Average of 6 women killed every year for the past 10 years in Fiji - Ali

An average of 6 women have been killed every year for the past 10 years in Fiji, and this is from ongoing cases of domestic violence.

This has been revealed by Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre Coordinator Shamima Ali after a research on domestic violence in the country.

She says these are just the murders of women which are documented either by the media or police apart from the cases that we only hear about and are not reported.

Ali says there is no understanding of the actual numbers but femicide or the murder of women is a growing concern in Fiji, and it needs to be addressed urgently.

Ali says men who use violence are our neighbours, our family members, our partners – and we must start treating this as a systemic problem, instead of seeing this as an issue caused by a few bad men.

Ali says Fiji has one of the highest rates of domestic violence where 64 percent of women go through sexual, physical, and emotional violence and says this is a gross violation of women’s human rights. Ali mentioned this following the recent case of the murder that occurred at an apartment complex along Robertson Road in Suva last Thursday where a 27-year-old man allegedly stabbed his 25-year-old wife to death.

Ali is making a call that there is a need to examine male behaviour and the society’s responsibility.

She says FWCC is shocked about the recent incident and asks how many more women need to die in this way for us all as Fijians to say enough is enough and all get on the same page and recognise and agree that patriarchy embedded in society is the cause of violence against women and girls.

She says we need to stop treating gender equality and gender discrimination as “sensitive” issues and pussyfooting around leaders especially male leaders so that they don’t get offended.

Ali says there is a National Prevention Plan, but it will take time to take effect, especially when a lot of effort is being put into getting various community settings to agree to the concept of equality between men and women, respecting women’s and girls' human rights.

She further says using religion and culture as excuses for men’s terrible behaviour and violence towards women and girls needs to stop and prevention can start within our own homes and wherever we are.

If you know of anyone who is undergoing domestic violence, please encourage them to seek help by calling the National Domestic Violence toll-free helpline 1560 which is available on any network for 24 hours.