The Asian Women's Resource Centre (AWRC), set up 35 Years ago, offers lifesaving support services to women and children experiencing domestic and sexual violence, forced marriages and honour based violence across London.

This case study highlights how the AWRC supports women and girls experiencing abuse.

A young Asian young women was referred to the AWRC by her teacher at college. The young women was being forced to marry one of her cousins in Pakistan, by her parents.

They had found out that she had a boyfriend from a different cultural background, which they did not approve of. As a result they beat her and attempted to strangle her. The parents had further threatened to break her legs, arms and kill her if she did not do what they said. The parents had accused her for becoming too “westernised” by developing relationships before marriage, deviating from her culture and for bringing shame on the family. The young women feared for her safety and did not want to return home.

The AWRC provided the following support to the young women:
- Risk assessment /Safety planning advice;
- Made a MARAC and IDVA referral;
- Reported the threat of honor based violence to the police ( worker accompanied her);
,- Reported violence to the GP (worker accompanied her);
- Made referral to a refuge and provided her with taxi fare to travel
- Provided emotional support; and
- Provided follow up support.

Through the support of the AWRC the young women was re-housed and enrolled on a law degree. The young women is now a practicing solicitor specializing in housing law.

It is a challenging funding climate for the small BME specialist provider such as the AWRC. They have been successful in raising Project Funding (Big Lottery, London Councils, MOPAC), however funding for core costs remains an issue for the Organisation.

Please support AWRC so they can continue their work against domestic violence and promote women empowerment.