Track abuse reports to look for evidence of femicide, says lawyer group

Any national database on femicide must track previous reports of domestic abuse, stalking and missed opportunities for intervention to help authorities identify patterns of escalating violence before they turn fatal, says a lawyer group.

Association of Women Lawyers (AWL) vice-president Denise Lim told FMT this could help authorities identify recurring themes and protection failures instead of treating each killing as an isolated incident.

She said treating gender-related killings as ordinary homicides risked overlooking warning signs, particularly when a woman sought to leave an abusive relationship.

The Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) recently renewed its push for Malaysia to legally recognise femicide — defined as the intentional, gender-motivated killings of women and girls — following a series of such cases nationwide over the past year.

WAO called for systematic tracking of femicide, warning that cases risked being treated as isolated homicides rather than patterns rooted in misogyny, possessiveness and coercive control without a specific legal or statistical category for such killings.

Lim said a systematic record of repeated complaints, and a perpetrator’s history of escalating behaviour — such as intimidation, stalking and threats — could help authorities identify cases requiring urgent intervention.

She also called for police to be trained to recognise non-physical forms of abuse, such as psychological and emotional abuse, financial control and coercive behaviour, as well as intimidation tactics such as harming a victim’s pets.

Lim said domestic violence was often dismissed as a private family matter, discouraging victims from seeking help.

“Domestic violence must not be dismissed as merely ‘perkara rumah tangga’. This trivialises abuse and discourages victims from seeking help,” she said.

Several countries have established femicide observatories or similar mechanisms to analyse gender-based killings and identify gaps in protection.

They include South Africa’s Femicide Watch, Argentina’s National Femicide Registry and Spain’s Observatory on Violence against Women, as well as mechanisms in Georgia, Slovakia, Palestine, Ecuador and Morocco.

Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim called for practical workshops and resources to help parents teach children about personal boundaries, rather than relying on annual awareness campaigns.

She said schools and parents needed a shared understanding of unacceptable behaviour and how to respond when it occurred.

Azimah also called for clearer referral procedures involving the education ministry, police, social welfare department and health authorities so families knew which agencies were responsible for handling reports of harassment, stalking and threats.

She said parents would regain trust in schools only when complaints led to meaningful action rather than administrative delays.

“Schools should not wait for a situation to become a tragedy before recognising that the warning signs mattered,” she added.

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