Our main project is Diaspora Voice Denmark, which helps and empower immigrants women to deal with violence.
Our Project:
Diaspora Voice Denmark is a registered Ngo on CVR-nr: 39357860. The purpose of Diaspora Denmark is to help raise awareness to root out violence against women and girls (VAWG). In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of report on violence against women and girls, which has been observed as one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world. According to United Nation Population Fund, an estimated one in three women will experience physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime. Several lines of evidence suggest that, gender-based violence undermines the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims and even lead to death. As noted by WHO report from(2013-2014), one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or abused in some other way – most often by someone she knows.
Similarly, European Institute for Gender Equality report that women that fell victim of intimate partner violence in the EU Member States remain unprotected and often justice is not served due to inadequate law enforcement approaches. As reported by UNFPA and UN Women (2013), despite the extensive work done by women’s organizations, governments and other partners, many women and girls who are subjected to violence still lack access to essential services that support their safety, health and access to justice.
Therefore, the project will plays a key role in addressing gender-based violence targeting migrants through its programmes on providing services that support their safety. Arguably the evidence suggests that there is lack of knowledge due to isolation and integration of migrants that find themselves in Denmark. In addition, the language serves as a barrier and big contributing factor, due to victims not being able to express themselves in a foreign language leading to misunderstanding and aggressiveness from their partners.
Why do we do it?
There are major challenges in the process of integrating legal immigrants into Danish society. This is due to different issues like, cultural differences, lack of knowledge about the Danish system and language barriers. This challenge especially affects vulnerable group like women and children. Most of the time, they are not aware of their rights and therefore cannot act on them. They often end up in the hands of people who convince them that they can be expelled if they do not cooperate with the demands asked. At best, they end up at shelters and, at worst, stay in violent conditions or take their own lives. This is a concrete example of that; In November 2017, a 26 years old woman from Kenya killed her 10 months son and then committed suicide. She was in a violent marriage where she did not dare seek help because of the fear of being expelled or losing the custody of her child. In 2013, the Danish government adopted the Law Alien Act, number 984 (Oct. 2012), to protect victims of violence of other ethnic background so that they will not be expelled if they are violated by their violent partner. However, many women are still not aware of this law and more information available for them. Therefore, they continue living in violent relationships with isolation and fear.
Our Aim:
To inform women about their rights and Danish legislation and to guide them how they can act on them so that they can take responsibility for their own integration and prevent them from ending in violent conditions where they are exploited, and integration prohibited.
The ultimate goal is; that women take responsibility for their own integration based on informed choices.
Advantage:
The lack of integration costs is expensive - both at the human level and at the community level. Danish government spent a lot of money in crisis centre or shelter yearly. Our mission is to empower these women to integrate and contribute to the society.
Naomi was introduced to me by Nancy who is a member of this project and It is her project. She is working with a pastor In kenya helping widow. Her motivation is to empower widows through her experience as she is a widow too. Below is what she wrote about Naomi and why this project.
Hi all, Im asking you or anyone here to pray and help me build a better home for Naomi and her 2 kids. Naomi is a widow living in Magadi Kenya. She’s one of the widows I’m working along with Pastor Timothy of Eroret church Magadi,Kenya to find ways of empowering them so they may be able to provide for their families. Any gift given will make a different to their life and will be highly appreciated. .
Meet Naomi:
Here are some pics of Naomi and her kids at home and her daughter getting ready to prepare a meal. They are vulnerable to attacks by wild animals- hyenas, snakes and lions. If you would like to help me, Dm me for more information. Thank you so much for your reading and sharing.
