As Domestic Violence Awareness Month draws to a close, it is an ideal time to identify and embrace global strategies to “combat” domestic violence.

That was the assignment taken on by Violence against Women, an international conference spearheaded by the Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Family Violence and Violence Against Women. The conference drew 500 participants from 40 countries.

The conference participants isolated five pre-conditions which must be satisfied before we can hope to eradicate domestic violence worldwide:

1. widespread buy-in to the fact that domestic violence is real and pervasive
2. social re-classification of domestic violence as a societal problem
3. social response must be coordinated and consistent across agencies
4. awareness must be raised across nations and across society within them; and, in order to achieve all of the above,
5. funding must be dramatically expanded

Read more in this CCNMatthews article: Conference on Violence Against Women Wrap-Up: Five Conditions to Move Forward.