Japan Press Weekly

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2014 February 5 - 11 [WELFARE]

Civil symposium reveals insufficient public support for DV victims

While more domestic violence victims use public counseling services, less make use of public shelters. This was revealed at a symposium held by the Tokyo Bar Association last month.

In order to use public shelters, DV victims need to go to municipal offices to apply. This requirement keeps victims away from the desperate assistance they need, said Kondo Keiko, who represents an NPO supporting DV victims.

“Wherever they run to, they need to be able to receive the minimum support they need right away,” said Kondo.

According to a survey, 90% of women counselors at shelters operated by prefectural governments are non-regular staff. Many of such facilities have no skilled staff or childcare workers. Large regional gaps exist in their quality of service and the number of staff available.

Kaino Tamie, professor emeritus of Ochanomizu University, explained that those public shelters were originally set up in accordance with the anti-prostitution law, which was established 58 years ago, and need to be updated to meet today’s need.

Kaino stressed the need for the national government to set up guidelines for public shelters to follow in order to give better support to DV victims and better working conditions to counselors.

The DV prevention law, with its third amendment that passed last year, now includes government support to those who were subjected to domestic violence not only by their spouses but also by their partners (outside of marriage).

The symposium confirmed the need to demand a further revision of the law in order to strengthen public support for DV sufferers.