KUCHING: The Sarawak Women and Family Council (SWFC) hopes to establish women’s shelters by July this year, as well as set mechanisms in motion to protect abused women and children in the state.
COUNCIL RETREAT: Fatimah (seated centre) with members of SWFC.
SWFC chairperson Datin Fatimah Abdullah announced in a press conference yesterday that establishing a women’s shelter is part of the three areas the council wants to focus on this year.
“A lot of people do not realise there are existing facilities made available by the government as shelters for victims of domestic violence and child abuse,” she told reporters after chairing the first SWFC Retreat for the year.
There are currently four facilities allocated for victims of abuse — two in Kuching, one in Sri Aman and another in Miri.
There is also a One Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC) at Sarawak General Hospital.
“When we provide shelter, one of the elements emphasised is safety. This involves not divulging the exact location of the shelter,” Fatimah said.
Fatimah, who is also Social Development and Urbanisation Assistant Minister (Women Development), said the government provides temporary shelter for victims of domestic violence who are above 18.
“What we don’t have is a temporary shelter for rape victims, pregnancy out of wedlock, loan shark victims and residents of children’s shelter who turn 18,” she said.
There are also women involved in police or non-police cases who need instant but temporary shelter.
“We want to provide temporary shelter for women while they await a court order to bar their abusers from having further contact with them.”
These victims can be housed in existing facilities for now but Fatimah said that there is a need to have a separate building due to increasing number of cases.
“We still have to work out the procedures and services to be offered, so we have a lot more homework to do.”
In the SWFC Retreat, council members discussed increasing the participation of women in all areas of decision-making.
“Under the Convention for Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1995, there should be a minimum of 30 per cent women participation in decision making. We should work towards that,” Fatimah said.
The meeting’s third area of focus concerns their role in the development of human resource.
“For our purpose, we are focusing on Early Childhood Education (ECE). Our main concern is to ensure increased access to ECE in Sarawak.”
ECE encompasses children below six years of age.
Childcare, nursery and ‘taska’ are for children aged four years and below, while those between five and six years are considered pre-school.
Fatimah emphasised that ECE is crucial as it plays a great role in contributing to the success of the individual in the later part of life.
“If we want to talk about creating quality human capital, we should start as early as possible.”