The Shakti Community Council Inc. Wellington have supported some women to speak out in a documentary that screens on TV One tonight, Wednesday 7th September, at 9:30pm. We hope as many people as possible are able to watch, and also forward this communication as far as you can, to honor these brave women, so that they will be heard and positive change can begin.
This documentary was filmed last year by Rob Harley, interviews of Family Violence Victims and the Police.
“Broken Promises, Broken Brides” – a documentary by Project Melting Pot Ltd
In the otherwise ordinary neighbourhoods of New Zealand cities, there’s a dark secret that is holding many women as hostages in their own homes. Women from Asian countries are being enticed into marriages here: marriages which turn violent and ugly, leading to death, misery and heartache. How badly are Asian brides being treated in New Zealand?
The documentary reveals that one Asian Women’s Rights group is fielding up to 600 calls a month, about the desperate plight of young wives, who are being bashed, humiliated and in the words of one anguished Indian father, “tortured” behind closed doors in Kiwi homes. The documentary “Broken Promises, Broken Brides,” has required what Harley calls ‘enormous courage’ on the part of several women who’ve been told that either they or their family members will be killed if they speak out.
Says Harley: “ In twenty years of making documentaries, I have rarely met such gutsy people. These women are coming out of the darkness to tell us about the atrocious things that have been done to them.”
This documentary hears the heartfelt pleas of activists and ordinary mums and dads in India who are asking why New Zealand allows Indian women to be treated so badly.
It also hears directly from the “broken brides” – the women who are begging for their voices to be heard.