What is cross-border abuse?
There is no single legal definition. We use “cross-border abuse” for abuse that is further complicated and entrenched because the behaviour, the relationship, the dependency, the people involved or the systems meant to respond span more than one country.
Cross-border abuse does not need a shared roof: stalking, coercion, intimidation, threats, harassment, the weaponising of dependants, and economic and digital abuse all travel. In many cases the victim and the abuser live in different countries, but this does not have to be the case for it to count as cross-border abuse. A migrant can also be controlled by someone in the same country through dependencies such as visa sponsorship, documents, money, property, businesses, children or family.
Abusers often believe they can get away with it because the person they target may not understand the legal system, may not speak the language, may have few contacts, may be in a precarious financial position, may fear the impact on shared dependants, or may not be a citizen of the country whose courts they would have to use. That belief relies on the victim feeling powerless. At Tied Across Borders we want people to know that they often have more power to free themselves than they have been gaslit or manipulated into believing. Nobody should have to tolerate abuse, however large the power imbalance seems or however complicated the international element makes things.
Physical distance is not always practical freedom.
Three elements we look for
1. The important connection
A child, a relative, money, property, a visa, a job, a court case or a shared digital life. Something that means contact cannot simply end.
2. The power or dependency
One person has influence over something essential: documents, money, residency, or contact with a child. Leaving or blocking them puts that at risk.
3. The harmful behaviour
A pattern of using that power to frighten, pressure, monitor or control. The connection is not the problem. The way it is used is.
