A women's rights activist said yesterday that the Domestic Violence Prevention Law (家庭暴力防治法) should be revised to protect live-in lovers and partners in homosexual families that fall victim to domestic violence.
Wu Pei-ling (吳佩玲), head of the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation, said the existing law fails to meet the demands of society as it only provides protection for married couples.
"The law should be updated to offer better protection for live-in lovers and homosexual families, whose number is fast increasing, " said Wu.
She said her foundation has joined with other women's rights groups, including the Warm Life Association for Women, the Garden of Hope Foundation and the Female Judges Association, to form a new alliance to push for revisions to the domestic violence law.
Wu said the alliance has finalized a draft package of amendments to the law.
"We'll call a public hearing on the draft Dec. 4 to solicit opinions from various social quarters and we are scheduled to present the package to the Legislative Yuan for discussion during the next legislative session," she explained.
Wu said the draft package also proposes giving police the power to arrest perpetrators on the spot in emergency situations, without having to first apply for a warrant.
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