Women’s rights, legal, and mental health advocates have called for systemic gaps to be addressed to better protect girls and women, following the killings of two schoolgirls that have renewed concerns over gender-based violence.

On Oct 15, a Form Four student was charged with murdering his schoolmate, Irene Sofiya Khairool Faisal, in Yong Peng, Johor. Another student, Yap Shing Xuen, was killed in Bandar Utama, Selangor, last year.

PSM Youth chairperson Amanda Shweeta Louis said the cases exposed institutional failures and social attitudes that allowed gender-based violence to persist.

She stressed the importance of early psychological and psychiatric intervention, noting that mental health services remained inaccessible to many families outside major cities and those from lower-income households.