KOTA BARU: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will help to raise awareness of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act and the operation of the Tribunal for Anti-Sexual Harassment (TAGS) to university students.
Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Maziah Che Yusoff said TAGS deals with sexual harassment offences so that it does not become a cancer in the community.
"Students are a group who are at risk of being sexually harassed so we are addressing this issue," she said in a statement here on Tuesday (Nov 12).
According to her, normalising sexual harassment, either if meant as a joke, will leave a negative impact.
Earlier she inaugurated the Zero Tolerance Programme for Violence @Sexual Harassment Advocacy, which is one of the ministry's initiatives through the Women's Development Department about TAGS to students in Kubang Kerian here.
Dr Maziah said the programme is one of the ongoing advocacy efforts to provide a platform for the community, as well as to help raise awareness for victims to come forward and make reports so that the issue can be addressed and stopped.
She said based on police statistics, there were 4,217 cases of violence against women involving domestic violence, rape and sexual harassment nationwide as of September 2024.
"Statistics show sexual harassment in this country is still at a worrying level.
"All parties need to join hands to stop any form of sexual harassment to create a safe, harmonious environment and provide holistic support to the victims," he said. – Bernama
