Call to set up more shelters

LAST week, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on violence against women told the UN Human Rights Council that governments have a human rights obligation to provide shelters for survivors of domestic violence. The Malaysian government must heed this call and establish more domestic violence shelters in Malaysia.

Domestic violence shelters are sorely lacking in Malaysia. There are at present 42 gazetted shelters, of which 34 are government-run. Each year, government shelters collectively house a total of just 32 domestic violence survivors on average (these shelters are not exclusively for domestic violence).