Domestic Violence Analysis

Analysis of existing structures implemented to support victims of domestic violence.

The initial conceptualisation of family violence was developed in the study of battered children in 1960’s since then many victims have been identified globally. In France, 148 women death was caused due to domestic violence in 2012, in Europe domestic violence is the main cause of female death aged 17 years to 40 years. Domestic violence has been defined in numerous ways, however one simple definition of domestic violence would be that, ‘’Domestic violence and emotional abuse are behaviours used by one person in a relationship to control the other. Partners may be married or not married; heterosexual, gay, or lesbian; living together, separated or dating.

The victims are continued to be battered. The abuser remains constantly violent. According to Statistics Mauritius, in 2013, 1,786 cases of domestic violence were reported at the Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, nearly 90.1% of which were against women. Despite the fact that women are more victimised, domestic violence against men has increased lately. The Protection from Domestic Violence Act (PDVA), was enacted in May 1997 and proclaimed in March 1998. The objective of this legislation is to provide protection to spouse victims of domestic violence. The Protection from Domestic Violence act was amended in 2004 to broaden the scope of the Domestic Violence Act, in particular to cover all cases of domestic violence (physical, sexual, moral, against a spouse or his/her children) committed by persons living under the same roof, increase time limits of protection order and penalties and to provide counselling services. However, there is deterrence in the policies implemented because it does not fully help the victims as it is required to do. Moreover not all cases are reported, many victims are still enduring the atrocities of their abuser. In Mauritius, when a case is reported to the police, the first action taken is to talk with the perpetrator, this might lead to more disastrous consequences. The abuser might become more violent, sometimes it causes more harm than good. If an abuser continues to be violent the case is reported to the Family Protection Unit. The Family Protection Unit provides more counselling services,. . If the perpetrator continues to abuse the victim, he/she has to request for a protection order ‘’ Any person who has been the victim of an act of violence and who reasonably believes that his spouse is likely to commit any further act of domestic violence against him, may apply to the court, in Form A of the schedule, for a