An overall of 72% of all partnered women experience physical, sexual or emotional violence from their husband or partner, and many of these had suffered from all 3 forms of abuse.
This was highlighted by Minister for Women Mereseini Vuniwaqa who was speaking on a research published in 2013 by the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre.
Vuniwaqa was speaking at the Regional Consultation on Gender and the Law: Implementation of Domestic Violence Legislation which is being held in Nadi.
She further quoted from the research that 34 percent of women who have ever been in an intimate relationship have experienced violence by a husband or intimate partner in their lifetime and 24 percent are suffering from physical or sexual partner violence today, while 58 percent experienced emotional violence in their lifetime.
Vuniwaqa says she agrees with the author of the research, who had highlighted that 'though Fiji has an image of itself as a society that values family, children and community, the figures highlighted paint a different picture'.
She says the efforts directed towards this area of work in Fiji results from the commitment of the Fijian government to make a life free from violence a reality for every Fijian woman.
She says they have a no‑drop policy on domestic violence and the Domestic Violence Act of 2009 for the protection of victims of domestic and gender based violence.
Vuniwaqa says the Ministry recently received a budgetary allocation $100,000 to set up the Domestic Violence Support fund which is aimed to give some monetary relief to victims of domestic violence while they strive to stand on their own feet.
The forum ends tomorrow.
