Yesterday in parliament, Opposition and Nationalist MP Graziella Attard Previ laid out the PN’s proposals to address domestic violence. She made reference to the recent statistics about domestic violence released by the NSO and highlighted that these statistics reflect a lack of equality between genders in society. She said that women are specifically targeted with violence and this issue needs to be addressed.
Graziella Attard Previ said that PN is proposing several measures to address domestic violence. Among these measures, Graziella Attard Previ mentioned, education to school-children which helps challenge stereotypes, increased investment in Justice and in the Courts to speed up Court cases and the enhancement of the enforcement over protection orders.
The Opposition MP said that a proposal by a national plan to introduce a centralised database and monitoring system of perpetuators of domestics violence has not yet been implemented. Attard Previ urged the government to introduce this measure urgently because it will be effective at helping victims. She said that the current enforcement measures against perpetrators are distributed between several agencies and entities and a centralised database would increase efficiency. She also added that electronic tagging should also be used. Victims need to feel safe she reiterated.
Protection orders are issued by the Courts and enforced by the Police but managed by government entities such as Appoฤกฤก. There are up to 300 ongoing and effective protection orders right now. Attard Previ also proposed a change in law to give the Police the authority to issue Emergency Barring Orders against perpetrators. On Courts proceedings, Attard Previ said that the victims should be involved as less as possible in Court proceedings and should not be asked by the Courts whether they wanted to forgive their aggressors.
The Opposition MP also applauded the government’s decision to open a domestic violence hub in Mtarfa and said that PN had long insisted over this hub.
3,798 individuals reported domestic violence in 2024, 5.7% higher than the previous year.
Newsroom
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