Mon, Jan 31, 2005 page4

• Social groups ponder how to pursue campaign against domestic violence

  • By Mo Yan-chih / STAFF REPORTER
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  In a bid to help prevent domestic violence, women's rights advocates have urged that the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Committee under the Ministry of Interior (MOI) be upgraded, the hiring of better-trained social workers, and the tightening of community networks.

  "Domestic violence prevention relies on close cooperation from related government units including judicial, educational and healthcare agencies. The MOI should raise the administrative level of the committee and invest more resources to efficiently handle such cases," said Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛), president of the Modern Women's Foundation.

  Pan said that the MOI's plan to lower the administrative level of the committee will only marginalize the importance of domestic violence cases, while the lack of professionals to handle such cases has hurt service quality.

  According to statistics from 2003 provided by the National Police Agency, domestic violence cases accounted for 25 percent of minor injuries caused by violence. The Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Committee of the MOI said that there were 30,088 reported cases of domestic violence last year. However, only 760 social workers nationwide are employed to handle such cases. A total of seven counties and cities have no professional social workers in their sexual harassment prevention centers.

  "The support system for domestic violence cases has long suffered from insufficient human and financial resources. The death of little Chiu [a four-year-old girl beaten to death by her father to weeks ago] illustrates that domestic violence is more than a family matter, and the society pays great prices for these crimes," Pan said.

  Wang Lih-rong (王麗容), an associate professor of sociology at National Taiwan University, said that domestic violence does not only damage individuals or families, it may also cause tragedies in the local community, the workplace and even society as a whole.

  "A man went to his wife's office and started a fire last year. The blaze killed five people and injured eight. So we can see how domestic violence can damage more than just family members," she said.

  Wang said that the social stigma of domestic violence has kept these cases from getting more public attention and social support. In addition to family members, victims' neighbors or colleagues in the workplace can also easily notice domestic violence. However, they often decline to report such cases or offer help, while corporate charitable donations to domestic abuse support groups are also scant.

  "Many private enterprises feel that this issue appears to be very negative and thus become less supportive when it comes to sponsoring this cause financially," she said.

  According to the MOI, as of the first quarter of last year, private enterprises had donated NT$13 million to anti-domestic violence campaigns.

  "Domestic violence can impair victims' performance in the workplace. The community may be endangered by the offender. And medical treatment for both offender and victims also increases the burden on society. So reporting such crimes to related organizations should be a responsibility shared by the community and private enterprises," Wang said.

  In addition to raising social awareness of the problem, Wang also urged social workers to be more sensitive in handling cases.

  "Many victims or their family members can not clearly describe the detailed situation when calling for help. So social workers may overlook the seriousness of the case," she said.

  To take the Chiu case as an example, the girl's aunt reportedly called Taipei City's domestic violence center for help in February last year.

  In response to her aunt's fear that Chiu risked abuse if taken to live with her father, however, the social worker simply asked the aunt to report to the police if any abuse happened.

  Wang suggested that if callers failed to provide enough information, social workers should ask more detailed questions, such as how many times the abuser has beaten the child before.

  Follow-up calls can also help workers discover potential abuse cases earlier.

  According to a media study conducted by the Modern Women's Foundation, there were 503 news stories covering domestic violence last year.

  A total of 157 victims had died and 549 were injured. Over 90 percent of such cases were caused by victims' family members.
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