Fiji marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls  this week with the government saying the day is a reminder that for too many women and girls violence is a daily reality — not a headline or a statistic.

The day also kicked off 16 days of activism against gender-based violence — a worldwide UN campaign running from November 25 to December 10.

The country’s Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Sashi Kiran told Parliament violence against women and girls was not limited to the private sphere — “it permeates every dimension of society”.

“Addressing this issue is therefore not only a woman’s matter; it is a national priority — requiring engagement from every sector, every institution and every leader in our country.

“It manifests in various forms including physical, emotional, sexual and economic abuse as well as harmful practices such as trafficking.”

She said the cost of violence against females was estimated to be equivalent to seven percent of Fiji’s gross domestic product (GDP), affecting families, the health system, productivity and the nation’s development.

“The cost of violence is not only emotional — it is national.”

She pointed out several statistics, including that around 60 percent of Fijian women had experienced some form of violence in their lifetime; girls as young as 13 remained the most vulnerable to sexual assault; and from 2020-2024, more than 4000 child sexual offences were reported — most involving young girls.

“Our response must be survivor-centred, and above all accessible to everyone — including women and girls with disabilities and those from diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.”

In the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Western Pacific Region, more than a quarter of girls and women experience some form of intimate partner or sexual violence.

But WHO said in several Pacific island countries and areas, the prevalence of lifetime intimate partner violence is as high as one in two women.

WHO’s western Pacific director, Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, said governments and communities must use data to drive stronger policies, scale up prevention efforts, and invest in health system readiness, “so every girl is protected and woman is empowered”.

WHO said while the numbers were grim, a survey on “health system readiness to respond to interpersonal violence” pointed to an encouraging policy environment.

“Many countries are integrating strategies to prevent violence against women and girls into their national multisectoral plans, and acknowledging the key role that health systems must play in tackling this societal problem.

“However, the survey also highlights challenges in implementing these strategies.”

It is not all bad news in the region though — Cook Islands police have reported a decrease in the number of assault cases against women this year.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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Prime Minister James Marape has issued a strong appeal to all young men and boys in Papua New Guinea — stop abusing girls, mothers, and sisters.

He made the plea yesterday before flying to Australia, emphasising the importance of respecting women and children in society.

Marape urged young men to take their issues to him instead of resorting to violence against women and children.

Marape also called for the nation to rise in consciousness to preserve the values and achievements of their fathers and mothers who fought for independence 50 years ago.

“We want to give a special recognition to the fathers and mothers of our country, a generation and people of our country to be proud to be here today,” he said.

He expressed his pain at seeing the continued cycle of abuse and disrespect towards women and children in the country.

Marape’s message was clear: violence and abuse towards women and children would not be tolerated, and the nation must come together to ensure the safety and well-being of all its citizens.

‘Don’t do it to our sisters’
“These are not two things that we want to take on. For every young boy out there, if you have an issue in society, I don’t mind you taking it upon me. But please don’t do it to the girls in the neighbourhood,” he said.

“Don’t do it to our sisters in the neighbourhood. Don’t do it to our mothers and aunties in the neighbourhood.

“In a time when our nation is facing a 50th anniversary, I call for our nation to rise in a consciousness to preserve what our fathers and mothers did 50 years ago.

“Lawlessness, disrespect for each other, especially women and children amongst us. This is something that I speak at great lengths and speak from the depth of my heart.

“It pains me to see girls, women, and children continue to face a vicious cycle of abuse and total abhorrence, abuse of children, rape,” he said.

“I just thought these are important activities coming up. I want to conclude by asking our country through the media.

“We are in another state of our 50th anniversary year.

‘Let us take responsibility’
“We have many challenges in our country. But all of us, we take responsibility of our country. As government, we are trying our absolute best.

“Citizens, public servants, private sector, all of us have responsibility to our country. Unless you have another country to go and live in, if property is your country in the first instance, I call out to all citizens, take responsibility in your corner of property.

“Privacy alone cannot be able to do everything that you expect it to do.

“I’m not omnipotent. I’m not omniscient. I’m not omnipresent.

“I’m but only one person coordinating at the top level. Call for every citizen of our country.

“As we face our 49th year and as we welcome our 50th of September 16,) we call this on every one of us.”

Republished from the PNG Post-Courier with permission.

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Some police officers are unable to effectively investigate cases of gender-based violence, claims Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre coordinator Shamima Ali.

