Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/906955
maltatoday SUNDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2017 Interview 15 Against the backdrop of what appears to be a spike in violent crimes targeting women, government has launched a national strategy on gender-based and domestic violence. SILVAN AGIUS, head of the Human Rights and Integration Directorate, argues that the main focus is shifting popular perceptions of domestic violence from the private to the public domain social, not individual, concern mal, and not acceptable. Fullstop. Turning to the strategy itself: there have been some questions raised over specific policies. For instance, it empowers the police to evict perpetrators from their homes in certain cases... giving rise to speculation (among other things) that false 'domestic violence' allegations might be cooked up for dishonest reasons. This admittedly sounds far-fetched... but what is the real intention behind that proviso? First of all, we need to explain what we're actually doing, because it often gets taken out of context. For example, I read a comment under an article in your newspa- per that said: 'Oh, there you have it now. You may be the owner of your house... someone alleges you did something... and suddenly, you're kicked out of your own property, and whoever takes it over instead'. I need hardly add that, no, that's not how it works. We're talking here about a case of violence which has just occurred. The victim will have left the family home to report it to the police. The police will im- mediately contact the duty magis- trate to decide – on the basis of the information provided, and within a period of six hours – whether the perpetrator needs to leave the house, or not... depending on the seriousness of the case. But that is just a temporary protection order, for the benefit of the victim. The perpetrator is not evicted forever. Also, there is a reason why this provision was needed. In the past year alone – but you can go back as far you like, and find similar cases – we have had vicious and violent attacks upon women. We know about the cases: but how many court decisions do you know about that were to your satisfaction in this field? We cannot continue to punish the victim for having been a victim. Because pretty much, this is the situation right now. We've not really been good to the vic- tims of domestic violence, I think. They have no choice but to either endure the violence, or report it to the police... with the great possi- bility of having to leave the house – often with children in tow – and end up a shelter for who knows how long. That is not a fair choice. That is why it is society's concern... this is not the way society should be dealing with this issue. We've not really been good to the victims of domestic violence, I think. We should ensure that victims are ad- equately protected, with the least turbulence in their lives; that they can continue to lead their lives with support services, to ensure that normality is restored as soon as possible. This idea that what happens in a private home is private – that it is somehow a matter that only concerns the individual in that household – is simply untrue. It affects all of society... in many ways SOCIAL EFFECT