IAS collects opinions for domestic violence law review

The Social Welfare Bureau headquarters

The Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) is collecting opinions on the three-year review of the city’s implementation of the domestic violence law.
Yesterday, IAS held a cross-department meeting regarding the domestic violence law. During the meeting, IAS reported the statistics on the city’s domestic violence cases concerning the first half of 2018. A sharing session of domestic violence cases was also carried out at the meeting. Furthermore, IAS reported its plan for the year of 2019.
The bureau introduced the draft of the three-year review of the law’s implementation. The draft is now out at different IAS departments in order to collect opinions.
IAS Director Vong Yim Mui said that, since the law came into effect, for over two years it has depended on all concerned government departments’ mutual support and assistance.
Vong hopes that the bureau can continuously improve the law’s efficiency.
Physical abuse was a prominent factor in domestic violence cases registered this year, according to statistics released by IAS.
In the first half of 2018, 32 cases of domestic violence were 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 of the cases involved physical abuse.
There were five cases of psychological abuse, two cases of sexual assault and three cases of multiple kinds of violence.
The region’s domestic violence law came into effect on October 5, 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.
IAS expressed its hope that such courses could help different types of professionals in social services – including but not limited to educators, social workers and psychological counselors – improving their basic knowledge and skills in recognizing, assessing and intervening in domestic violence cases.