Forms and Guidelines for Collecting Data on Domestic Violence Cases

Brief Description

With the assistance of the Ministry of Women's Affairs and the Technical Cooperation Programme "Promotion of Women's Rights" (PWR), each institution has developed their own forms and guidelines for collecting data on domestic violence cases:

• The Ministry of the Interior, Department of Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection /Police - The Department of Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection (DAHTJP) collects the numbers of criminal investigations initiated. Forms and guidelines have been developed for the collection of data at four levels: national, provincial, district and commune/post.
• Ministry of Planning/Ministry of the Interior, Department of Local Administration Unit/Local authority - The Department of Local Administration Unit (DLAU) of the Ministry of the Interior, together with Ministry of Planning (MoP) collect the number of cases reported to village and commune authorities and number of administrative decisions issued at the commune level. Forms and guidelines for the collection of data have been developed by Seila Task Force/Partnership for Local Governance and Seth Koma/UNICEF with indicators suggested by the Programme on the Promotion of Women's Rights (PWR). The forms and guidelines have been included in the Commune Questionnaire Guide Book for the Commune Development Plan in 2006. Moreover, additional guidelines for the Village Data Book have been recommended to the Ministry of Planning to be used as a guide.
• Ministry of Justice - The Ministry of Justice is involved in collecting data on the numbers of protection orders issued and/or number of perpetrators convicted by the courts. Forms and guidelines for the collection of data have been developed within three departments: Civil Affairs (National and Provincial levels), Prosecutor Affairs (National and Provincial level) and Criminal Affairs (National and Provincial levels). 
• Ministry of Health, Department of Public Health - The Ministry of Health, Department of Public Health is involved in collecting data on numbers of medical certificates issued by Hospitals or Health Centers as well as numbers of domestic violence victims who receive services.   A form has been developed by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with HealthNet International and with a domestic violence indicator proposed by the Programme on the Promotion of Women's Rights (PWR).

Data Collection Process:

So far, among the four line ministries, only two agencies have applied their forms through the above mentioned mechanisms. MoI/DAHTJP/ Police and MoP/MoI/DLAU/Local authority have mainstreamed the domestic violence data collection forms throughout their line departments.  The forms for local authorities have been mainstreamed through the whole country (24 provinces/municipalities).

The police have introduced domestic violence forms in 11 provinces/municipalities, and the Programme on the Promotion of Women's Rights (PWR) plans to support the police in mainstreaming the tools to another 13 provinces, after receiving the domestic violence data for the 3 month periods of September to November 2008, for the eleven provinces in which the data collection system is already in place. 

The Ministry of Health, Department of Public Health plans to pilot the form that has been developed and also includes indicators on DV in 6 provinces. Programme on the Promotion of Women's Rights, in collaboration with HealthNet International and the Ministry of Health, are developing the guidelines to be used with the form.

As described above, the forms and guidelines for the Ministry of Justice have been completed. However, they have not been applied yet throughout the Ministry of Justice system. 

Limitation:

There is a limited budget to support the line ministries in collecting data through their systems. For example, among the four levels of the police structure, only two levels (provincial and district) have received introductions to the domestic violence forms, and only two recorders from relevant offices under the Criminal and Trafficking Departments were invited to attend the course. To achieve more accurate data collection, the domestic violence data forms and the definition of domestic violence would need to be introduced to police at the commune level, and there are 1621 communes in the whole country. Similar limitations apply in other Ministries.