Does the Gender-based Violence & Domestic Violence Act safeguard both male and female victims effectively and equally?

Abstract

For many years domestic violence was a crime that was somewhat ‘hidden’ until very recently. It was hidden because, the social stigma was that what happens in the home should remain in the home and that it is no one’s business to interfere in family affairs. This changed slowly but gradually and in 2005 Malta promulgated the Domestic Violence Act which meant that issues of violence in the home were not only affairs of the home but concerned society as a whole. This study will analyse the laws currently in effect and whether these laws equally protect all victims of Domestic Violence. Specifically, it will examine whether there is discrimination based on gender in our laws. Furthermore, this study will evaluate how society views domestic violence and whether there is discrimination in the belief of the people. In addition, this study will try to analyse the new Gender – Based Violence and Domestic Violence Act as compared with the provisions of the Istanbul Convention while examining the problems that may arise or have arisen regarding the Convention itself.