Ali said many officers lacked the training and knowledge to properly handle such cases, leading to significant challenges for victims seeking justice.

“There is a lack of training that used to happen in Fiji before 2006, and we are facing this as a huge challenge,” Ali said.

While speaking on issues of officers refusing to take statements of domestic violence victims, she said some officers refused to acknowledge cases of gender-based violence, despite the laws in place.

“There are some officers who do not respond to it, and at times, the justice system does not support the interests of women.”

She said if authorities did their job, men would be a bit more scared.

“There’s a reluctance to address domestic violence because of the patriarchal mindset, and this attitude often comes from within the force itself.”

In response, Police Commissioner Juki Fong Chew said the actions of a few were not representative of the way the organisation perceived cases of gender-based violence.

“We have disciplinary measures in place to deal with officers as claimed by Ms Ali, and we encourage the sharing of information so that the officers can be dealt with,” he said.

Fong Chew said these issues could be addressed promptly.

Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

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New Caledonia’s Great Chief William Boarat has been found dead and police have arrested a 24-year-old man as investigations continue.

Great Chief Boarat was found dead in the early hours of yesterday in circumstances described as involuntary homicide.

Public prosecutor Yves Dupas said in a statement that initial findings on the crime scene in the village of Ouaco pointed to an initial assault from a 24-year-old man on a woman he was in a de facto relationship with.

Chief Boarat, 66, who was present at the scene, reportedly tried to stop the man from hitting his partner in their village residence.

The young man, believed to be under the influence of alcohol, is then reported to have grabbed a wooden post and hit the chief on the head.

A medical team later found the old chief unconscious, with severe head wounds.

Attempts to revive him proved unsuccessful.

The suspect has been taken into custody, and investigations are ongoing.

He faces charges of murder and assault against his de facto partner.

Witnesses are also being questioned as part of the inquiry.

A post-mortem has been ordered to further establish the exact cause of death.

The Boarat clan is the main chiefly entity of the Koumac area, which itself belongs to the chiefly area of Hoot ma Waap (one of the eight chiefly areas represented in New Caledonia’s Customary Senate).

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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SPECIAL REPORT: By Netani Rika in Majuro

On a hastily-erected wall in the Marshall Islands International Conference Centre hang the names of dead women, victims of gender-based violence (GBV).

At least 300 Pacific women were killed in 2021, many at the hands of intimate partners or male relatives, yet there are but 14 names on the board after four days of a Triennial Conference.

So where are the remaining names?

Have these women died in obscurity, their deaths confined to the dust heap somewhere in the region’s collective memory?

Does the memory of their deaths invoke such pain or, perhaps, guilt, that it is impossible for delegates to pick up a pen and put names to paper?

Have these women become mere statistics, their names forgotten as civil society spreadsheets and crime reports log the death of yet another woman.

Or have the deaths of women due to gender-based violence become so common that in the minds of delegates it is normal for a woman to die at the hands of a husband, boyfriend, father or brother?

Falling victim to violence
It has been a conference attended largely by women — ministers, administrators, civil society representatives and local grassroots representatives. Each day there have been more than 200 women at the event.

The 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women addressed at its core the need to improve the health of women and children. That includes the need for better access to services and treatment of women who fall victim to violence.

Gender-based violence is also a key focus of the talks. It is that violence — past, present and future – which results in death.

Yet three times a day for three days, on their way to grab a quick coffee or indulge in lunch, friendly conversations or bilateral dialogue, delegates have walked past the wall paying scant attention to the names of their dead Pacific sisters.

No names have been added to the wall since the initial appeal on Day One for attendees to remember the dead, to memorialise women whose lives were cut short in actions which were largely avoidable.

In Fiji, 60 percent of women and girls endure violence in their lifetime. Two of every three experience physical or sexual abuse from intimate partners and one in five have been sexually harassed in the workplace.

The trend is common throughout the region with Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the Solomon Islands recording the highest incidence of crimes against women.

Not one asked for silence
Delegates know these figures. The statistics are, sadly, nothing new.

On the third day, delegates quibbled over the nuances of language and the appropriate terms with which to populate a report on their deliberations. Yet not one asked for a moment of silence to remember the people whose names hung accusingly on a wall outside the meeting chamber.

When delegates left the convention centre on Friday afternoon, it is unlikely they would have remembered even one of the names on the wall.

