Tabuya and Opposition MPs clash in parliament on whether enough is being done to combat gender based violence

Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection, Lynda Tabuya says gender based violence is not just the Ministry’s responsibility to deal with as it is a whole of government and society approach however the Opposition says the government is not doing enough and needs to step up in it’s enforcement of the laws.

Opposition MP Rinesh Sharma had raised the question on there being a lot of talk about better future, policies and events but what about the present.

Sharma says while there is support for the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and Women’s Economic Empowerment Plan, what is the Ministry doing to take care of women who are victims of crimes in Fiji.

Tabuya says in the last 10 years, the statistics have not changed where two out of three women continue to face violence in their lifetime.

She says it has not changed under the previous government and with the development of the National Action Plan, the key is preventing violence before it starts.

The Minister says we need to take a different approach to actually address the root causes of violence against women and girls and that is patriarchy.

She says if MPs Premila Kumar and Sharma look at key settings under the National Action Plan, the traditional leaders say they have come together to even discuss gender based violence.

Tabuya says developing healthy relationships between boys and girls, values based education is something the previous government did not address in the past and this needs to be inculcated in the education curriculum.

She says boys and men have not been engaged in the past and something they will be doing differently this time.

The Minister says as they implement this National Action Plan, they will be conducting a survey which will inform a communications campaign and the messaging to the members of the public on how to prevent violence before it starts, and that is within their four-year plan.

Opposition MP Premila Kumar says whatever they say now, they’ve all done during their time, however, they have to move forward.

Kumar says there are certain things that have not been covered, not even in Parliament, not even by laws, and it is of great concern.

She says we can learn from other countries, like, for example, coercive control which is now taken very seriously in other parts of the world.

Kumar say they would like to see that this is also included in the Ministry’s plan, to change the legislation, and make it criminal, so that we can protect women who suffer in silence.