advocates,'' the Women's Resource Centre announced.

Ms Susan Boyd, the centre's chairperson, said Ms Andrea Busk and Ms Honor Desmond-Tetlow had each agreed to work ten hours a week on the centre's new court advocacy programme.

Ms Busk is trained in American law and Ms Desmond-Tetlow in British law. While Ms Desmond-Tetlow has practised law in Bermuda in the past, neither currently holds a practising certificate under the Bermuda Bar Act 1974.

"They're not going to function as attorneys for women so much as advisers,'' Ms Boyd told The Royal Gazette .

"In many cases, we feel that women's assaults are not considered to be a very big issue in Bermuda,'' she said. "The women don't know their rights,'' and Police often treated the assaults as private, domestic matters, she said.

Women were often reluctant to press charges, which created problems for Crown counsels, who were reluctant to proceed if convictions were unlikely.

"Victims of physical and sexual assault frequently are not in a position to represent themselves,'' the Women's Resource Centre said in a funding proposal for the programme.

"In general, battered women suffer from low self-esteem and live in fear for their safety and that of their children. Victims often suffer from shock, a condition that exacerbates their difficulties in dealing with an unfamiliar, and seemingly forbidding, legal system.'' Ms Boyd said the centre "wanted to make it a little bit easier for women. We see this as a little cog in the whole puzzle.'' Ms Busk and Ms Desmond-Tetlow would prepare a pamphlet for women in Bermuda, outlining their rights and options if assaulted. Women would be told how to protect their options, by preserving evidence, for example.

Advocates could help victims prepare for court by explaining the system or helping to prepare affidavits. While not representing the women before a judge, the advocates could sometimes provide support by accompanying complainants to court.

They would take referrals from the Women's Resource Centre hotline to offer counselling and sometimes refer victims to other resources like social assistance or legal aid.

The Women's Resource Centre would like to see Bermuda adopt a programme similar to one in Quincy, Massachusetts, where a separate unit is devoted to violence against women, Ms Boyd said. Police keep records of each time they are called to a residence, whether or not a charge was laid.

LAST VISIT -- UK Defence Secretary the Hon. Malcolm Rifkind, in Bermuda with a British-American parliamentary group, met Royal Navy officers while touring the base HMS Malabar on Saturday which is set to close next April. He has vowed Navy ships will continue to call.