Tonga's Women's Crisis Centre is backing a call for safe houses across the Pacific to adhere to a code of ethics.
The call was made at the sixth Pacific regional meeting on the elimination of violence against women and girls in Nadi.
The Fiji Women's Crisis Centre says institutions which deal with women survivors of violence need to put in place codes of ethics that comply with international rights standards.
The Director of Tonga's centre, Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki, says the standards could prevent conflicts of interest and help address issues around confidentiality.
"We can't keep the safehouse anonymous in Tonga for example, that's just impossible, but what we can do is we can keep it safe and by keeping it safe for victims and survivors we ensure the survivor that when she walks through the door anything that she comes with is confidential and that must be in the code of ethics."
Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki says a good human rights background and understanding is important for all centre workers.