Those names and the memories of all the women who have suffered violent deaths will await a team of cleaners, strangers, who will bury the Pacific’s collective shame in the sand of Majuro Atoll.

Netani Rika is an award-winning Fiji journalist with 30 years of experience in Pacific regional writing. The joint owner of Islands Business magazine he is communications manager of the Pacific Conference of Churches and is in Majuro, Marshall Islands, covering the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women.

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The Post-Courier daily newspaper is one of 15 companies in Papua New Guinea that have pledged to fight against gender-based violence (GBV) while promoting gender equality within and outside of the workplace.

Signing the National Capital District Commission’s “Zero Tolerance to GBV Pledge” under its GBV Strategy 2020–2022, means that as organisations, the 15 companies will partner with the NCDC to eradicate all forms of violence within the city through their employees.

City manager Ravu Frank congratulated the organisations for taking the bold step at the signing up yesterday, noting that addressing GBV-related issues in the city required a collective effort from the municipal authority in partnership with all stakeholders.

“We came up with the NCDC GBV Strategy to raise awareness of the acts of violence against women with the view to end violent behavior against women and to regard them as equal partners in development,” he said.

“I am glad that a good number of our contractors have shown commitment to this cause.

“By signing the pledge all NCDC contractors agree to avoid any form of violence against women at their workplace, at home and in public.

“All NCDC contractors will be accountable for their violent actions against women and will seriously impact their engagement with NCDC leading to the termination of their contracts.”

Second batch of companies
This is the second batch of companies that have contracts with the city authority to sign the GBV pledge.

NCDC commenced implementation of the three-pillar Zero Tolerance to GBV Strategy 2020–2022 last year. The first was Walk the Talk with a compulsory signing of a pledge by NCDC staff to abstain from any form of violence.

The engagement of contractors is part of the second pillar to involve stakeholders and partners and the third is the demand for a community free from gender-based violence.

Hebou Construction Limited was one of the first companies to sign up.

According to health and safety manager Larry Watson, the pledge has helped the company give back to its employees and community through promoting gender equality and ensuring that female employees get proper assistance when needed.

In an editorial on Tuesday, the Post-Courier quoted from the first African-American President Barack Obama:

“You can judge a nation and how successful it will be based on how it treats women and girls.”

“And his observation, we say, is an expression of wisdom and truth,” said the newspaper.

“No country in the world will improve itself where the culture of violence against women exists, that is what he meant in his statement.

‘A lot of talk’
“In PNG there’s being a lot of talk and even action on violence against women and girls, but the message and progress has been unsatisfactory.

“Just last week bodies of two women were discovered in the nation’s capital with preliminary examination showing that they were raped and murdered.”

The Post-Courier said that while some might say that the two incidents were isolated, “we say its not and that despite numerous efforts by NGOs, churches and even parliamentarians on this issue, the incidences of women and girls being mistreated and murdered is slowly on the rise again.”

The newspaper said there were three major factors in the violence and the community’s response:

• It is a cultural issue and it is huge;
• It is not recognised as a development issue; and
• We’re just talking; no money and no real action

The Post-Courier said it was time to recognise that mistreatment of women was the biggest drawback in the country’s national development.

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Papua New Guinea’s National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop wants the city’s police to fully investigate the gruesome murder of two women in Port Moresby late last week.

Parkop told the Post-Courier that such “despicable” brutality against womenfolk in the city and throughout the country was not welcome — and the recent crimes were not either.

The two women were allegedly raped, murdered and dumped at different locations last week.

One body was discovered at the 9-Mile public cemetery just outside the city and the other body at a spot along the Gordon storm-water drain in the early hours of Sunday morning.

“I am and will continue to be appalled that such despicable crimes continue to be committed against women and girls in our city and elsewhere in our country,” Parkop said.

“While there may be other factions contributing to these crimes, the lack of or poor respect for women and girls as equal citizens of our country remains a main cause of violence against women and girls in our country.”

Parkop is a strong advocate of women’s rights and has initiated several programmes to promote gender equality within Port Moresby and also in the National Capital District Commission (NCDC).

Women’s, girl’s lives ‘risky’
“These latest killings in our city are not an exception. Lives of women and girls continue to be risky in our country as a result of continuing gender inequality. I appeal to the police to investigate and have these perpetrators arrested and charged.”

