VISIT OF HON. SERGEY M MIRONOV, CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF FEDERATION OF THE FEDERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, AND HIS DELEGATION (Presence in Gallery)

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VISIT OF HON. SERGEY M MIRONOV, CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF FEDERATION OF THE FEDERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, AND HIS DELEGATION (Presence in Gallery) Mr Speaker: Order. On behalf of hon. Members, I welcome the Honourable Sergey M Mironov, Chairman of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, and his delegation, who are present in our Gallery now. [ Applause .]

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS:

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim (Nominated Member): Sir, since my two questions are answered together, I would like to have your permission to ask more than one supplementary question.

Mr Speaker: That is for me to decide. Carry on.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim: Sir, the Minister of State mentioned that there is an average of 260 husbands every year who seek PPOs from their wives. This is an alarming number. So I would like to know how easy it is to validate an abuse claim by a man and what are the steps taken to investigate the abuse complaint and abuse claim.

The second question is: how many cases of men complaining of abuse have been turned away because the investigation has been inconclusive as men have been perceived to be the stronger gender. Since we have a Women's Charter protecting the women, would the Ministry consider a Men's Charter to protect the men?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Compared to the numbers of complaints about men and women, it is about 1,800 a year for women. For the men, it is about 200-

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plus. I am sure the hon. Member also knows that in our society, even the participation rate in the workforce, it is about 54% for women and over-70% for men. So, whether you like it or not, there is still a big gap between the needs of men and women. Women's participation in all walks of life still needs to be enhanced. Therefore, we tend to protect women more. But under the Penal Code and Women's Charter, we do protect violence against all members of family, including the aged, children, men or women. I am sure when men go to a Family Service Centre, they do get the same treatment.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim: Sir, the Minister of State has not answered my question on how easy it is to validate a claim of abuse by men and what are the steps taken. To follow up with the question asked on the participation of men and women in the workforce, it is not on the same basis to compare a labour participation rate to protect women and men. So, I would like to find out what are the steps that are in the pipeline to protect men since men's participation rate in the labour workforce is more than 70%, and all the more they have to be helped and counselled.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Mr Speaker, Sir, I do agree with the NMP. I have already mentioned that when they go to the Family Service Centre, they will get the same treatment, which means that they will counsel them, ask them to fill up the forms, state what is the problem, and whether it is serious enough for them to apply for PPO, or whether they want to go to court, or file for a divorce, and so on. So we give the same treatment and the same steps of counselling to both men and women. But, like I say, men tend to think that they can handle the situation. So not many of them really go to a shelter home or seek for a crisis shelter, but more

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women go to a shelter home. So we give the same treatment, and we also train the counsellors to handle both genders properly. If it is really urgent, they can report to SOS or they can go to the police.