£270,000 to aid Muslim women who face abuse in the home

Published on Tuesday 15 April 2008 22:14

MUSLIM women who suffer domestic abuse are to receive more help following the award of £270,000 of public money to a unique support group.

Amina, the only group specialising in helping female victims of violence from Islamic communities in Scotland, will receive a share of a 22 million government pay-out announced yesterday to organisations involved in tackling domestic abuse.

But Nughmana Mirza, of the Glasgow-based project, said the money would also be used partly to "explode the myth" that Muslim women are more likely to suffer violence due to their faith.

Amina plans to train more groups, including the police and prosecutors, on specific issues that affect Muslim women, and encourage more victims to come forward.

Ms Mirza said: "A lot of the problems are cultural. There is a strong sense of shame about coming forward to report domestic violence, as women feel their community will disapprove. We need to get over that."

The project has received more than 100 calls from women in the past six months, Ms Mirza said, adding: "There's a need to make other support groups aware of the issues affecting Muslim women. For example, lots of people don't know the difference between arranged marriage and forced marriage."