Action for victims of domestic violence

Following two annual reports by the Commission on Domestic Violence, there was a reduction in the time lapse for victims of domestic violence to be given legal aid when required and the police were given new guidelines on domestic violence.

Answering a parliamentary question by Carmelo Abela (PL), Social Policy Minister John Dalli added that meetings on domestic violence had been held with the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry and another meeting was expected to be held with the judiciary.

The Commission on Domestic Violence was making efforts to start work on the standardisation of statistics through its research and data collection sub-committee. It was also expecting the outcome of its application for EU funds under the Operative Programme II of the Cohesion Policy for 2007-2013. The funds would enable it to commission a study on the prevalence of domestic violence.

The accused came from Malta, Sudan, Niger, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Morocco and Libya.