ExCo greenlights domestic violence as public crime, excluding ‘minor cases’

Leong Heng Teng and DSAJ’s deputy director Leong Pou Ieng

The Executive Council (ExCo) gave the green light to listing domestic violence as a public crime in a long-awaited bill now due to be submitted to the Legislative Assembly (AL). However, the draft states that aggressions or other illicit acts that result in “minor consequences,” such as a slap between married couples, will not be considered acts of domestic violence.
The bill presents a new definition of domestic violence, stating that it refers to either acts of offense against an individual’s life, or offenses to health or body between members of a family, triggering “consequences that are not [considered] minor.”
Physical or psychological abuse; sexual offenses; violations of personal freedom – as practiced among members of a family – are also considered acts of domestic violence, according to the bill.
The deputy director of the Legal Affairs Bureau, Leong Pou Ieng, revealed in a press conference yesterday that in the instances where authorities are confronted with acts triggering less serious consequences, they will not treat these acts along the lines of domestic violence.
“What do we mean by minor consequences? For example, if someone slaps, pushes, hits or punches someone, generally speaking it involves minor consequences. But if someone gives a slap to person who is already quite sick and ends up deaf… these are no longer minor consequences,” she clarified. Ms Ieng stressed that the final decision will be made by a judge to determine whether a specific act will be treated as domestic violence or not.
Asked about possible misunderstandings prompted by the new definition, Ms Ieng said that when the government presents the bill to the Legislative Assembly it will provide lawmakers with further details and examples, as in the draft bill they “cannot be too precise.”
As announced before, the domestic violence bill will not protect same-sex couples. Ms Ieng recalled that the definition of couple in Macau’s civil laws refers to a man and a woman, “and never to two people of the same sex.” Therefore, the domestic violence bill will not be addressing same-sex couples.
Another potential area of controversy refers to another rule in the law, allowing the Public Prosecutions Office, the offender or the victim to request the provisional suspension of proceedings on a domestic violence case –as long as injunctions and rules of conduct are issued and the suspect agrees to abide them.
Ms Ieng clarified that while domestic violence proceedings are suspended, authorities can set up a “reconciliation meeting,” intended to help the suspect in his/her rehabilitation so that they do not practice any acts of domestic violence again.
The Executive Council’s spokesperson Leong Heng Teng said that the mechanism to suspend a domestic violence proceeding is intended to ascertain whether or not these cases can be “remedied” in another way, other than by penalising the offender.
Ms Ieng added that the ultimate goal of this bill is to prevent domestic violence in the pursuit of “family harmony,” ensuring the welfare of the household and the family.
The domestic violence bill also states that sexual abuse involving children will be treated as a public crime. In this case, the suspension of proceedings will not be permitted.
The domestic violence bill also permits the establishment of a database of domestic violence cases. The vice-president of the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS), Celeste Vong, confirmed that the database will comprise of personal data from both the victim and the offender, as well as further information on the case. She stressed that the information on the domestic violence database will not be disclosed, as it serves mainly to inform future policies.
The ExCo revealed in yesterday’s press conference that it concluded discussions on other pieces of legislation, namely a bill regulating local higher education, as well as amendments to the Criminal Code and the Labor Relations Law.
ExCo’s spokesperson Leong Heng Teng confirmed that the higher education bill will lead to the creation of an assessment scheme for higher education institutions. He added that the assessment will be focusing on the institutions itself, in terms of auditing and certification, and on the evaluation of university courses too.
Meanwhile, amendments to the Labor Relations Law are due to set a new maximum compensation for unfair dismissal reaching MOP20,000. Currently, an employee who is believed to have been dismissed unjustly is granted a compensation calculated by multiplying a monthly salary by 12, with a ceiling of MOP14,000.
Mr Teng acknowledged that while it was difficult to reach a conclusion, the decision to raise the monthly salary ceiling for compensation calculation from MOP14,000 to MOP20,000 was based on Macau’s business environment, the stability of the employment situation, the rights of both workers and employers and the ability for the employers’ sector to agree with such an increase.
The legislation will be submitted to AL lawmakers for further discussion and voting.