Laws ‘fail to protect women'

[Stacey King]

FIJI TIMES ONLINE Thursday, June 11, 2009

The narrowness of criminal laws to cater for specific forms of violence against women and girls, apart from assault, is a major concern. This is the view of Maere Tekanene, the Kiribati participant at the Fifth Pacific Regional Meeting on Violence against Women being held at the Naviti Resort.

She said it was challenging to convince male leaders "of the reliability of alarming statistics on violence against women".

"Apart from male attitudes, some women accept violence perpetrated against them, blaming themselves," she said.

The Tonga National Centre for Women and Children (TNCWC), the main organisation for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse, received 102 domestic violence cases, six sexual violence cases and four child abuse reports since January.