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.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Standing silently, the 8-year-old girl in Papua New Guinea could only watch as her mother was stripped and tortured until she succumbed to her injuries, catching her last breath in front of her daughter last Wednesday.

The woman, identified as Lorna Nico, 39, from Kira LLG in the Sohe district, was married to a man from Mumeng and moved to Bulolo to be with the husband and start a family.

Lorna Nico died after being tortured in front of her daughter after a so-called “prayer warrior” accused her of having satanic powers and being a witch, bringing bad luck into the community.

She was tortured so badly that salt was used to pour into her wounds causing her more pain while her daughter watched her die.

The bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Reverend Jack Urame, condemned the actions of the community in Mumeng, saying that the mixing of religion and sorcery was “not what the Bible taught”.

He said there was “a shift in people using Christianity to identify suspected sorcerers which was now being used to destroy families and commit murders”.

“Using Christianity as a means to enact killings against those accused of sorcery is an idea condemned by the churches. I as the head of the Lutheran Church do not promote such
acts and I condemn the actions taken against the innocent family,” Reverend Urame said.

‘Prayer warrior’ accused
Morobe Rural police commander Superintendent David Warap said that the use of the “prayer warrior” pushed the community to commit the torture and the killing.

“The prayer warrior, using the name of the Lord, started performing a prayer ritual and was describing and naming people in the village who she claimed had satanic powers and were killing and causing people to get sick, have bad luck and struggle in finding education, finding jobs and doing business,” Superintendent Warap said.

“Upon the woman’s announcement, youths and villagers agreed to kill Lorna and when the village councillors and mediation group tried to stop them, they threatened the group,” he added.

Lorna Nico saw the group coming and told her family to run.

“She had with her, her 8-year-old who she was trying to drag and run,” Superintendent Warap said.

“She looked ahead to her older children and told them to run for their lives. The group of men quickly surrounded Lorna, dragged her and her daughter back to the village and proceeded with the torture.”

Children fled in fear
After Lorna Nico died, the group of men left her out in the sun and then they dug a hole and threw her in, covering her body with a canvas.

The children, in fear of their lives, left the village and walked with several other villagers to the nearest police station.

Police got to the scene and removed the body and took the body to Angau Hospital morgue in Lae where the corpse will be examined.

The family have now petitioned the Bulolo MP Sam Basil Jr to ensure the police investigate the case and arrests are made.

The petition also states that the woman who was brought in as a “prayer warrior” should be identified and dealt with by police for falsely accusing their mother.

They have also demanded that the rule of law must prevail and they would not accept any form of compensation for their loss.

Police are continuing their investigation.

Sorcery accusation-related violence (SARV) in Papua New Guinea is a growing social crisis.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A Papua New Guinean primary school teacher has been arrested for allegedly torturing a woman with a hot knife in sorcery-related violence in Southern Highlands’ Kagua Erave last year.

Southern Highlands commander Chief Inspector Daniel Yangen said the 35-year-old teacher, from Aiya’s Pawayamo village, was arrested on Monday.

He said the teacher was sighted in Mendi town by an informant who alerted the Mendi Criminal Investigation Department.

The teacher is charged with three counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and five counts of kidnapping.

Chief Inspector Yangen said the three women who died from the sorcery-torture had been identified as Yondopame Kama, Nancy Gibson and Bale Mana. The two survivors are Magdah Michael and Maria Cedric.

He said the five women were accused of killing a man through sorcery and were held captive on December 4 in Pawayamo village.

Three died from injuries suffered in the ordeal and the two survivors are now under police protection.

Video went viral
Chief Inspector Yangen said the teacher was believed to have pressed a hot knife onto the body of Mana who was crying in the middle of video a that went viral on social media. Mana died.

“The teacher was clearly identified in the last part of the video wearing a black round neck shirt, long trousers carrying a bilum bag,” Chief Inspector Yangen said.

“He is armed with a bush knife with his left hand which he used in the middle of the video with a piece of cloth as mask covering his face to protect his identity and [sunglasses] on his head.

“A well-educated man is supposed to educate and refrain people from humiliating innocent mothers and women in public. We will hunt down his accomplices,” Chief Inspector Yangen said.

“The first arrest in the murders was a ward councillor charged under the Summary Offences Act for obstruction of police duties. He is now out on K500 court bail.

“Our next target is the Usa ward councillor. He was the one who assured Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Anton Billie that he would work with the police to identify the suspects, but has gone into hiding.

‘More arrests soon’
“We will continue with investigations and more arrests will be made soon. We will not rest until the uncivilised perpetrators are arrested.”

He said police needed help from the local government presidents, councillors, village court magistrates, women leaders and church groups to provide information to arrest the suspects.

The video of the torture of the women posted on social media prompted urgent police investigations.

The United Nations condemned the recent sorcery accusation-related violence and called for the immediate prosecution of those responsible.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Prime Minister James Marape says Papua New Guineans who continue to commit crimes under the pretext of “sorcery” must be arrested and charged by police.

Marape was responding to questions asked by The National in relation to the death of Mary Kopari who was killed by an angry mob over allegations of sorcery in Margarima, Hela.

“People shouldn’t be killing women or girls over sorcery, as far as Papua New Guinea is concerned,” he said.

“Killing someone accused of sorcery is illegal, so police should be doing their job.

“We discourage anyone from killing another over sorcery, if you feel that someone has caused an offence, there are appropriate charges to be laid against that person”

The special Parliamentary Committee on Gender-Based Violence chairman, Charles Abel, has written a letter to Police Commissioner David Manning requesting for information on actions taken over:

• sorcery accusations related killing in Hela; and
• the systematic police response to sorcery accusation-related violence.

Information needed by Monday
Abel said the information must be provided to the committee secretariat no later than Monday.

Hela police have told The National that eight suspects were identified in the horror torture and killing.

Officer-in-charge of Hela CID Sergeant Daniel Olabe said after the killing that there had been a confrontation between the woman’s family and the husband’s family.

“From the video, we have identified eight men who tortured the woman.”

However, no charges have yet been made.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz