequency and severity. Some less well understood areas of abuse include emotional abuse, psychological abuse and economic abuse.
Emotional abuse includes undermining a person's sense of self-worth through constant criticism; belittling one's abilities; name-calling or other verbal abuse; damaging a partner's relationship with the children; or not letting a partner see friends and family.
Psychological abuse involves causing fear by intimidation; threatening physical harm to self, partner, or children; destruction of pets and property; “mind games”; or forcing isolation from friends, family, school and/or work.
Financial or economic abuse involves making, or attempting to make, a person financially dependent by maintaining total control over financial resources, withholding access to money, and/ or forbidding attendance at school or employment.
In the UK, 2 million people suffered domestic abuse in the last year: primarily women and girls. Sadly, these numbers are likely to be under-reported.
The Aga Khan Social Welfare Board provides compassionate, confidential, ongoing, empathetic, social support. We will handhold, and, as appropriate, signpost to professional external support services. We are hosting presentations and discussions on the topic, the first of which took place on 26 January 2024 at Northwest Jamatkhana.
Please contact [email protected] for further information.
Additionally, there are multiple sources of professional support in the UK; below are some links for further information and support:
