All recommendations of task force to tackle family violence accepted
The Government has accepted all the recommendations made by a task force tackling family violence, said Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli yesterday.
He said the implementation of the recommendations would be rolled out over the next one to three years, with three of them done first: Raising awareness of the issue, enhancing marriage preparation courses and beefing up the National Anti-Violence Helpline.
Mr Masagos was speaking on a visit to Fei Yue Family Service Centre in Choa Chu Kang, where he also attended a closed-door dialogue with staff members involved in tackling family violence.
Of the recommendations, he said: "We (also) have to look at some of the areas we can enhance only through legislation.
"Legislation will take some time - these are areas where we need to pass new laws or amend existing laws, and have more collaborations with agencies, like the police for example, in addressing family violence. This might take one or two years."
Some recommendations, such as providing institutionalised care for perpetrators, would need even more discussion and collaboration, and would be among the last to be rolled out, said Mr Masagos.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Last month, the Taskforce on Family Violence released a report with 16 recommendations after examining more than 3,600 family violence cases and conducting focus group discussions with those involved in the work, among other efforts.
In a Facebook post yesterday, Mr Masagos said: "The task force's thoughtful report is a good example of what we can achieve together through partnership between community partners and the Government in tackling family violence."
He added that in the near term, the authorities will also be training police officers to better address victims' needs and enhance the care provided to them.
Yesterday, Mr Masagos said the National Anti-Violence Helpline, launched in February, would be enhanced. The 24-hour helpline operates primarily in English but there are also Mandarin, Malay and Tamil-speaking professionals to speak to when necessary. As at Aug 31, the helpline received 5,300 calls.
The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said it would create new modes of reporting family violence such as through mobile applications or live Web chat by the second half of next year.
MSF will be enhancing the Community Guardian App, first developed last year by Pave, a social service agency focused on addressing domestic violence.
The ministry took over the operation of the app in October last year and will integrate it with the helpline.