136 results
 Pacific Data Hub

Key findings from this research into women’s and girl’s experiences of menstruation in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands are:

- Adolescent girls and women face a number of challenges that influence their ability to manage menstruation effectively and with dignity; these challenges interact, and have the potential to negatively influence physical and emotional health, participation at school, work and in the community, and impact the environment.

 Pacific Data Hub

This volume critically interrogates the relation between gender violence and human rights as Fiji, Papua New Guinea nad Vanuatu and their communities and citizens engage with, appropriate, modify and at times resist human rights principles and their implications for gender violence. It is grounded in extensive anthropological, historical and legal research.

Chapter titles are:

- Villages, Violence and Atonement in Fiji.

- ‘Lost in Translation’: Gender Violence, Human Rights and Women’s Capabilities in Fiji.

 Pacific Data Hub

The case studies of coalitions in Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and Tonga highlight four influential factors in the formation and functioning of coalitions:
Formative events: What brought people together to ‘do something’ in a concerted way? For example, the torture and death of a woman in a sorcery-related violence incident generated the impetus for the formation of the Papua New Guinea coalition examined in this study. Whether formative events are locally or externally driven appears to mould the future shape of a coalition and how it functions.

 Pacific Data Hub

Findings from participatory action research undertaken with family and sexual violence service providers, advocates, businesses, and their employees in Papua New Guinea strongly indicate that workplace strategies should be modified to reflect cultural and other contextual specificities. In particular, workplace strategies should reflect local understandings about what constitutes family and sexual violence; who may perpetrate it and who may be victimised by family and sexual violence; and what supports are available to victims of family and sexual violence.

 Pacific Data Hub

This study analysed a random selection of 908 cases from seven Pacific Island countries, including 111 domestic violence cases and 787 sexual assault cases. Each case is analysed to determine whether gender stereotypes, customary reconciliation (e.g. apology, forgiveness) or other contentious factors were considered during sentencing. Contentious factors are those factors which, when used in mitigation by the court, discriminate against the victim on the basis of her gender.

 Pacific Data Hub

The Sorcery Act criminalised the use of sorcery for ‘evil purposes’. It was repealed in 2013 in the wake of several high profile and gruesome killings related to sorcery accusations, because of a widespread perception that the Act could make available a defence in cases involving violence toward suspected sorcerers. In addition to repealing the Act, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill introduced a penal measure extending the death penalty to sorcery-related murders.

 Pacific Data Hub

This paper draws explicit links between witchcraft and sorcery practices and beliefs in Melanesia, and poor development outcomes. It notes four distinct categories of impact:

- The prevalence of these beliefs and practices mean that many are unwilling to engage fully in the cash economy or to exploit their particular skills or opportunities to the maximum, so as to avoid becoming a target of an attack by a sorcerer or witch motivated by envy.

 Pacific Data Hub

In 2013, widespread publicity given to the deaths of two women accused of witchcraft in Papua New Guinea drew international and national attention to the problem of sorcery and witchcraft accusation–related violence. In the face of mounting pressure to take action, including the national haus krai protest calling for an end to violence against women, the government responded by repealing the Sorcery Act 1971 and creating a new provision in the Criminal Code Act 1974 (Chapter 262).

 Pacific Data Hub

The women of Papua New Guinea endure some of the most extreme levels of violence in the world. They continue to be attacked with impunity despite their government’s promises of justice. The situation has been described as a humanitarian disaster yet still does not receive the broader public attention it deserves, inside or outside Papua New Guinea. It is also a significant obstacle to Papua New Guinea's development and prosperity.

 Pacific Data Hub

The Vanuatu study shows that violence against women is prevalent:

- Among women who have ever had an intimate sexual relationship with a partner, 60% experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime; 68% experienced emotional violence; 28% were subjected to several forms of control by their partner, 69% experienced at least one form of coercive control, and most of these were living with physical and sexual violence.

 Pacific Data Hub

The Samoan study shows that violence against women is prevalent:

- 37.6% of women who have ever been in a relationship are likely to have experienced physical abuse by their partner.

- 18.6% of women are likely to have experienced emotional abuse by their partner.

- 19.6% of women are likely to have experienced sexual abuse by their partner.

- Of women have experienced physical abuse by their partner, 23.8% had been punched, kicked or beaten while they were pregnant.

 Pacific Data Hub

Similarities across the situation analyses in Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tonga include:

- Women with disabilities make significant contributions to their communities. However, while they have similar talents, skills and experience as other women, they may be more often underrecognised and have fewer opportunities.

- Each country has a committed and active disabled persons organisation and a family health association that are in a good position to increase their focus on disability and sexuality.

 Pacific Data Hub

This webinar aimed to identify measures for a gender-aware and feminist response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and girls in the Pacific. It also sought to broaden a shared understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on women and marginalised groups in the Pacific, including on changes in women’s paid and unpaid labour.
Through a 10-year commitment, Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (Pacific Women) connects more than 170 gender equality initiatives supported by Australia and implemented by over 160 partners across 14 Pacific Island countries.

 Pacific Data Hub

Roselyn Sidal, Julie-Ann Guivarra and Jacqui Joseph in conversation with Tara Chetty about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent girls in the Pacific region. The webinar also included video messages from Natasha Stott-Despoja, Virisila Buadromo, and Yoshiko Capelle plus performance from two young women: Anna Vea and Mia Kami.

 Pacific Data Hub

This video features girls from Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu highlighting the issues experienced by girls before and after the global pandemic.
Girls also share what they want changed to address the issues faced by themselves and their peers particularly during the COVID-19 response and recovery period.

 Pacific Data Hub

Pamela, 13, is a dynamic adolescent, head girl and an active participant in one of Equal Playing Field school action groups in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea’s capital.
She was in Fiji; caught in transit between Papua New Guinea and Samoa due to changes in her connecting flight on her way to attend “A dive into the Blue Pacific” side event at the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) earlier this month.

 Pacific Data Hub

Savina Nongebatu reflects on the experiences of women with disabilities in the Solomon Islands - the challenges they face and support they need - as well as shares her vision for the future.

 Pacific Data Hub

Monica Paulus from the Women's Human Rights Defenders Network (WHRDN) Papua New Guinea works in one of the most isolated and challenging parts of the country. WHRDNprovides support to rural women escaping sorcery allegations and extreme instances of violence against women. Listen to Monica's vision for Pacific Women in the next 10 years.

 Pacific Data Hub

Adolescent girls in the Pacific face challenges because they are girls; and they can also be discriminated against for other reasons, such as having a disability or getting pregnant. In this short video, adolescent girls from the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu talk about the issues that are important to them – such as education and climate change, the challenges they face – such as violence in their homes and cyber bullying, and the strategies they believe will work to empower adolescent girls in the region.

 Pacific Data Hub

This study was commissioned to increase the visibility of young persons with disabilities to policymakers and advocates. It provides:

- An up-to-date analysis on the situation of young persons with disabilities concerning discrimination and sexual violence, including the impact on their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

- A detailed assessment of legal, policy, and programming developments and specific good practices in service delivery along with best-standard prevention and protection measures.