Family and sexual violence

The campaign for ‘Happy Homes, Healthy Mindsets and Mission Focused’, was rolled out to Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) personnel at Igam Barracks in Lae by Santos Foundation in close partnership with the PNGDF Gender Committee, the Morobe Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee, Lae Femili PNG and Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited.

However, this requires respect for human rights for both men and women and challenge to the gender and social norms that lead to violence, discrimination and injustice.

After witnessing an increase in the rates of family and sexual violence (FSV) in his community, Alphonse Pemuko took it upon himself to educate and counsel mostly male perpetrators.

In PNG, when we talk about GBV, we think of men as perpetrators, says Wesh Siku.

He is the project coordinator for 1-Tok Kaunselin with Child Fund PNG.

He says 1-Tok Kaunselin Helpim Lain project was set up to help women and children going through Family and Sexual Violence. 

But with the launch of the project in August 20, the first call in was from a man.

Two more calls that followed were also from men.  

“That made us to stop and think,” he said.

Now, almost 2 years, the centre has had well over 6000 calls, 50 percent of which are from men.

This common issue reduces productivity, increases absenteeism and increases costs associated with employee turnover and security.

And again, women are more often the victims.

Because of this, the Business Coalition for Women (BCFW) has stepped in to help businesses address this issue.

Lesieli Taviri, chairperson of BCFW and CEO of PNG Origin, was part of a panel to discuss on FSV. This eventuated during a newly-introduced live question and answer program, aired by TVWan, last Wednesday.