The head of a police sexual assault and family violence unit in Solomon Islands says the country needs more safe houses for victims.
Florence Taro told a recent United Nations seminar that underage sex and prostitution at logging camps is a longstanding problem and she commended the Christian Care Centre at Tenaru for the refuge it offers women wanting help.
She says policewomen in Western Province are also trying to establish a safe house but are seeking funding to expand it into the same sort of facility.
"But after all Western Province police women officers are starting to initiate a safe house for our victims there at Gizo Police Station so hopefully in the future we might have some sort of accommodation that is available for our victims."
Florence Taro says girls as young as 13 are being forced into prostitution or arranged marriages in the provinces of Malaita, Makira and Isabel.
