Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim asked the Minister for Social and Family Development since the launch of the 24-hour National Anti-Violence Helpline (NAVH) in January 2021 (a) what is the proportion of the calls which report (i) cases of violence between family members and (ii) cases of intimate partner violence between persons not in a familial relationship; and (b) what is the demographic of the callers of the helpline in terms of age group and gender.
Answer
1. The National Anti-Violence Helpline (NAVH) was officially launched in Feb 2021, although it had begun operations earlier on 18 Jan 2021. Since the start of the Helpline until end-Sep 2021, the NAVH has received 6,300 calls. Some of these were multiple calls concerning the same cases.
2. About 30% of the calls were general enquiries, such as requests for information on services available or what constituted family violence. The remaining 70% of the calls were reports of alleged violence. Almost all the calls involved violence in a family setting. Calls relating to violence in non-family settings, including between unmarried intimate partners, constituted less than 1% of the calls.
3. The NAVH does not record administrative information of the callers, such as their age and gender, as the focus of the Helpline is to expeditiously attend to reports of violence, and provide advice or referral to relevant help services.