Minister for Women, Mereseini Vuniwaqa the statistic of 72 % of Fijian women affected by some form of violence in their lifetime, makes our country rank amongst the highest in terms of violence against women and girls.
While speaking at the consultation on the development of the Gender-Based Violence National Shelter Guideline, Vuniwaqa said that 10 women were killed at the hands of their partners last year.
The Minister says so far in 2020, the Fiji Police Force has recorded 1,545 cases of assault-related offences against women which includes murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, infanticide, serious assault and act with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm, assault causing actual bodily harm, common assault and 99 cases of sexual offences.
There were 573 cases of crimes against children and 1,644 cases of crimes against women recorded by police.
Vuniwaqa says these alarming statistics are a bitter reminder that our women and children are not living a life free from violence as they would in an ideal world.
She says as agencies that work with survivors of gender-based violence, they are aware that this issue is not only devastating for survivors of violence and their families but also entails significant social and economic cost.
The Minister also says that numerous studies have shown that children growing up with violence are more likely to become survivors themselves or perpetrators of violence.
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