This advisory explains how the COVID-19 outbreak is impacting Asian and Pacific Islander (API) survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, and describes policies enacted to address the pandemic including the CARES Act, and API and immigrant survivors’ eligibility for the programs and services offered in the legislation, as well as the implications of utilizing the services. The Advisory also discusses the effect of systematic responses to the COVID-19 crisis and the unique issues that API survivors face that systems must account for to support survivor safety during the pandemic.

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What happens when the laws that are supposed to protect survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault become turned against them? Survivors can be criminalized for reacting in self-defense, participating in criminal activity under their abusers’ coercion, or for failing to protect their children from witnessing or being impacted by violence in the home. Survivors of color, who struggle with mental health or substance dependency, or who otherwise don’t fold the “perfect victim” mold are disproportionately incarcerated. In this workshop, API-GBV will be joined by Hyejin Shim and Neda Said of Survived & Punished, who will guide participants through a discussion of the criminalization of survivors, and how advocates can support criminalized survivors.

by Grace Huang & Yein Pyo

API-GBV

September 2020

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