The NCDC will continue to promote the gender equality and eliminate gender-based violence (GBV) across the city.

“On our part in the city we continue to implement our GBV strategy which we will in fact escalate [on Wednesday] with signing of more of NCDC contractors pledging to abide by and implement the strategy with us,” Parkop added.

Port Moresby police chief Metropolitan Superintendent Gideon Ikumu warned over the security of females in the city after the discovery of the two dead women.

Superintendent Ikumu urged city residents — especially young girls and women — to be more considerate about their security and safety when “hanging out with friends” during social outings.

He said such killings were a concern for police and investigations were continuing.

Claudia Tally is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

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About 100 people have marched in the New Caledonian capital of Noumea to protest against what they see as government inaction to curb violence against women.

The rally was called by the group Women in Anger just days after the latest killing of a woman at the hands of her partner.

The marchers went from the seat of government to Congress and to the French High Commission to deliver a letter calling on support for their cause from France’s First Lady, Brigitte Macron.

March organiser Valentine Holle told La Premiere television she wanted the government to come up with a feasible plan of action.

“We need to change the tribal laws and traditional rules and we need the French state to acknowledge these issues. We also need the French state to seat themselves around the table with civil society and discuss a viable solution,” Holle said.

The weekend march was the second such protest in Noumea in less than a month and follows another rally earlier this year.

In mid-July, a 35-year-old woman was killed in Noumea.

Seven times higher than France
Crime figures released for New Caledonia show that last year the incidence of domestic violence was seven times higher than in mainland France.

The statistics released by the French High Commission show the number of reported incidents had grown by 13 percent from 2020.

Reports of sexual violence had increased by more than 30 percent.

The report shows that abuse of alcohol and drugs is frequently linked to violent offending.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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“Enough is enough,” is the impassioned plea of the women, mothers and daughters of Papua New Guinea, says Mea Isaac, women’s representative in the Motu-Koitabu Assembly.

She has called for all forms of violence, abuse and discrimination against women to stop in the wake of the latest case of “barbaric torture” sparked by sorcery allegations.

Isaac made the call after witnessing National Capital District (NCD) Governor Powes Parkop hand over K50,000 (abut NZ$22,000) to the Police Department to assist with their operations to catch tribesmen in Southern Highlands alleged to have tortured five women accused of sorcery — killing two of them.

She said there were reports of far too much violence directed at innocent women, — especially the weak and helpless, ones who could not defend themselves.

“These are the very people who gave birth to you men, these are the very people who have nurtured you for nine months within their womb and the very people who help you men to grow up in feeding you, clothing you or when you cry and you fall they are there to embrace you,” she said.

“And here you are, callous men, you turn around and do this horrific act in return. Please, enough is enough,” Isaac said.

“No more violence, enough is enough; justice must be served and I am appealing to those who have committed this horrific crime to please surrender yourselves.

‘Your mothers, your sisters, your aunties …’
“These are your mothers, your sisters, your aunties and nieces why do you have to do such a terrible thing to them.”

Isaac said sorcery related, family and sexual related violence was also happening in the NCD. She cited an example such as in her village of Hanuabada, where a husband had beaten his wife to death.

She said there were many reported cases in the city settlements where women were attacked on the whim of so-called “glassman” on allegations of sorcery.

Moresby South women’s rep Rose Hagua shared these sentiments, saying that women and girls — despite so many barriers — wanted to take this challenge and to use their voice as a medium on behalf of the victims.

So they staged a march last December to raise their concerns relating to this “barbaric torture” of women in PNG’s Highlands.

Mark Talia is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

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As families prepare to celebrate Christmas with their loved ones, a safe house in Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby has kicked out gender-based violence survivors, leaving them homeless for the festive season.

One of the survivors, 37-year-old Gathy Peter from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, told the PNG Post-Courier that they were informed by staff from the safe house (named) that the house would be closed for holidays.

“So for those of us who have no family here in Port Moresby, they just left us at the Boroko police station and I have been here as I have nowhere to go,” she said.

“Another woman, who had her two children with her, was also left here but she has since left the station premises.”

Peter is a mother of three, she met her husband (named) when he went to Bougainville for the crisis and they got married, and in 1997 they moved to her husband’s hometown in Southern Highlands province.

“We had three kids, one boy and two girls, but life was not good, my husband was violent, so after four years, in 2012, I took my two daughters and ran away back to Bougainville, leaving behind my son who was just nine years old at that time.”

