The Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) classified 57 domestic violence cases during the first half of the year, a 32.9 percent drop year-on-year, Daniel Tang Yuk Wa, who heads the bureau’s Family and Community Services Department, said on Tuesday.
The Law on Preventing and Combating Domestic Violence came into force on October 5 last year.
Asked by the media why the number has decreased, Tang said since the law took effect IAS officials have adopted a “stricter” procedure to evaluate the suspected domestic violence cases it receives. Tang also said it would be better to wait for several years before comparing the data to predict the trend.
Tang said the 57 cases included 45 cases of spousal abuse, 11 cases of child abuse, and a family brawl.
According to the Macau Post Daily, Tang also said physical abuse cases accounted for 66.7 percent of the total, while abuse in more than one form accounted for 17.5 percent, mental abuse for 7 percent, sexual abuse for 5.2 percent and child neglect for 3.5 percent.
In May, Tang told reporters that his bureau would publish its first report in September about its findings on domestic violence cases. Asked by a reporter about how the drafting of the report was progressing, Tang said his bureau’s officials had been handling the aftermath of the deadly Super Typhoon Hato which hit Macau on August 23, adding that they had been hit by IT problems too. Therefore, the bureau could not publish the report this month.
However, Tang was quick to add he believed the report’s findings would be announced next month.
According to Tang, the council has commissioned a private company to create a database on children. Tang said he expected the general public to be able to use the database from the end of this year.
Tang said the database would gather information from local government entities, adding it would cover areas such as child demographics, health and education.
