Understanding how coercive control can affect people from migrant and refugee backgrounds

These factsheets provide further information about coercive control and its impacts.

What is coercive control?

Coercive control is when someone uses patterns of abusive behaviour against another person. Over time this creates fear and takes away the person’s freedom and independence. This dynamic almost always underpins family and domestic violence.

Coercive control can be used against anyone, but is mostly used by men against women.

Coercive control can happen in intimate partner relationships, even after they’ve ended. It can also happen in family relationships.

Nobody has the right to control you, hurt you or make you live in fear.

Recognising the signs

Coercive control can be hard to spot because the abuse can be subtle and targeted. People experiencing coercive control may not realise they are being abused.

Coercive control can involve a range of different behaviours, including physical and non-physical abuse.

Some of the signs of coercive control against migrants and refugees include someone:

• Stopping you from following your religion or cultural practices, or using your beliefs against you
• Threatening you or your family, including threatening to have your visa cancelled, or to take your children away
• Forcing you to marry or be in a relationship when you don’t want to
• Stopping you from contacting your family or community, or telling them lies or information you don’t want shared
• Controlling if and when you get pregnant, or forcing you to end a pregnancy
• Stopping you from learning English to make it hard for you to talk to English-speaking people and services, or to get a job
• Controlling your money or making demands for more, or very high, dowry payments.

You might feel:

• Trapped because you depend on the person, including to communicate
• Isolated and alone
• Scared to speak your first language or practice your religion.

Case study

Zaynab and her husband, Liam, live with their four-year old daughter, Meena. Zaynab was born in Pakistan but moved to Australia for university, where she met Liam. When Zaynab’s study visa was about to expire, Liam proposed to Zaynab and offered to sponsor her on a temporary spousal visa.

Once they got married, Liam began to make comments about Zaynab’s appearance and culture. Liam made Zaynab feel bad about wearing a hijab and would get cross at her when she spoke her native Urdu.

Liam also started making lots of decisions on behalf of Zaynab, telling people that’s what men do in Pakistan, even though it’s not actually what Zaynab wants.

Liam’s behaviours kept getting worse over time and when Zaynab was pregnant, Liam began limiting when Zaynab could talk to her friends and family in Pakistan and began checking Zaynab’s phone. When Zaynab changed her passcode to stop Liam going through her messages, he got angry and took their daughter, Meena, to his parent’s house and told Zaynab she couldn’t see her. Meena is distressed and keeps crying and asking for her mother.

Liam has threatened to get Zaynab’s visa cancelled and ‘send her back to Pakistan’ if she tries to get Meena back. Zaynab feels isolated and is worried nobody will believe her if she tries to get help. Zaynab doesn’t know what she can do to keep her and Meena safe.

What can I do?

Everyone deserves to live free from family and domestic violence. If you think you or someone you know might be experiencing coercive control, contacting a confidential support service for advice is a good first step.

In an emergency, call 000.

For support contact:

1800RESPECT
1800 737 732 (available 24/7)
1800respect.org.au

Men’s Referral Service
1800 943 539
mrs.org.au

For more information about coercive control and the National Principles to Address Coercive Control in Family and Domestic Violence on the Attorney-General's Department website.