The Regional Secretary for Labour and Social Solidarity and the Regional Director for Equality of Opportunities presented the Regional Plan to Prevent and Combat Domestic Violence in Angra do Heroísmo on Tuesday.

The document, which will be in force for next the three years, is expected to provide a better response, improving the support to domestic violence victims and the extension of the plan to all islands of the archipelago as the victim support services only operate on the islands of São Miguel, Terceira and Faial.

 “Preventing domestic violence; punishing and recovering offenders; training more technicians; promoting action and prevention; continuing the collection of data that allow us to take action where it  is necessary; implementing this measures and combining all actions with the active agents of society” were the main guidelines of the plan mentioned by Ana Paula Marques.

At this level, offenders are not forgotten, and the Regional Secretary stressed the importance of rehabilitating these people because “often their behaviour is triggered by social conditions.” Moreover, she added that there are ten people in this situation at the present moment, being monitored by the “Contigo” (With You) programme, created by the Regional Government, who have not relapsed. Ana Paula Marques defined this initiative as “innovative for our society.”

According to Natércia Gaspar, the 2008/2009 data demonstrate that there was an increase of domestic violence complaints in the Azores, which “does not necessarily mean that domestic violence is increasing, but rather the opposite as victims now have more courage to report these crimes.

Reducing the percentage of domestic violence in the Azores in the next three years is the major goal of the plan, however Ana Paula Marques added that these “changes take some time.” Nonetheless, she released that it is possible “to notice that our society has developed a different attitude, encouraging women to report the crime.”