John Culatto
GIBRALTAR’S new domestic abuse strategy the government launched this week will help ‘all victims and their families, especially children’, the Minister for Justice said.
Samantha Sacramento launched the new document just before Chief Minister Fabian Picardo dissolved parliament and called new elections on September 12.
The domestic abuse strategy creates a framework to help enforce the Domestic Abuse Act passed earlier this year along with major community stakeholders.
The government’s Education Department, Care Agency and Ministry of Justice combined with the police to put it together.
Sacramento set a clear mission for the strategy in its opening statement: ‘to protect the vulnerable, empower survivors and hold perpetrators to account’.
She described ending domestic abuse as ‘one of the most difficult challenges facing our society today’.
During the last year she has helped train up all departments and bodies concerned to help them carry out their roles in this social transformation.
The plan includes more options for therapy and special treatment for child survivors of abuse at school level.
She reminded citizens that physical and psychological abuse at home impacts more than the person targeted.
“Domestic abuse is a deep-rooted issue that affects countless lives, transcending social and economic boundaries,” Sacramento said.
“It not confined to the shadows in private or at home – it ripples through society, leaving devastating impacts on families and especially children.”
She argued that it ‘impacts upon future generations and their ability, capacity and attitude towards relationships, parenting, self-esteem and mental health’.
Sacramento, a lawyer herself, said domestic abuse ‘is fundamentally linked to inequality between men and women’ and an abuse of power.
The groups of victims also include members of the LGBTQ+ community, she reminded.
“The framework for domestic abuse has been completely overhauled in Gibraltar the aim of which is to improve outcome for all victims and their families, particularly children,” the minister said.
“I wish to thank all the members of the strategic partnership who have worked together this past year under the leadership of the working groups strategic lead from the Ministry of Justice.”
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