Dozens turned out yesterday for a Men's March Against Violence rally to encourage men to stand up against domestic violence.

It has been a record year for domestic violence deaths in Hawai'i, with 10 recorded in the first half of the year alone.

At the march, state Rep. John Mizuno, D-30th (Kamehameha Heights, Kalihi Valley, Fort Shafter), announced a legislative measure for the 2009 session that would establish a "White Ribbon" campaign organization in Hawai'i, a news release said.

Mizuno was among the lawmakers who participated in yesterday's rally.

"Wearing a white ribbon in support of the 'White Ribbon' campaign is a personal pledge to never commit, condone, nor remain silent about violence against women and girls and to end all forms of violence," said Mizuno in the written statement.

Mizuno also stated, "We need to secure a stronger campaign against domestic violence and this is a way of contracting the much needed support and pledge from men and boys to unite for a most important cause — to end domestic violence in Hawai'i."

The Honolulu Police Department estimates that up to one-third to one-half of police officers' work time is spent responding to "domestic" calls, the release said.

At least two former U.S. surgeons general, Antonia Novella and C. Everett Koop, have declared domestic violence to be a problem of epidemic proportions nationwide.

Also on hand was state Rep. Tom Brower, D-23rd (Waikiki, Ala Moana, Kaka'ako), who said, "We must raise awareness of violence in our community and we need everyone — men, women, seniors and children — to recognize that domestic violence is not acceptable and if we work together we can achieve our goal of substantially reducing all forms of violence in Hawai'i."

The violence so far this year has claimed lives that included a 7-year-old boy and his mother in Mililani, the mother of four children in 'Ewa Beach, an 'Aiea mom of an 18-year-old, a mother of five who was beaten to death on a Kailua street, and a Kalihi woman who was stabbed with a kitchen knife at her apartment.

In the Mililani, 'Ewa Beach and 'Aiea cases, police said the husbands committed the killings, then took their own lives.

From 1996 through 2006, Hawai'i averaged about nine domestic violence-related murders a year, according to data from the state attorney general's office. The peak was in 2000, when 15 homicides were recorded, the state figures show.