While domestic violence is a serious human rights violation that impacts millions of women worldwide, it also has substantial economic consequences.

Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says domestic violence affects every facet of life whether it’s an individual or as a nation.

‘’It does not only affect the NGO’s, it does not only affect women but it has an overall impact in the economy as well because if you discriminate women whether it is based on gender, ethnicity, religion or province, you are limiting the pool of people from which you can choose from to be able to effectively govern and run your country’’.

Giving an example of how domestic violence affects the tourism industry, the Attorney General says we cannot let women suffer.

‘’If you have ninety percent of all the workers in the hotel who go and fix up the bed and serve you on the table who are women, and they get bashed up the night before, imagine the productivity level of their output the next day. So it is in the commercial interest of those hotels to ensure that women do not get bashed up the night before’’.

Sayed-Khaiyum was speaking at an International Women’s Day celebration organised by the Ministry of Women recently