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On January 1, 2010 the government launched new legislation to cover domestic violence in same sex relationships. But how effective is it? If asked to consider the issue of domestic violence, most people think of conflict between a husband and wife. But a lesser known concern is violence in same sex relationships. Yet one survey suggests it is remarkably prevalent, running at a staggering 49.9 per cent of the homosexual population. In comparison heterosexual domestic violence is thought to stand at around ten per cent. |
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Last year the Hong Kong government introduced legislation to extend legal protection to victims of violence in same sex co-habitation. Faculty of Law postgraduate student, Michael Lam, has been considering its effectiveness and finds that very few people are even aware of its existence. "For my research I am not just looking at the law itself because now that the law has been changed everyone has equal treatment, everyone in theory is now protected under that legislation. But for legislation to work, you need complementary policies, so that's why my research is looking at the surrounding areas of the law and not just the law itself," he says. |
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Ways of raising awareness |
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Ways of raising awareness of new legislation include running a marketing campaign or holdingworkshops. These measures are adopted in promoting a victim's rights in general domestic violence but are not extended solely for same sex discord. "I was at a workshop recently and was horrified by what they were talking about," says Mr Lam. "It was billed as a workshop on same sex domestic violence but the audience was made up of elderly women, housewives and children. It was organized by Harmony House and their view is that they can educate the public by simply talking about it, which I think is a great idea, but the problem is that the workshop was organized more like Homosexuality 101, with questions like 'Is homosexuality contagious?' This was completely irrelevant to that particular audience and this is why the gay community is unaware of what the legislation is about." "So awareness is a problem, and then we also have a lack of support services. There are only one or two centres in Hong Kong that cater for male victims of sexual violence. Yet one study conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that 49.9% of 1,000 respondents had experienced violence in the gay community. US figures are slightly different, citing 45 per cent for both sexes. But what this research shows is that domestic violence in same sex co-habitation does exist and is a problem." Lack of funding "The government's view is that the law is now in place so they need not publicize it. You can see that government funded agents and NGOs have worked towards promoting the legislation, like the Harmony House workshop, but their problem is a lack of funding. They can't afford to concentrate solely on same-sex violence, so they are trying to use the same funding to cover both areas." As domestic violence legislation is a civil law remedy leaving no criminal record, it is difficult to say how effective the legislation has been or, indeed whether it has been utilized at all. "In fairness it's really too early to say. It can take up to ten years before new legislation takes effect. But then you have to also look at the progress that has been made so far which is, frankly, pretty much zero." "I have no doubt that in five years time, awareness will be higher. These organizations are doing the best they can with the funding and resources available to them. My research is really to reflect that people shouldn't be satisfied with the fact that the legislation is there. It's not finished yet, it's a journey that should continue."
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