Print

Mail

wiki links

Women suffering in silence

Women's groups warned at a forum on domestic violence yesterday that although the problem now receives much more attention in the media than before, and although the last three years have seen an increase in the number of reported cases, the actual number of victims is much higher because many victims are too afraid to come forward.

The first "National Anti-Violence Convention" was launched yesterday as central government officials, legislators and women's groups gathered to discuss domestic violence in Taiwan.

Statistics compiled by the Ministry of the Interior's Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Committee show that the number of domestic violence cases reported in 2002 was 36,000. That total rose to 42,000 by 2003 and climbed again to 50,000 last year.

Taiwan Women's Association general director Tsai Ling-lan (蔡鈴蘭) questioned whether the government had the ability to handle the large number of cases.

"The number of cases has increased dramatically, but government resources and the budget remain insufficient for the workload," she said.

According to a study conducted by Wang Lih-rong (王麗容), a professor of social work at National Taiwan University, about 18 percent of married women in Taiwan suffer from domestic violence. However, police departments in almost all cities and counties still only have one domestic violence officer.

Huang Fu-yuan (黃富源), a professor at Central Police University, admitted that there were few full-time domestic violence officers, and almost no professional training for staff.

While the number of reported cases is high, women's groups warned that the real situation may be much worse, with many victims still too afraid to speak up.

An opinion poll published by the Taiwan Anti-Violence Alliance yesterday showed that 7 percent of Taiwanese had "been aware of" or directly experienced domestic violence or sexual abuse, which translated to 1.6 million people. That number is more than 30 times the total of 50,000 cases reported to the ministry last year.

Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容), chief executive officer of the Garden of Hope Foundation, said that even though there was now more awareness of the issue, the traditional view that domestic violence is a family matter still prevents many victims from seeking outside help.
This story has been viewed 2191 times.