Statistics of the Central Registration System for Domestic Violence Cases show that there were 46 suspected domestic violence cases in 2019, the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) said in a statement on Thursday.
Among the 46 suspected cases, 26 referred to spousal abuse, 14 to child abuse and four to abuse of the elderly, while two cases have been classified as domestic violence between other family members, the statement said.
According to Article 12 of the Law on Preventing and Combating Domestic Violence, it is not up to the Social Affairs Bureau to decide on the penal repercussions of domestic violence.
Twenty-seven of last year’s suspected domestic violence cases involved physical violence (58.7 per cent of the total), while nine cases (19.6 per cent) involved multiple forms of violence and aggression, four cases (8.7 per cent) involved mental abuse, three cases (6.5 per cent) involved sex crimes, and three cases (6.5 per cent) involved the inappropriate care of another person, the statement noted.
The bureau gathers reported domestic violence cases and inputs them into its central registration system in order to analyse related domestic violence cases in terms of their phenomena, features and trends, with the aim of coming up with measures to prevent and combat domestic violence, the statement said.
According to the statement, once a suspected domestic violence case has been reported, IAS officials liaise with social workers and counselling professionals from private institutions to work out appropriate measures to deal with the issue.
Thursday’s statement is based on a report on last year’s suspected domestic violence cases. According to the report, which has been uploaded to the IAS website, the numbers of domestic violence cases have been decreasing in recent years – 96 cases were reported in 2017, 74 cases in 2018, and 46 cases last year.
The full report for 2019 is available on www.ias.gov.mo.
