[WATCH] Government donates €20,000 for university research on domestic violence

Research on domestic violence was an important tool in the fight against this scourge and the University of Malta had the opportunity to inform the national debate on the matter, Lydia Abela said.

The Prime Minister's wife said the country was making strides against domestic abuse but more work still had to be done. She made the remarks when presenting a government donation of €20,000 in collaboration with the Tourism Ministry to the University of Malta on to finance more research in the field of domestic violence.

"Having seen myself the good work the police have been doing, as well as other stakeholders in the sector, I can say confidently that things are moving. But there is still a long way to go, and research done by the UOM will help stop the cycle of abuse," Abela said.

Andrew Azzopardi, dean of the Faculty of Social Wellbeing said that domestic abuse was not a pleasant topic but it had to be addressed.

"Once a problem is identified, something must be done about it – the university has an opportunity to study the behaviour of abusers, to see why people are committing these acts, in order to combat it," Azzopardi said.

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo said that it was important for parents to teach their children to see domestic violence as a plague on society, and something that had to be eradicated.

Bartolo said that UOM was doing important work in trying to understand why domestic violence occurred. "Only by getting to the root of the problem, may we hope to understand why it is happening and learn from it," he said.

University Pro-rector Carmen Sammut said that the UOM has been working to eliminate violence on campus, by supporting students and staff.

Sammut added that the UOM played a vital role because it was training the next generation of lawyers, social workers, and other stakeholders in the field.