Stronger laws to combat domestic violence were not always having the desired impact at grassroot level, a psychologist told professionals on Friday.

Elizabeth Gilchrist pointed out that changes in legislation were not always being felt on the ground.

She was speaking at a conference that concluded the Full Cooperation- Zero Violence project, which the Equality Ministry organised to train professionals working with victims of domestic and gender-based violence.

A professional working with domestic violence victims told Prof. Gilchrist many changes did take place but these did not always work in practice.

The conference also heard that cultural differences within the society could discourage foreign survivors of domestic violence from seeking help.

Changes in legislation were not always being felt on the ground

“It is easy to blame their culture and to dismiss it as something happening because they are foreigners,” Prof. Gilchrist said.

In fact, she went on, research showed it was harder for foreign women having different cultural backgrounds to access help.

The victim might not be able to speak the language and could also be put off from coming forward fearing people would blame her culture, Prof. Gilchrist said.

People in such situations would not want to give up their culture but just the violence to stop, she said.

Malta was no exception, a study by the University of Malta found.

When looking into problems survivors faced, researchers Marceline Naudi, Holger Saliba and Marilyn Clark found there was a language barrier in the case of foreign participants.

Dr Naudi said the study also showed that survivors were traumatised whenever they appeared in court or went to a police station. They often felt ashamed because of societal expectations to keep the family united, she added.

She also warned that some survivors were getting interminably stuck in shelters as they would be unable to keep up with rising rental costs.

“We’d meet elderly people who were still in a shelter because they could never pay the rent,” Dr Naudi said.

Domestic violence survivors should not be blamed but the perpetrator’s wrongdoing should be acknowledged, Prof. Gilchrist said. Rather than asking why she did not leave one should enquire why did the perpetrator not stop the violence, she remarked.

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