Why the United Kingdom Needs Paid Leave for Domestic Violence Victims Like New Zealand



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N New Zealand introduced a radical new policy to help victims of domestic violence by offering them 10 days of paid leave in order to free themselves from abusive partners and to settle elsewhere. The law recognizes that leaving can be one of the most difficult and dangerous times for victims of violence at home and marks a change in attitude.

Jan Logie, a New Zealand MP who introduced the Charity Violence Bill called Women's Refuge, hailed it as a necessary step to end the abuse at home and protect victims of violence and their children.

"We are waiting for things to go wrong or for someone to get killed, then we wring our hands," she said. "We will not solve this problem by continuing to focus on what happens after the police have been called."

In New Zealand, where the rate of family violence is one of the highest in the world, an average of 23 adults and nine children die each year in incidents in the country. With a population of 4.7 million, the rate of family homicides is twice as high as in the United Kingdom.

But here the problem remains important: on average, two women a week are killed in the United Kingdom. The majority of them are killed at home, often by a current partner or former partner.

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