Two women lost their lives this year alone at the hands of their husbands while 53 women have lost their lives over the past 11 years.
Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre Coordinator, Shamima Ali highlighted this during the launch of 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women and 30th Anniversary of FWCC’s Labasa Branch.
Ali says even the justice system does not support women and often they don’t get the justice they require, and also within the political system, powerful men are protected.
She says perpetrators who do these things often go unpunished and when they go unpunished, it is a problem in the law enforcement itself.
The Coordinator says communities blame women when they are raped, because of the way they dress, where they went to, how they behaved and so on while the perpetrator gets away.
Ali says three out of five women in Fiji suffer from domestic violence abuse, however a significant amount of cases go unreported.
She further says the landscape of violence against women is evolving, with technology-facilitated abuse and the increasing role of drugs in fueling sexual and physical violence emerging as particularly concerning issues. She says that they are also engaging with ex-police officers, Turaga-ni-Koro and youth leaders to bring them together and advocate on the issue.
Ali adds this will motivate them to take action and educate other men in their communities on who to treat women with love and respect.
While responding to our questions, Acting Commissioner of Police, Juki Fong Chew says the actions of a few are not representative of the way the organisation perceives cases of gender based violence.
Chew says they have disciplinary measures in place to deal with officers that don’t acknowledge the cases and they are encouraging people to share the information so that the officers can be dealt with.
He says these issues can be addressed in a timely manner rather than waiting for specific moments to bring them to their attention.
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