The Health, Welfare & Food Bureau wants to amend the Domestic Violence Ordinance to better protect victims. The amendment bill will be gazetted June 15 and tabled to lawmakers June 27.

The improvements, which cover both immediate and extended family relationships, are:

* the scope of protected people will be expanded to those who have been molested by their parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces or cousins, or by the spouses of such relatives, or such relatives of their spouses;

* minors under 18 will be allowed to apply for an injunction in their own right by their next friends, against molestation by their parents, or such relatives as set out above;

* the court will be empowered to vary or suspend a custody or access order relating to a minor when it grants an injunction excluding the abuser from certain places;

* the court can attach an authorisation of arrest to an injunction order if it reasonably believes that the abuser will likely cause bodily harm to the applicant or the minor concerned;

* the court may extend the injunction order or the authorisation of arrest for as many times as necessary, with the overall validity period extended from six months at present to two years;

* the court may, in granting a non-molestation order, require the abuser to attend an anti-violence programme as approved by the Director of Social Welfare, seeking to change the attitude and behaviour of the abuser that lead to the granting of the injunction order; and,

* all the protected people, irrespective of whether they are residing with their abusive spouses or relatives, will enjoy the same protection under the new law.

The new law's protection scope will be more comprehensive than those advanced by some advocacy groups. It also extends beyond practices of some overseas jurisdictions, which cover in their domestic violence laws only relatives living in the same households.