The Modern Women's Foundation yesterday called for more aid to victims of domestic violence, noting that although the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (
"Since the establishment of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, all cities and counties have been obligated to have domestic violence prevention centers. However, the added responsibility doesn't mean added personnel," said the foundation's Wu Yu-ting (吳毓婷).
"Because of budget limitations, many places just have one of their social workers take on the added responsibility of being a domestic violence officer on top of their other responsibilities. Often the same social worker might handle low-income household cases as well as domestic violence," Wu said.
The foundation said that although there are more than 30,000 domestic violence cases in the system and 13,000 to 15,000 people who ask for protection orders each year, there are only 232 domestic violence officers nationally, many of whom work only part-time.
The foundation highlighted national police figures for 2002 showing that 13.2 percent of murder cases and 26.7 percent of assault injuries were perpetrated by victims' relatives or housemates. A study of media coverage of the issue showed that in the first five months of this year, 56 women died from domestic violence and 46 were injured. The number of cases of domestic violence that do not receive media attention is likely to be vastly larger.
Stating that psychological research indicates that some perpetrators of domestic violence are easily influenced by outside circumstances, the foundation also called on the media to tone down its coverage of gory or emotionally shocking scenes of violence.
Although the foundation said it hopes for increased government funding, it is also calling on the non-profit and private sectors to play a meaningful role in fighting domestic violence and supporting its victims. To increase resources for victims, the foundation advocates the establishment of domestic violence case handling centers in each district court in its Train of Hope campaign.
The campaign, which started in January and will continue until August, seeks to increase public involvement and to raise money to found these centers. To this end, the foundation is holding a charity sale with bakery chain Billie Chick.
For more information or to make donations, call the foundation at (02) 2391-7133.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard