Gender Breakdown of Applicants Granted Protection Orders and Expedited Protection Orders under Protection from Harassment Act

Assoc Prof Walter Theseira asked the Minister for Law of the 213 Protection Orders and 193 Expedited Protection Orders granted as of 31 December 2018 under the Protection from Harassment Act (a) what is the gender breakdown of applicants; and (b) how many are for cases of workplace harassment.

As at 31 December 2018, there were 535 cases where applications for Protection Orders (POs) were filed. POs were granted in 213 cases. Expedited Protection Orders (EPOs) were granted in 193 cases. There were about equal numbers of male and female applicants who obtained POs and EPOs in these cases. Out of the 322 cases where POs were not granted, 213 cases had applications for POs withdrawn. The applications in the remaining cases would have either been dismissed, struck off or were still pending as at 31 December 2018.

It would have required a very intensive process to identify the different types of harassment. The Courts do not have the manpower resources to do that. The Courts are introducing technology. That will take some time. Once that is done, it may become easier to find some categorisation for types of harassment.