32 domestic violence cases reported in first half of 2018

Physical abuse was a key factor in domestic violence cases this year, according to statistics released by the Social Affairs Bureau (IAS).

In the first half of 2018, there were 32 cases of domestic violence reported across Macau: 19 involving spouses, ten involving children and three involving other family members.

As described in the IAS report on the central registry system for domestic violence cases, 22 cases (68.8 percent) of the cases involved physical abuse.

There were five cases of psychological abuse (15.6 percent), two cases (5.3 percent) of sexual assault and three cases (9.4 percent) of multiple kinds of violence.

The region’s domestic violence law came into effect on October 5 of 2016.

In 2017, there were 96 confirmed cases out of 2,278 reports on domestic violence. Seventy-three cases involved spouses, 20 involved children, one involved seniors and two cases involved other family members.

Recently, IAS held a training course on handling domestic violence, which drew approximately 400 attendees from government departments and social service organizations.

The IAS expressed its hopes that such courses could help different types of professionals in social services – such as educators, social workers and psychological counselors, among others – to improve their basic knowledge and skills in recognizing, assessing and intervening in domestic violence cases.