The Special Parliamentary Committee on GBV recently met in the margins of the current parliamentary session to prepare for the second public hearings.
The second public hearings will be held on 3rd and 4th March 2022 at the Parliament’s State Function Room, in Waigani.
Committee Chairman, Charles Abel said the Committee will use the hearing to encourage Government Ministers and officials to remain focused on addressing GBV, even in the lead up to the June 2022 national general election. They will ask Ministries about how they have implemented the recommendations made by the Committee in their August 2021 Report.
On 24 February, Chairman Abel during his speech on a Bill to criminalise Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (SARV), took the opportunity to highlight the work of the Committee addressing a range of critical issues, including and in addition to SARV.
He stated, “Our Committee produced a report last year, which listed 71 recommendations endorsed by the government, and we highlighted 7 urgent reforms, including the establishment of a permanent GBV committee, to convert the current special committee into a permanent one. I have given the Leader of Government Business a draft motion to make that recommendation happen and trust the leader to action that.”
Abel noted that other recommendations included the establishment of the National GBV Secretariat, counselling services, addressing SARV, providing more support for family planning and ensuring access to justice for GBV survivors.
The importance of reserved seats for women was highlighted as an urgent priority recommendation, however, Abel noted that the government appeared to be running late in tabling legislation to push through those reforms.
Committee member and NCD Governor Powes Parkop stated during a meeting that at the hearings they expect to hear from government officials working across the spectrum, from health officials, the police, prosecution and courts services responsible for investigating and prosecuting GBV crimes. “We want to know what they have done since our last hearings to fix the many gaps we identified in our August GBV repot in the national response to GBV.”
He stressed that he is particularly concerned that the Government needs to urgently approve the establishment of the National GBV Secretariat, which is tasked with driving the national GBV response. “Although the government allocated K7.93 million to the Department for Community Development and Religion in the 2022 National Budget, it won’t be spent if there isn’t a National GBV Secretariat, with a properly qualified cohort of staff who can effectively manage that funding for the benefit of GBV survivors across the country. This must be done immediately.”
UNDP is providing technical support to the Special Parliamentary Committee on GBV as part of its gender programming and the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, which aims to address GBV and support longer-term efforts to promote women’s participation and leadership in the Parliament.
The public hearings will be broadcasted on the Committee’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/PNGParlCommGBV, to enable the public to watch and participate.