Denmark wants to increase teachers’ suspected domestic violence obligations
Proposed new rules in Denmark will make it mandatory for schoolteachers to report to authorities if they see signs a student is experiencing or witnessing domestic violence in the home.
A teacher will be required to report to the relevant municipality if they suspect a child is experiencing violence at home under a new political proposal, newspaper Politiken reports.
Making schoolteachers mandatory reporters is part of a 22-point government plan designed to reduce intimate partner violence and partner killings.
The proposal also includes additional training for midwives and other care providers who treat pregnant patients.
Other initiatives in the proposal relate to reducing the right to parole for people convicted of domestic violence if they refuse treatment for their behaviour.
“We need to get involved,” minister for gender equality Trine Bramsen said.
“That’s the problem in Denmark. That we consider what goes on at home as something that is private and that we shouldn’t interfere in,” Bramsen said.
“Violence is not private, and we will never get rid of it if we continue to be afraid to get involved,” she said.
The proposal has received a lukewarm reception amongst the minority government’s parliamentary allies.
The Socialist People’s Party (SF) said it believes the plan has some good elements, while Pernille Skipper of the left-wing Red Green Alliance said it was not as grundbreaking as Bramsen has claimed.
There is also some dispute related to funding of the initiatives, Politiken writes.
Karina Lorentzen, justice spokesperson with SF, has expressed concern any political deal would have to be renegotiated within the next few years due to the short-term nature of the proposed funding. A permanent arrangement is preferred.
Bramsen meanwhile said that initial talks over the proposal were more concerned with putting ideas on paper than finalising funding.
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A teacher will be required to report to the relevant municipality if they suspect a child is experiencing violence at home under a new political proposal, newspaper Politiken reports.
Making schoolteachers mandatory reporters is part of a 22-point government plan designed to reduce intimate partner violence and partner killings.
The proposal also includes additional training for midwives and other care providers who treat pregnant patients.
Other initiatives in the proposal relate to reducing the right to parole for people convicted of domestic violence if they refuse treatment for their behaviour.
“We need to get involved,” minister for gender equality Trine Bramsen said.
“That’s the problem in Denmark. That we consider what goes on at home as something that is private and that we shouldn’t interfere in,” Bramsen said.
“Violence is not private, and we will never get rid of it if we continue to be afraid to get involved,” she said.
The proposal has received a lukewarm reception amongst the minority government’s parliamentary allies.
The Socialist People’s Party (SF) said it believes the plan has some good elements, while Pernille Skipper of the left-wing Red Green Alliance said it was not as grundbreaking as Bramsen has claimed.
There is also some dispute related to funding of the initiatives, Politiken writes.
Karina Lorentzen, justice spokesperson with SF, has expressed concern any political deal would have to be renegotiated within the next few years due to the short-term nature of the proposed funding. A permanent arrangement is preferred.
Bramsen meanwhile said that initial talks over the proposal were more concerned with putting ideas on paper than finalising funding.
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