SINGAPORE — Immediate emergency orders could be used to stop someone from harming another person in domestic violence cases, in situations with imminent danger to victims. This is under the proposed changes to the Women’s Charter tabled in Parliament on Tuesday (May 9). 

The proposed laws, introduced by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), aim to strengthen the authorities’ ability to intervene in high-risk cases of family violence.

Emergency orders will serve to restrain perpetrators from committing further violence against their family, and will be valid for 14 days to give victims time to apply for personal protection orders (PPO), the ministry said in a press release. 

An emergency order is not a court order, but breaching it will be an arrestable offence, it added. 

MSF’s Domestic Violence Emergency Response Team (Dvert) will be able to issue these time-limited emergency orders if it believes there is a risk that the perpetrator will commit an act of family violence, and the order is necessary for the victim’s protection or personal safety, the ministry said.

An emergency order may also include other provisions, such as:

• Domestic exclusion — This excludes the perpetrator from the entire or part of the home
• Stay away — This prohibits the perpetrator from being in the vicinity of the victim
• No contact — This prohibits the perpetrator from communicating with or visiting the victim

The proposed Family Violence Amendment Bill also aims to strengthen the rehabilitation process for perpetrators of family violence.

For example, it will allow for mandatory treatment provisions if the courts are satisfied that the perpetrator is suffering from a treatable psychiatric condition that is likely to be a contributing factor to the occurrence of family violence.

The treatment will continue even if a PPO is revoked later, so that the necessary interventions can be completed adequately, MSF said.

“For families that are facing or at risk of violence, it is important, once the protection and safety objective has been achieved, to help offenders rehabilitate and families to reconcile and heal relationships. This will help break the cycle of violence,” it added.

WHY IT MATTERS

In 2022, MSF investigated 2,254 new family violence-related cases, relatively similar to the 2,346 new cases it saw in 2021.

The National Anti-Violence and Sexual Harassment Helpline received 10,800 calls last year, up from the 8,400 calls it received when the helpline was launched in 2021. 

The proposed amendments to the Women's Charter aim to strengthen protection for victims of family violence, while enhancing rehabilitation and accountability of perpetrators, MSF said.

In line with these aims, the amendments would cover four key areas:

• Empowering family violence victims to better protect themselves
• Strengthening the Government’s ability to intervene in cases of family violence
• Empowering the courts to make additional rehabilitative provisions, raise penalties and strengthen enforcement against breaches
• Enhancing protection for women and girls

KEY AMENDMENTS

The definition of family violence will be updated under the amended laws, to make clear that it covers physical, sexual, and emotional or psychological abuse.

It also clarifies that abuse may occur as a single instance or a course of conduct or behaviour.

Under the proposed amendments, protectors can apply for a PPO on behalf of victims who are at risk of being harmed but who refuse to apply for the order on their own, MSF said.

A protector is a person who is appointed or authorised by MSF’s director-general of social welfare to exercise certain functions under the law.

In exceptional cases and as a last resort if all other measures are not enough to protect the victim, protectors can also apply to the court to remove adult victims from their homes.

They can do so if the victim’s personal safety is seriously threatened but he or she does not take steps to protect himself or herself.

Other key changes in the Bill include:

1. Allowing younger victims, who are at least 18 years old, to apply for a PPO on their own

The current eligible age to make a PPO application is 21 years old.

2. Introducing new “stay away” and “no contact” provisions to PPOs

Today, a PPO may contain provisions for domestic exclusion or counselling. 

3. Protecting victims’ identities

Unless the director-general of social welfare's approval and the victim’s consent have been obtained, any publication or broadcast that identifies or is likely to identify the victim will be prohibited for the sake of his or her privacy, safety and well-being.

4. Empowering the director-general of social welfare to send women and girls to places of safety for assessment or treatment

To strengthen the recovery of women and girls admitted to places of safety, such as shelters and girls’ homes or placed under the care of suitable persons, the Bill empowers MSF to send them for medical, dental, or psychological assessment or treatment, where it is in their best interests to receive such assessment or treatment.

BREAKING THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE

Under the proposed laws, the courts will also be empowered to make added rehabilitative provisions, raise penalties against offenders, and strengthen enforcement against breaches.

Extra provisions will be introduced to PPOs to improve the rehabilitation process for perpetrators.

For example, the scope of counselling — which is used to manage non-psychiatric conditions — will be expanded to include other programmes, treatments and interventions, such as parenting programmes and caregiving training.

For perpetrators suffering from psychiatric conditions, the mandatory treatment provision may require them to reside in a psychiatric institution or a prescribed place that provides the psychiatric treatment, MSF said. 

To enhance the accountability of perpetrators, penalties for breaches will also increased to:

• A maximum of S$10,000 fine (up from S$2,000) or 12-months’ jail (up from six months), or both, for a first conviction; or
• A fine not exceeding S$2,000 for any breach of a counselling provision, assessment order for the purpose of mandatory treatment, and a mandatory treatment provision