Domestic Violence Act must be repealed and replaced to ensure victims’ safety
Today marks 20 years since the Domestic Violence Act was signed into law. The Act was promulgated to ‘afford the victims of domestic violence the maximum protection from domestic abuse that the law can provide’.
However, the record shows that the protection provided by the Act, while necessary, has been far less than what we needed. Daily, we are reading far too many reports of vulnerable women and children falling victim to domestic violence. We have failed to enact adequate laws to protect them.
Considering this sustained threat to the safety of women and children, the DA has developed a plan to improve and strengthen the protections granted by the Domestic Violence Act.
The Domestic Violence Act must be consolidated with all the other laws that exist to protect victims for it to be effective. The processes in the Act must be easier to understand and simple enough for victims to execute.
The scope of the Act must be widened to include bullying and certain forms of stalking, among others, and provision must be made for instances when victims are forced to withdraw cases for their or their families’ safety.