Ms Sancha Magat:

On domestic violence, I am attending to domestic violence issues now and it is still fresh in my memory. The issue here is that the Department of Justice has a policy in this area, but it does not include undocumented people. This policy is highly dependent on the spouse, that is the person who is a kind of guarantor in respect of immigration issues. People, mainly women, in this type of domestic violence situation are afraid to lose their immigration status. Without that status, they will not have rights and entitlements. Even if they wish to access women’s refuges, they will have a limited time in that regard. They will also not be entitled to any social welfare. There will be issues with child benefit, for example, which might be stopped. That is why people in these situations are afraid to raise these issues, especially undocumented people. Therefore, it is probably time for the Government to renew the policy for domestic violence in use in the Department of Justice and to include people who are undocumented in its scope. There is nothing there now for people who are undocumented, it is just a case of it being tough luck.