Shadow Health Minister Kim Wilson has called on Government to offer more funding to the Centre Against Abuse.

The charity has been forced to close the Island’s only safe house for victims of domestic violence due to a lack of funds.

And Centre staff fear they may have to cut other services unless more money becomes available. Yesterday, PLP MP Ms Wilson called on Government “to uphold their responsibility to the community to provide sufficient funding to keep the safe shelter open”.

She said she was appealing for support ahead of next month’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

“The United Nations views the provision of safe shelters and other services as a critical part of the state’s obligation to protect victims of violence,” Ms Wilson said.

“We live in a very philanthropic community with many charities and helping agencies providing very important services to our community. However, all too often, services provided by some charities are similar in nature to the services provided by other charities. Nonetheless, these said charities still receive funding grants from the Government, this despite the apparent duplication of services.

“As the only provider of this kind for the entire community, the Centre Against Abuse must be supported through sufficient funds from the Government in order to meet its mission of providing a safe shelter to those in our community who are the victims of abuse. The safety for victims of domestic violence and their children must be a priority and the Government should provide sufficient funding now and ensure that future expenses are all budgeted for on an ongoing basis.”

Community Minister Wayne Scott has met with Centre staff to discuss its plight and said that his Ministry was trying to help the Centre find “viable solutions” to ensure they had the necessary resources to operate. But he told the Centre that, unfortunately, Government was unable to offer them any additional funding.

However, Mr Scott said while it was correct that extra funding had not been allocated, it did not mean that money would not be made available in the future.