This is based on statistics showing that 9% of Malaysian women face some form of abuse from their partners, according to a 2014 study by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).

“This translates to a staggering number of over 800,000 women in the country who already have or will experience domestic violence in their lifetime.

“Shelters are a lifeline for women who decide to leave abusive homes. It is so easy for us to casually question, ‘Why don’t they just leave?’, when we hear about women in abusive relationships.

“What we don’t often consider is: ‘Where can they go?’,” Lim said in a statement released today.

She added that many survivors do not have family or friends they can turn to.

The WAO statement comes in the wake of a report submitted to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council last week by the UN special rapporteur on violence against women.

The report highlighted governments’ obligation to provide shelters for domestic violence survivors.

“Domestic violence shelters are sorely lacking in Malaysia. There are 42 gazetted shelters in Malaysia, of which 34 are run by the government.

“Each year, government shelters collectively house just 32 domestic violence survivors on average (these shelters are not exclusively for domestic violence).

“Meanwhile, WAO, which runs the largest gazetted domestic violence shelter, houses more than 100 domestic violence survivors each year. Demand for our shelter services constantly exceeds our capacity,” Lim said.

According to her, the pressure is on WAO and other women’s rights organisations to carry the burden of helping the majority of domestic violence victims.

“The UN special rapporteur stressed that governments ‘must help victims rebuild their lives and overcome the multiple consequences of violence’.

“This requires access to affordable, appropriate services and protection measures. We cannot agree more,” Lim said.

She called for the government to establish more domestic violence shelters and allocate more funds to run and manage these shelters.

“Social workers and counsellors are also an essential part of shelter services as they provide crucial emotional support to women and their children.

“Hence, the government must provide comprehensive shelter services which include social work and counselling,” Lim said.

“By providing such services, we can save women’s lives.”