THE recently concluded two-day inquiry conducted by the Special Parliamentary Committee on Gender Based Violence (GBV) which commenced on May 24th-25th in Port Moresby has identified the lack in capacity and funding to be the main obstacles faced by the relevant government departments and sectors when addressing GBV through their respective agencies.
The inquiry for the first time in the history of Papua New Guinea has brought together different governmental departments, the non- government organizations, churches and sectors within government bodies that gathered to hear concerns as well as finding solutions and giving recommendations to the committee as to how best the ongoing issues of GBV can be addressed.
An estimated statistics of 1.4 million Papua New Guineans have been subjected to Gender Based Violence annually. Within the last two years, the Police have recorded a total number of 30, 238 family Sexual Violence Unit (FSVU) cases around the country with 550 arrests and 180 convictions.
The committee has held the inquiry specifically to identify the root problems within the key agencies in Government and NGOs as to why most perpetrators of GBV and Sorcery Accusation Related violence (SARV) are not being prosecuted.
The committee also focused on identifying better solutions and recommendations on how best to address the ongoing issues of Gender Based Violence.
Some of the main challenges faced by both NGO’s and government sectors as to why perpetrators of GBV as well as SARV are not being prosecuted include:
- The lack of resources and support from the police to arrest and charge perpetrator.
- Less number of police prosecutors to deal with GBV and SARV cases.
- Safety of women is not guaranteed when in police custody.
- High profile perpetrators walked away freely due to bribery.
- Challenges faced when trying to get an Interim Protection Order (IPO)
- No proper access or legal representation in Family Court.
There were also some recommendations made to better address cases relating to GBV and SARV both in the government and NGOs. These include:
- The need for more “safe house” to keep victims of SARV.
- A call to have the “glass man” or so called “witch man” to be prosecuted.
- The need for better implementation of the education curriculum.
- Encourage proper administrative data relating to GBV in all sectors and agencies.
- A holistic approach is needed to address the issue of GBV.
- A need for proper rehabilitation centers for the GBV victims.
The police in response to questions asked by the inquiry on the plans in place to further improve the Family and Sexual Violence Unit said that the main challenge faced by the force is the lack of resources and man power to fulfill their duty.
Director for Family and Sexual Violence Unit in Port Moresby, Superintendent Delilah Sandeka told the committee that the main purpose of the unit is to provide protection for women under the Law, especially the victims, and to hold offenders and perpetrators accountable under the Law.
“We have 46 FSVU established throughout the country. FSVU has been established only in 19 provinces. Three provinces that FSVU has not been established yet are Kavieng, West New Britain and Wewak.
“Though we have established FSVU in those provinces, I will honestly say that we will still need more human resources and fully maintain those units because right now, we have the highest, about five police officers in one particular FSVU and that is not enough,” she said.
Police Commissioner David Manning said the FSVU under the RPNGC plans to improve the FSVU and SARV has been incorporated in the 2021-2030 Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) corporate plan.
Department of Justice and Attorney General (DJAG) as well as the Office of the Public Prosecutor and the Public Solicitor were also invited before the inquiry to explain the legal processes as well as the administrative functions and plans in place to further improve the prosecution process starting from the police leading to the different stages of court proceedings to ensure efficiency and accessibility to justice is paramount to all victims of GBV and SARV.
Director for the Office of the Public Prosecutions Mr Pondros Kaluwin told the committee that the main issue faced is because of capacity and man power issues.
“The Family and Sexual Violence Unit alone has 44 Lawyers. Twenty two of these lawyers are women and 22 of them are men.
“Currently, there is only one lawyer in each province responding to all cases in the FSVU.
“There should be a minimum of five Lawyers representing the Family and Sexual Unit in each Province
Some of the constraints faced by the FSVU include:
- Less number of police prosecutors and lawyers in the FSVU.
- Victims withdrawing the case and witnesses refusing to testify.
- Delay in accessing IPO.
- Complaint lodge at different time intervals.
- Remoteness and geographical challenges.
- Lack of training for the village court officials.
- Village court officials charging fees on victims which they aren’t supposed to.
Deputy Secretary for DJAG Mirriam Kias told the committee that the department is currently working on improving the village court and to better train magistrates and lawyers who can deal with the case.
“We going to continue with the current structural set up that we have. The government will really look at resourcing our people in terms of increasing the ceilings, bringing in more investigators and prosecutors.
Meanwhile, funding has yet remained one of the biggest issues at hand for all government departments that have presented before the Committee.
The committee chairman and member for Alotau, Charles Abel has requested treasury for a funding of K10 million annually for a five year roll out of the GBV strategic plan.
The Committee Chairman said from that 10 million funding, K5 million will go towards establishing the GBV Secretariat and the other K5 million will go towards assisting the public prosecutor’s office and the police mainly in the area of human resource capacity.
Minister for Treasury and Kavieng MP, Ian Ling-Stuckey in response to the committee said that the fund, however will not be available as there are comprehensive program and documentation by other relevant government agencies to be ready before the funding will be made available.
The approach now is for the committee to establish the secretariat. The committee also thanked the United Nations, the UNDP and the European Union and the Australian government for their continuous support in the fight to end GBV in the country.
The committee commended the work of the NGOs to continue to do what they are doing, stating that the government’s role now is to coordinate and to be directly involved in the prosecution, and the whole Justice process including funding for the CIS rehabilitation to be up and functioning.