Fatimah (second right) speaks at the press conference. — Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi
KUCHING: Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah has expressed concern over the rising number of domestic violence cases in the state.
She said 644 cases were reported between January and October this year, compared to 569 cases in the whole of last year.
“We have found that the number of domestic violence cases in the state has increased by 13.2 per cent or 644 cases as of October this year.
“Kuching recorded the highest number of domestic violence cases at 32.3 per cent, followed by Miri (26.2 per cent), Sibu (9.5 per cent) and Samarahan (9 per cent),” she told a press conference here yesterday.
Fatimah also expressed concern over the increasing number of sexual crime cases against children from 2016 and 2019, adding that 763 victims were children aged 18 years and below.
In 2016, she said there were 160 victims recorded; and in 2017, 173 victims were recorded, an increase of 8.1 per cent.
In 2018, there was another increase by 19.7 per cent with the total number of victims at 207.
In 2019 there were 222 victims recorded (up by 7.2 per cent).
“However, the total number of sexual crimes involving children as at October this year decreased by 18 per cent from the 199 cases recorded the same period last year,” she added.
Fatimah said her ministry would continue to provide education programmes on children’s rights to prevent them from being molested, which would be done alongside Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS).