Preliminary Study on Protection of Women’s Social Rights in Prevention of Domestic Violence in Malaysia

Abstract

Recently, there has been an increase in cases of domestic violence in Malaysia especially during the enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) following the Covid-19 pandemic. Domestic violence in Malaysia is include physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. Therefore, understanding the current Malaysian and International policy/framework is crucial in protecting women's social rights in preventing domestic violence. Hence, using qualitative methods of research that include content analysis, this paper would also analyse the challenges in the implementation of the current policy or framework in protecting women's social rights in preventing domestic violence in Malaysia. The research finds that, although there are many policies/frameworks provided by international and Malaysian law to prevent the issues of domestic violence towards women, however, the case still increases and women continuously suffer as victims of domestic violence. Therefore, it is suggested that the Government improve the effectiveness of the available mechanisms and frameworks so that women will realise their rights, responsibilities and protection available to them, as well as overcome the problem of domestic violence in Malaysia.