With March 7 set for the first national day of mourning for women killed by their partners, RTP news has revealed that since the start of 2019 there have been an average of two arrests per day for domestic violence.
In January and February alone, 10 women lost their lives, and one small child – strangled to death by her own father (click here).
It has been a truly terrible start to the year which has led prime minister António Costa’s ‘right hand woman’ Mariana Vieira da Silva, recently promoted to minister of the presidency, to announcing new investment towards the combat of domestic violence.
With work now being done behind the scenes, Vieira da Silva’s first move has been to declare March 7 (the day before International Women’s Day) as the first day of national mourning for victims.
She told reporters ahead of yesterday’s Council of Ministers, “this day is a day in which we should not just remember the victims but show support to their families and collectively renew our sense of purpose towards addressing this fight”, which Lusa news agency explains is a fight that the new minister feels everyone in society should support.
“The more aware society is that (domestic violence) is a crime, the more likely we will be to eliminate it”, said Mariana Vieira da Silva.
Ironically, the day the March 7 date was announced, RTP claims four arrests were made for domestic violence, bringing the total number of arrests so far to 126.
Most of the ‘suspects’ facing charges are men, and in some cases they have not just been arrested for attacking or threatening partners or former partners, but for menacing their own children.
