Govt called to address violence

AN officer attached to the Family Sexual and Violence Unit (FSVU) has called on the government to support them address gender-based and sorcery-related violence in the country.
Waigani police FSVU officer Mary-Louise Avu said the two aspects of violence was growing at an alarming rate and the government should join the fight against it.
“The government has been very vocal about the issues, which is good, but it must also give us the equipment, logistics and funding to do our work,” she said.
“There have been times when we got calls from distraught women who were being attacked but we couldn’t respond quickly or go and pick them up at their homes as we did not have fuel or the manpower.”
Avu also called for more safe houses to be built to accommodate the growing number of women who were coming out of violent marriages and homes to seek help.
“With the increase in gender-based violence and sorcery-related violence in Port Moresby, safe houses are always full and in other cases some safe houses only take in working-class women or corporate clients,” she said.
“In other cases, women who come in with more than two children are turned away.
“The government must build more safe houses for women and their children who seek help.”