{"id":1196,"date":"2010-12-01T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2010-12-01T07:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvmen.org.uk\/blog\/?p=1196"},"modified":"2010-12-01T08:00:48","modified_gmt":"2010-12-01T07:00:48","slug":"ending-violence-for-the-sake-of-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/ending-violence-for-the-sake-of-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Ending Violence – For The Sake of Children?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a>We are currently in the midst of the annual 16 days of global action to end violence against women.\u00a0 Last week, Alesha Dixon presented a BBC programme which highlighted the experience of children, including herself, affected by domestic violence.\u00a0 More than 750,000 children in the UK are living in homes where such violence takes place.<\/p>\n

As part of her enquiry, Alesha interviewed a male perpetrator of domestic violence who had signed up to a programme to help change his attitudes and behaviour.\u00a0 When asked why he wanted to change, he said that he had become aware of the emotional damage being done to his children.\u00a0 The man himself had experienced domestic violence between his parents, and his sister was also in an abusive relationship.\u00a0 Domestic violence affects children directly, but also makes it much harder for them to form good relationships in the future.\u00a0 The costs of domestic violence, and the benefits from preventing it, go on for generations.<\/p>\n

What the perpetrator didn\u2019t seem concerned about was the damage he had done to his partner.\u00a0 He spoke about how he undermined her self-esteem with insults, and how this had led on to physical violence.\u00a0 He said he wanted to be in control and was very conscious of the fear that kept her from leaving.\u00a0 I applaud his willingness to speak out so openly about his crimes, but what can be done to build positive and healthy relationships, and to challenge men who are abusing women, whether there are children involved or not?<\/p>\n

Restored<\/a> is a new international Christian alliance committed to transforming relationships and ending violence against women.\u00a0 CVM is a founder members of Restored, and there are strong linkages between codelife<\/a> and Restored\u2019s work.\u00a0 If all men applied the following elements of The Code, then violence against women would be ended:<\/p>\n