Victims of violence need more support

National, Uncategorized

MEDICAL and psychological support for women and children victims of violence are still lacking in many communities, a report says.
It said the legal and policy framework, however, had improved over the years.
Independent Formative Evaluation of Family Support Centres in Papua New Guinea June 2016 report said many women and children lacked access to adequate intervention services for a healthy, enabling recovery from the emotional and psychological trauma of violence.
“Many more children are made vulnerable through the endemic rates of violence perpetrated against women,” the report said.
“Access to justice for children and women is limited, traditional systems of compensation are often used as a form of conflict resolution.”
The report said that in an effort to provide comprehensive medical, legal aid and psychosocial support for survivors of violence, the government through the Department of Health and with the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) support established  Family Support Centres (FSC) in 2004.
The primary purpose of the FSC was to respond to the high rates of abuse and violence experienced by women and children by providing a comprehensive services medical, psychosocial and legal support.
FSC also aims to strengthen community capacity to prevent and respond to violence against women and children through community advocacy.
The report suggested that effective data collection from the FSCs in provinces would make it easier to assess the trends of service users and also determine the area that needed more attention, resources or skilled manpower.