While the Lunar New Year holiday is a time for family reunions, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday it was also the time when reports of domestic violence rise.
Ministry statistics showed that more cases of domestic violence were reported in March and September annually between 2007 and last year, with the cases reported in March growing by more than 18 percent.
The ministry said the increase could be a result of the longer break during the Lunar New Year, during which family members spend more time together and violence may result when conflict arises.
“Traditionally, families have to get rid of the old and welcome the new during the Lunar New Year, and conflict may arise between couples or between parents and children [when they disagree],” the ministry said.
Statistics also showed that wives were usually the victims of domestic violence, with women making up 89.9 percent of the 47,908 reported cases of violence in marriage.
Ministry figures showed that the number of reported domestic violence cases rose by 10 percent a year between 2007 and last year.
A total of 72,606 cases were reported in 2007, 79,847 in 2008 and 89,253 last year, the ministry said, adding that analyses of the reasons behind the abuse showed that children, women and elders had become more vulnerable to domestic violence amid the economic downturn.
Up to 58 percent of the reported cases of domestic violence over the past three years were violence against spouses, while child abuse accounted for more than 20 percent.
Abuse of the elderly accounted for about 3 percent, with the numbers continuing to rise, the ministry said.
It also found that foreign spouses were more vulnerable to domestic violence because of cultural and language barriers.
Most of the abusers were aged between 30 and 50, jobless and alcoholic, the ministry said.
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