DUBAI // Specialised centres to help victims of sexual assault are needed to make it easier for women to receive treatment, support and provide evidence, experts say.
Referral centres, common in the West, offer a victim the option of not going immediately to the police, while providing medical help and a place to collect crucial forensics that could be used if a complaint is lodged against an attacker, reported a local daily.
As it stands, a victim of an attack faces the prospect of a police station or a hospital, neither of which offers the most friendly environment, says Susan Partridge, clinical psychologist and head of psychology division at the American Centre for Psychiatry and Neurology.
Dr Partridge believes more victims of sexual violence would come forward if they could report a crime in a safe, comfortable environment with trained female officers.
People who had been attacked “feel ashamed and violated and vulnerable”, she said.
“They have been through a traumatic experience and want to hide away, clean themselves and try to feel safe again. The last thing anyone who has been raped wants to do is go to a police station before cleaning up, be examined by a doctor who takes samples and give a statement.”
This can lead to an under-reporting of rape, Dr Partridge said.
