Press Releases
Commission appeals for "zero tolerance" to domestic violence
The following is issued on behalf of the Women's Commission:
The Women's Commission (WoC) today (September 6) called on all sectors of the
community to adopt a united stance on "zero tolerance" to domestic violence and
make concerted efforts to combat the problem.
The appeal followed the conclusion of the death inquest on the Tin Shui Wai
family tragedy last year which aroused widespread public concern.
The promotion of "zero-tolerance" stance also coincides with the recommendations
of the coroner's court made yesterday.
The chairperson of the commission, Mrs Sophie Leung, said the home should be a
safe place for family members to render care and support for one another and no
violence should ever happen at home. "But in recent years, the number of
domestic violence cases has been on the increase, and more than 80% of the
victims are women," Mrs Leung said.
"The commission believes that domestic violence, like any other form of
violence, is a violation of human rights and inflicts great harm and
far-reaching impacts on the victims, their children and the community at large.
It is a problem that must not be tolerated and should be dealt with head-on.
"Domestic violence is definitely not only a matter of individual families but
rather a social problem with impact cutting across different sectors of the
community. From a public health perspective adopted by the World Health
Organisation, violence involves multi-faceted factors relating to individuals,
relationship, community and society, including relations between genders."
To tackle domestic violence effectively, the chairperson said the commission
considered that a multi-pronged approach underpinned by preventive measures,
crisis intervention and support services as well as public education should be
taken. In particular, cross-sectoral collaboration should be encouraged to
prevent the problem.
As a central mechanism for women��s issues, the commission reviewed the policies,
services and legislation relating to domestic violence and made recommendations
to the Government last year.
The commission has taken safety, especially domestic violence/spouse battering,
as its focus of work this year.
A dedicated working group was set up under the commission to deliberate and
exchange views on the issue with different stakeholder groups including
government departments (such as Social Welfare Department, Education and
Manpower Bureau, Housing Department and Department of Justice etc), women��s
groups, service organisations, academia and experts.
A number of sharing sessions have been held with the Police. Both sides have
agreed that the "zero-tolerance" stance on domestic violence should be taken and
victim��s safety should be put first in handling domestic violence cases.
In their recent press release and radio interview, the Police stressed that they
took a serious view on domestic violence and had continuously sought to improve
their handling procedures.
In welcoming the Police's "zero tolerance" stance, Mrs Leung said the commission
believed that such a policy would send a clear and strong signal to the
community that no violence against family members should be tolerated and that
the perpetrators would be held accountable for their violent acts.
"We hope that all members of the Police Force, including both men and women,
will enhance awareness and understanding of the problem of domestic violence and
enforce the "zero-tolerance" policy pro-actively and vigilantly."
Mrs Leung again called on other government departments and other sectors to
join the commission and the Police in adopting the "zero tolerance" stance to
combat domestic violence.
Ends/Tuesday,
September 6, 2005
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