WOMEN, CHILDREN NOW HAVE NEW LAW TO PROTECT THEM

A poster from the 16 Days of Activism Against Domestic Violence. Photo credit: The Pixel Project.

Women and children across the country now have a legislation to protect them from domestic violence.

This follows the passage of the Family Protection Bill 2014 in Parliament yesterday.

Passing through the Committee stage without amendments – the Bill – now an Act will ensure preventative measures to stop violent behaviour and violent persons before they have any chance to inflict further harm on vulnerable members of their families.

The Act is also a mixture of criminal and civil law – it criminalizes behaviours relating to domestic violence, and also provides civil remedies to protect victims.

Under the Act, the penalty for committing domestic violence is $30,000 or a three year imprisonment term, or both.