She said that in 2017, she came to Port Moresby for work but her husband found her and forced her to move in with him again, so she moved in with him at Gereka.

Badly beaten by husband
“But the violence continued, he would tell me to remove my clothes before he started beating me, he even brought home his girlfriend to live with us, telling me that she was his niece,” Peter said.

In June this year, Peter was badly beaten by her husband, who cut her with a machete from her head down to her feet.

“He kicked me in the face when I cried out in pain — when I spat the blood out, three of my teeth fell out too.

“A neighbour came in and stopped him, and I took the opportunity to run away, and walked from Gereka to 6-Mile at around 11pm in the night.

“I passed out somewhere near 6-Mile in front of a small tucker shop.

“A woman from there assisted me to the Gordon police station to file an official report with the FSVU (Family and Sexual Violence Unit), and I was put into a safe house (named).”

With no family and friends in Port Moresby, she was left homeless but was assisted by the Boroko Juvenile Unit to win her case against her husband, who has since been sentenced to two years in prison.

In safe house for six months
Peter has been living in that safe house for more than six months but was dumped at the Boroko police station car park area.

She is living at the precinct of the Boroko police station. She is far from home and family.

“Christmas is near and I long for my children and the white sandy beaches of my home.”

Attempts made to get comments from the safe house were unsuccessful yesterday.

However, according to the sources — women who were given refuge at the safe house were all sent back to their families as the safehouse was closing for the festive season.

Only Gathy Peter and the mother of two were dropped off at Boroko Police Station as they do not have families in Port Moresby.

However, the mother of two has since been given refuge at another safe house, leaving Peter behind.

Rebecca Kuku and Marjorie Finkeo are PNG Post-Courier reporters. Republished with permission.

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“We take the pain and problems of victims home and it gives us nightmares many times.”

A police woman serving at the Family Sexual Violence Unit (FSVU) of the Papua New Guinea’s Waigani police station in the capital Port Moresby has shared her experience of how officers deal with victims being thrown out of homes, bashed up, marital affairs and other domestic-related issues faced with their partners.

First Constable Mary Louise Avu said many officers took the burden of victims of gender-based violence home and it had affected them mentally, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

“I am sleeping and in the middle of the night, a woman is calling me and crying over the phone begging for help,” she said.

“I can hear her being beaten up and when I call the support unit to assist us, no one is answering the phone or no vehicle and I don’t sleep. I stay up thinking of what the woman is going through.

“At that point, all we can do is advise the victim to seek safety and wait for the next day for police assistance.

“We try our best to help them. We wipe tears with them, feel their pain and carry the burden with them.

‘It isn’t easy’
“It isn’t an easy job when you see these women seeking help,” she said.

The public was good at giving negative comments about the work of the police but many of them did not know the real people behind the work.

She said there were policemen working hard to keep the community safe for everyone to walk freely — policemen were mentally defeated daily by people they protected.

At least 30 to 40 fresh cases of domestic violence were reported daily with the special unit at police stations around the city.

The Waigani FSVU office was looked after by six officers with eight cases being handled by each officer daily.

This statistics showed that more than 40 cases were registered by victims throughout the suburbs as far as 9-Mile, Erima, and Wildlife leaving their nearest station to come to being Waigani.

First Constable Avu said the victims travelled from outside areas to the station because of the effective results and the work the unit officers did.

‘Many prosecutions made’
“Many cases are handled and prosecutions are made,” she said.

She said despite the issues faced by officers such as the ink running out for the printer to non-availability of vehicles for arrests, they continued to work.

“One of the biggest problems now is the court system. We are preparing all the paper work and prosecuting the perpetrator but many have been released because they plead to the court that they are first time offenders thus the courts are lenient on them,” she said.

Const Avu said the court gave a three-month good behaviour bond which was not enough.

“Those three months should be served in prison. Many perpetrators are let off and continue to harass their partners,” she said.

Republished with permission.

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The Papua New Guinean government should protect women accused of practicing “sorcery” from violence and hold the attackers to account, says the advocacy group Human Rights Watch.

At least five women have been attacked in the past three months since March 2021 — one of whom was killed.

“The Papua New Guinea government should urgently investigate all cases of violence following sorcery accusations, and prosecute those responsible,” Stephanie McLennan, senior manager of Asia initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement today.

