Technology is a double-edged sword when it comes to domestic violence. It’s how victims can ask for help, get information and stay in touch with support networks. But it’s also how abusers can find and track their victims, obtain their email passwords and access bank information.
New Zealand has the worst family violence rates in the developed world. 1 in 3 women experience abuse at some stage in their lifetime.
Organisations like Women’s Refuge know that they need to advance the ways in which they support victims.
Dr Ang Jury, chief executive officer of Women’s Refuge explained, “On average, just over 500 people a month look for advice and help through our website. The most dangerous time in a relationship is when a victim is planning on leaving, or immediately after they’ve left; so being able to assist people to do this discretely and safely will mean more people can access help and information.
“Coming into the Christmas period, we know the numbers for family violence will increase dramatically. Last year over the holiday period (15th Dec to 15th Jan), over 6,000 Women and children across Aotearoa needed our services.”
So Women’s Refuge has partnered with Saatchi & Saatchi and some of New Zealand’s leading organisations to create The Shielded Site, a place where people who experience family violence can feel safe to seek help without alerting abusers that may be monitoring their online movements.
The site, which took 18 months to develop, is being launched ahead of the Christmas holiday season, when family violence rates in New Zealand will spike dramatically. Earlier this year, the partners launched a beta version with The Warehouse, who have since been helping to test and refine the design.
“If you are, or think you might be experiencing abuse in your relationship and being monitored online, look for the logo on any of the partnering business’ sites to launch a shielded version of the Women’s Refuge site,” Jury continued.
“We’d like to thank The Warehouse, ASB and our other launch partners for helping us get this initiative off the ground. We hope others will follow their lead and add the tab to their site, making more places of refuge. Our ultimate goal is for every website in New Zealand to contain a Shielded Site. To find out how you can do this, visit shielded.co.nz.”
The Shielded Site is an expandable iFrame that can sit on any host website and contains vital information a victim can use to ask for help, keep themselves safe, or plan for a future free from violence.
Importantly, the site itself never appears in a user’s browser history. Its use is private.
The application appears on a number of sites across the internet the application so that a user can find information discreetly, in the form of a smaller viewport and without the need to directly visit The Women’s Refuge website. It also allows businesses to display their support for victims of Domestic Violence.
ASB Bank, The Warehouse, Sorted, Z Energy and Saatchi & Saatchi are among the first New Zealand organisations and websites to support the initiative by adding the tab to their site.
The Shielded Site will be hosted by ASB Bank so users can feel safe in the knowledge that they are in a secure environment. Contact details received through the site are sent directly to Women’s Refuge, securely and without being stored. ASB has also committed to sponsoring the ongoing hosting of the site, meaning that any business or website in New Zealand can safely and accessibly add the tab to their site.
ASB general manager digital, Fiona Colgan, commented, “This is a positive initiative and we are delighted to get behind it. If we can help even one woman to reach out in a safe way to get support, it’s been a success.
“We encourage more New Zealand businesses to join us and create a place of refuge on their websites. To truly make this effective, the Shielded Site needs to be everywhere, and in the places people would visit in the course of a typical day.”
