A workshop on multi-sectoral services’ response to violence began today at the Gateway Hotel in Port Moresby.
Melissa Alvarado, Regional representative of UN Women, said Papua New Guinea becomes the 10th country to hold a multi-sectoral meeting to discuss multi-sectoral services in responding to violence against women and girls in Papua New Guinea.
She said statistics has it that at least one in three girls in PNG experience violence of some form daily.
To take the workshop forward, important objectives were presented as follows:
- To review progress, share achievements and lessons learned in strengthening the multi-sectoral responses to gender-based violence against women and girls in Papua New Guinea;
- To introduce the tools, guidance and political mandates or implementing multi-sectoral services to address gender-based violence against women and girls with a focus on the police, justice, social and health sector and the roles of coordination and governance;
- To identify next steps for strengthening and implementing an essential package of coordinated multi-sectoral services across the country based on the guidance and tools;
- To identify areas for multi-sectoral collaboration and joint UN support on addressing gender based violence against women and girls in Papua New Guinea.
Secretary for Department of Justice and Attorney General, Eric Kwa, who opened the workshop today, expressed that Department of Law and Justice would like to work with the churches, the youth on the streets and civil society organisations such as Ginigoada.
The workshop that started today will end on Thursday 30th May.
Spearheaded by UNFPA, UN Women and WHO, it gathered members of the community from relevant sectors including the health sector, police, Department of Justice and Attorney General, Family & Sexual Violence Committee, Human Right Defenders, Village Courts and others including National Research Institute.
(Participants at the workshop)
