SINGAPORE: Singapore has launched its first Dating Violence Awareness Week.

The public education campaign comes on the back of a survey conducted at the end of last year, which showed that more than half of young Singaporeans aged 16 to 30 had not heard of the concept of dating violence.

The campaign wants to encourage victims of dating violence to revamp their relationships. It is organised by social workers at the "Centre for Promoting Alternative to Violence" and the Nanyang Technological University.

Experts say that abuse in relationships in Singapore usually goes unreported, and that many victims remain trapped in a violent relationship because they lack the courage to walk away or are unaware that they are victims of dating violence.

Dr Maliki Osman, Parliamentary Secretary for National Development, said: "When we started looking at couples with violence as a key problem, the violence has not just occurred overnight or even during marriage. It has occurred way before marriage."