The Vulnerable Persons Unit (VPU) in Lautem municipality is still lacking transport to provide assistance to victims of gender-based violence.
Head of the Lautem VPU unit Gil Pereira said that as a result officers could not drive victims to and from court or other meetings.
He said VPU had a responsibility to protect victims, especially vulnerable women and children.
“The problem that we face is that we don’t have any transport or petrol,” said Pereira at a workshop in Dili on revisions to the national plan of action on gender-based violence.
“We ask our partner ALFeLa (Women and Children’s Legal Aid Service) to help drive victims to court and meet their lawyers,” he said.
Another issue is that commanders often transfer officers to different areas and their replacements don’t always have experience in the field, Pereira said.
He said it took time to train new officers about how to provide appropriate assistance to victims of gender-based violence and this impacted their work and human resources.
VPU data from Lautem showed that 10 cases of gender-based violence were registered between January and June, most of them related to domestic violence.
Although every VPU unit received a car, he said they were now being used by the Criminal Investigation Service unit.
In order to work effectively, Pereira said it was essential the VPU in Lautem had use of a car and motorbike.
Meanwhile, Member of the Timor-Leste Parliamentary Women’s Group (GMPTL) MP Josefa Alvares Pereira Soares said the National parliament had approved the ourchase of car for the VPU in the 2012 general budget.
“We allocated $350,000 to the municipality police for the purchase of cars for VPU units, but it was used for something else,” she said.
The former President of GMPTL said this was against the budget regulations as the funding was allocated specifically for the purchase of cars for the VPU.
Soares also expressed concern about the potential security risk for victims, particularly if they were transported in private vehicles by family members or the accused.
She called on the GMPTL to conduct an in-depth study on the issue to determine if it was necessary to purchase cars for the VPU, so that the matter could be raised in budget discussions for next year.
