This report details data from 6,176 icidents of gender-based or sorcery accussation-related violence collected by seven women’s and human rights defenders’ organisations working across five provinces in Papua New Guinea. These organisations provide safe houses, counselling and crisis support to survivors of violence. The data analysis seeks to understand the type of violence inflicted, who is affected and who are reported as the perpetrators.
Poverty data in Fiji is derived from household income and expenditure data, collected via periodic Household Income and Expenditure Surveys. Given gender inequality within households can be significant, assessing individual poverty by using household data and then assuming all household members have the same access to resources and opportunities is problematic. Household-level measurement also means accurate disaggregation of data is impossible. This makes the work of policy makers and advocates harder, masking differences rather than revealing them so they can be addressed.
To better understand the nature and availability of counselling services for gender-based violence, a survey involving a self-assessment questionnaire was conducted to map counselling service providers across 14 Pacific Island countries. This was followed up with 47 key stakeholder interviews and nine focus group discussions. In-country consultations were also conducted in Fiji and Vanuatu. Fiji was selected because it has a wide range of counselling services and Vanuatu was selected as it provided an opportunity to review a model for delivering services across a dispersed island group.
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.
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.
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.
The project aims to add content to the international legal principle of due diligence in the context of state responsibility to end violence against women. It seeks to create compliance indicators that are concrete and measurable across regions. The project examines four questions:
- What is generally understood to be the content of the due diligence principle - by governments, civil society advocates, and international legal scholars and experts working on violence against women?
The Tongan study shows that violence against women is prevalent:
- 79% of Tongan women and girls have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
- 68% of Tongan women and girls are affected by physical violence perpetrated by mainly their fathers or teachers.
- 33% of married or ever partnered women are victims of physical violence.
- 17% of married or ever partnered women are victims of sexual violence.
- 24% of married or ever partnered women are subject to emotional violence.
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.
This report provides findings from a study conducted with men in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea on their use of violence against women. The study questioned 10,000 men in nine sites in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. Men were asked about their use and experiences of violence, gendered attitudes and practices, childhood, sexuality, family life and health.
Lessons from the UNFPA’s process of conducting researching violence against women in Kiribati and Solomon Islands included:
- There is overwhelming evidence that the studies in the Solomon Islands and Kiribati were generally been carried out appropriately and effectively.
- There is an overriding sense of achievement, all field workers came back safely and intact, a phenomenal job was done and an enormous amount of data was collected with high response rates and disclosure rates.
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.
This study deals with research on eight critical areas of concern covered in the Revised Pacific Platform for Action 2005-2015: education, health, climate change and environment, economic empowerment, gender mainstreaming, leadership and decision-making, violence against women and human rights.
While gender research on each issue exists in one way or another in the Pacific, there are many unknowns as to the scope, nature, and quality of this research. This study therefore:
- Maps and provides a gap analysis of existing gender research in the eight thematic areas.
Fiji has one of the highest rates of domestic and sexual violence in the world with almost two-thirds of the country’s women experiencing domestic or sexual violence during their lifetime. This has serious negative impacts on individuals, families, communities and workplaces. For the three companies included in this study, the high rates of domestic and sexual violence translate into lost staff time and reduced productivity that is equivalent to almost 10 days of lost work per employee each year.
Researchers from Australian National University, University of Papua New Guinea and the Lae University of Technology explored the connections between women’s experiences of seeking support to address family and sexual violence and their children’s well-being and opportunities for education in Papua New Guinea’s second largest city, Lae in April 2018. The research involved community focus group discussions town-hall style meetings, individual in-depth semi-structured interviews and meetings with service providers including police, the public solicitor’s office, schools and Femili PNG.
A report from Femili PNG and the Australian National University (ANU) shows that the issuing of protection orders by the Lae District Court is becoming more efficient. The data, was collected by Femili PNG and analysed by the ANU, covered almost three years from August 2014 to May 2018. The data showed that the average time taken to get an interim protection order (IPO) is 15.9 days. Almost one fifth (18%) were issued on the same day, and around half (51%) were issued within a week.
A report from Femili PNG and the Australian National University (ANU) shows that the issuing of protection orders by the Lae District Court is becoming more efficient. The data, was collected by Femili PNG and analysed by the ANU, covered almost three years from August 2014 to May 2018. The data showed that the average time taken to get an interim protection order (IPO) is 15.9 days. Almost one fifth (18%) were issued on the same day, and around half (51%) were issued within a week.
This study was a collaborative effort between the Tuvalu Ministry of Home Affairs, the Gender Affairs Department of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Fusi Alofa Association of Tuvalu (Tuvalu’s Disabled Persons’ Organisation).
This study was a collaborative effort between the Tuvalu Ministry of Home Affairs, the Gender Affairs Department of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Fusi Alofa Association of Tuvalu (Tuvalu’s Disabled Persons’ Organisation).
The State, Society and Governance in Melanesia program at the Australian National University and the International Women’s Development Agency undertook the Do No Harm research project in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea to understand whether and in what ways economic inclusion and empowerment initiatives affect women’s experience of violence.