Breaking the Cycle of Domestic Violence

On November 14th, IHAN’s youth representative attended the UN Department of Public Information’s NGO chat “Breaking the Cycle of Domestic Violence”. The event featured lecturers from a local NGO dedicated to the prevention and elimination of family and gender violence, Connect NYC. Sharene Roig and Marlon Walker, seasoned Violence Prevention Educators, led the audience in discussing underlying causes of and drafting definitions for various forms of domestic violence which included psychological, financial, technological and physical abuse. The conversation progressed to a detailed overview of community-based, culturally responsive survivor support services offered by Connect NYC. This was followed by a brief skill-building session on best practices to identify early warning signs and support victims. The importance of “meeting survivors where they’re at” and offering encouragement that is unencumbered by judgment was emphasized throughout Ms. Roig’s presentation. Mr. Walker highlighted the need to hold abusers accountable, yet support them throughout the rehabilitative process. Speakers agreed that although both men and women perpetrate domestic violence, tragically, fatalities are most common among pregnant women and women in the process of leaving their partners.

Left to Right: Carl Murrell (National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States), Margo LaZaro (NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY), Sharene Roig (Connect NYC), Marlon Walker (Connect NYC), Swati Dave (UN DPI)