The Social Welfare Bureau will implement new guidelines next year that seek to better protect children from domestic violence, deputy head Tang Yuk Wa said yesterday in comments cited by multiple media outlets.
Tang stated that while many domestic violence cases involve women, the authorities had noticed there was an increasing number of domestic violence incidents involving children this year, with such cases accounting for over 30 percent of the total.
As a result, the Social Welfare Bureau is working with experts to formulate a set of new guidelines that will allow the authorities and relevant departments to better handle and care for children in such cases. The procedures with which hospitals deal with domestic violence cases involving children will also be improved.
[See more: Over 90 percent of domestic violence cases in Macao go unprosecuted]
Macao recorded 42 suspected domestic violence cases between January and September of this year, compared with the 39 and 40 cases recorded in full-year 2022 and 2023 respectively. Cases rose sharply to 81 in 2021, a significant increase over the 46 cases in 2019 and 38 instances in 2020.
Tang noted that measures implemented by the authorities, including the 2016 Domestic Violence Act, have helped to reduce their frequency. “The trend is relatively apparent. Of course, there are fluctuations in the short term, but we see in the past over a period that the number goes down from a relatively high level.”
However, an earlier report has suggested that the city’s legal system has only managed to punish offenders in 8 percent of the more than 700 domestic violence cases recorded following the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.
