Protection from Harassment Act (Singapore)

Protection from Harassment Act 2014
An Act to protect persons against harassment and unlawful stalking and to create offences, and provide civil remedies related thereto or in relation to false statements of fact, and to make consequential amendments to other written laws.
Enacted by Parliament of Singapore
Date enacted 13 March 2014
Date assented to 11 April 2014
Date commenced 15 November 2014
Status: In force

The Protection from Harassment Act 2014 (POHA) is a statute of the Parliament of Singapore that criminalizes harassment, stalking, and other anti-social behaviour. The law is designed specifically to make acts of cyberbullying and online harassment a criminal offence.[1][2][3]

Overview

The Act abolished the common law tort of harassment, replaced by its statutory provisions.[4] It also replaced sections 13A to 13D of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, and expanded the scope to cover acts conducted and increased the penalties to include sentences.[1] The Act is intended to cover both intentional and unintentional, and has extra-territorial jurisdiction for certain offences which include online acts by the defendant if the complainant was in Singapore at the time of the offence and the defendant knew or should have known of that fact.[5] The new law is also designed to be more accessible for the public than previous laws:[6] for instance provisions are now made for alleged victims to apply a protection order against the accused persons, and separate expedited protection orders can be applied in extreme cases.[6]

A new offence was introduced under this Act.[7] In addition anyone who abuses any public servant and public service worker, including staff from the public transport industry, can be prosecuted under this Act and sentenced to imprisonment for up to a year and a fine.[8]

Uses of the Act

The Ministry of Manpower (Singapore), National Trades Union Congress and Singapore National Employers Federation are at present the primary institutions in fighting and deterring workplace harassment.[9]

Since the year of the Act's commencement, 80 reports were filed and a handful of PPOs applied for.[5] Though the State Courts of Singapore encourage the integrated usage of mediation, known as an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) method, to a way of resolving a dispute without going for a trial in court at the State Courts Centre for Dispute Resolution. ADR is a flexible process in which a neutral mediator facilitates the parties' settlement negotiations, to help them reach their own solution. The focus of ADR is on finding solutions that will meet the parties' concerns. The mediator will not make a decision concerning who is at fault in the dispute. The mediators in this Centre are State Courts Judges who have been specially appointed and trained in mediation, and court volunteers who are trained and accredited by the State Courts and Singapore Mediation Centre.

Almost all cases are amicably resolved at the SCCDR to thrash and sort things out.[10]

For relational disputes, the State Courts may refer to mediation in the State Courts Centre for Dispute Resolution in other relational disputes, including Magistrate's Complaints or applications under the Protection from Harassment Act.[11]

See also

Reference list

  1. 1 2 Neo, Chai Chin (14 March 2014). "Anti-harassment laws to fight 'social scourge'". Today (newspaper). Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Kwara, Michelle (27 February 2014). "Proposed anti-harassment law to clamp down on cyber bullying in Singapore introduced in Parliament". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Second Reading Speech by Minister for Law, K Shanmugam, on the Protection from Harassment Bill". Ministry of Law. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Julia Yeo and Wei Qi Jen. "Implications of Singapore's new Protection from Harassment Bill 2014". Lexology. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 Abu Baker, Jalelah (15 January 2015). "Protection from Harassment Act: 5 things you need to know about the landmark legislation". Straits Times. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  6. 1 2 Spykerman, Spykerman (15 January 2015). "Quicker, easier ways to get legal recourse for harassment". News 5 Tonight. Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  7. ↑ Chan, Wing Cheong (2014). "The new offence of "Unlawful stalking" in Singapore" (PDF). Singapore Academy of Law. 26: 333–353. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  8. ↑ Tan, Suan Tiu (7 April 2015). "Interpreting privacy laws a complex matter". Straits Times Forum. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Ho, Olivia (24 Dec 2015). "'Onus on employers' to fight harassment". Straits Times.
  10. ↑ https://www.statecourts.gov.sg/Mediation_ADR/Pages/Overview-of-Alternative-Dispute-Resolution.aspx
  11. ↑ https://www.statecourts.gov.sg/Mediation_ADR/Pages/An-Overview%20of%20Mediation.aspx
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.