“Gender-based violence is a persistent problem in Papua New Guinea, and the government is doing very little to stop it.”

Violence following allegations of sorcery is common in Papua New Guinea, with the most recent reported case on May 7 in Hela Province.

Mary Kopari was accused of sorcery following the death of a young boy in her village. She was tied up and burned alive in Komo-Magarima District.

The attack was recorded on video and reported by Papua New Guinea television. Although the police know the identity of some of the attackers, no arrests have yet been reported.

Surge in covid cases
Because sorcery accusations often arise in response to an unexpected death or illness in a community, the increase in such violence may be related to a surge in confirmed cases of covid-19 in Papua New Guinea.

On or around March 30, in Goroka, Eastern Highlands, a 45-year-old woman and her 19-year-old daughter were accused of causing the woman’s husband’s death, believed to be from covid-19.

They were held captive by the husband’s relatives and tortured with hot iron rods. Police rescued the pair.

On April 25, police rescued two women after a group of about 20 men tortured them in Port Moresby. The men accused the women of practising sorcery and killing a woman who had recently died.

The women were treated for severe burns and knife wounds.

“The Papua New Guinea government should address the root causes of sorcery accusations, including the lack of basic knowledge among the public about health problems,” McLennan said.

“The authorities should act swiftly and effectively to correct misinformation about deaths from covid-19 to prevent more sorcery accusations and attacks.”

Most attacks target women
While there are past cases of violence based on accusations of sorcery targeting men, the majority of these attacks target women. Such attacks are part of the larger problem of high rates of gender-based violence and impunity for the abusers in Papua New Guinea.

In November 2020 a coalition of Parliament members convened the country’s first national summit on gender-based violence. A special parliamentary committee on the issue held its first hearings on May 24 and 25, and will continue its inquiry until June 30.

Dr Fiona Hukula, gender specialist for the Pacific Islands Forum, testified at the May hearings about violence against women accused of sorcery, saying that they are are “often tortured, often cut, sexually violated, their clothes are removed and they are often kept in captivity”.

As Human Rights Watch has documented, greater resources and increased political will are needed to respond to all forms of gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea. At the recent parliamentary hearings, East Sepik Governor Allan Bird said “there are 1.4 million cases of GBV [gender-based violence] every year in PNG … and only 100 convictions achieved”.

Papua New Guinea will participate in November in the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review process under which member countries review the human rights situation in the country.

The Human Rights Watch submission for that process highlighted the issue of gender-based violence and violence following accusations of sorcery.

“Papua New Guinea’s leaders should order the police to take gender-based violence seriously, provide sufficient resources for officials to prosecute these crimes, and provide all survivors with medical treatment, shelter and access to support services,” McLennan said.

“The parliamentary inquiry should lead the way in exploring options for early warning, protection, and dispute resolution mechanisms that can help prevent such crimes.

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Prosecution of perpetrators of gender-based violence around the country still remains a massive problem for Papua New Guinea, says National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop.

He said while the issue of GBV continued to escalate in the country, perpetrators were not being brought to account and this gave them a “licence to continue”.

Parkop said this while addressing a workshop conducted by United Nations Women in Lae last week.

“We need to fix this referral pathway, because we cannot let perpetrators of GBV [avoid] the law for their actions.

“It is simply hard for women who are victims and survivors of GBV to go and get the support they need in terms of counselling, medical support and court, and for some it is hard to get justice,” Parkop said.

“Most are not able to get justice due to lack of financial support and other factors.

“There must be a support system established so that victims of GBV cannot go back to abusive relationships where some of them end up losing their lives.

Dynamics ‘unchanged’
“It is important that we fix this referral pathway and allocate money and resources to effectively address this…..because despite work done over the years to address GBV issues in the country, this has not changed the dynamics.”

He said all stakeholders, including the government and political leaders, must ensure that this issue was dealt with and must not be something that the future generation could continue to do.

A participant in the gathering and an advocate of GBV in Lae, Nellie McLay, said there was a serious need for the government to look at recommendations made some years ago and implement these to help address the issue of GBV.

McLay said women were important, equal to men and were bearers of human beings, the most important resources in the world.

But many women in PNG continued to be abused, tortured and some killed at the hand of their partners, she said.

Several participants said that when there was not much support given to victims of GBV, women continued to stay in abusive relationship and this needed to change.

Janet Kari is a PNG Post-Courier reporter.

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