Policies to address gender-based violence should reach the Bose Vanua, where discussions can filter down to communities and families.
This was a suggestion from Ratu Isikeli Mara, grandson of the late Tui Lau and former President, Ratu Kamisese Mara, while speaking at the Pacific Islands Health Research Symposium.
He says traditional leaders need to be more involved in efforts to address gender-based violence.
While significant emphasis is placed on taking issues to Provincial Council meetings, he says there may not be enough engagement with the Bose Vanua.
He says this could be contributing to a lack of community buy-in for some initiatives.
Ratu Isikeli says Provincial Council meetings have an important role, particularly when discussing development and Government programmes, but the Bose Vanua provides a different space for traditional leaders to discuss sensitive social issues.
He says anyone who has attended both meetings would recognise the difference in how discussions take place.
Ratu Isikeli says chiefs are able to have deeper discussions at the Bose Vanua, with issues raised there able to filter down through traditional structures to the Tokatoka and ultimately the family unit.
He says this is particularly important in addressing gender-based violence, as efforts to change attitudes and behaviour need to reach families and communities.
Ratu Isikeli also stresses the importance of beginning awareness and sensitisation at an early age, before children become adults, enter relationships or start their own families.
He says everyone is born into and raised within a family, and preparing children properly at home can influence the choices and behaviours they carry into adulthood.
Ratu Isikeli also agrees with the call by Ro Naulu Mataitini, Turaga Na Vunivalu of Nukunitabua and a member of the Great Council of Chiefs, for traditional leadership to be brought into discussions on gender-based violence.
He says traditional institutions generally do not intrude into spaces unless they are invited, and this may be one reason they have not been sufficiently involved in previous discussions.
Ratu Isikeli says that in the past, Government and NGOs may have considered engagement through Provincial Council meetings sufficient, without recognising the need to separately engage traditional leaders.
He says addressing gender-based violence requires engagement at both levels, with traditional leadership having the ability to take these discussions deeper into communities and families.
