Posted on July 24, 2008 - by Frank

UN & Fiji Work Together to Find Ways to End Violence Against Women

Fiji along with 9 other countries has been selected for a United Nations pilot project on Violence Against Women. Participants from government, civil society, including faith based organizations, the UN and AusAid are at a three day workshop, which is in the final day today, to deliberate on a report on Fiji with regard to this issue; and the way forward.

By 2010, the UN intends to have established joint programming on violence against women through pilot programmes in 10 countries. A Task Force has been set up following the UN Secretary-General’s in-depth study on Violence against Women mandated by the UN General Assembly resolution 58/185. They will provide enhanced support to national level efforts under a multi-stakeholder joint programming framework that will involve governments, civil societies, UN agencies, and donors.

The UN taskforce will look at lessons learned from the pilots and develop a manual which will be used for other countries. The joint programming on violence against women has been initiated in 10 pilot countries, bringing together UN entities, governments and NGOs in a common effort. The 10 identified pilot countries are Burkina Faso and Rwanda (Africa); Jamaica (the Caribbean); Paraguay and Chile (Latin America); Fiji (the Pacific); the Philippines (Asia); Jordan and Yemen (the Middle-East); and, Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia).

“The countries have been chosen for a number of reasons. In the case of Fiji, the fact that Fiji has a National Plan of Action on Women; a very strong civil society and women’s activists movement; UN agencies based here that are committed to working together; and a high incidence of violence against women – has contributed to its selection,” says UN Taskforce Coordinator, Ms Upala Devi from UNFPA New York.

The aim of the workshop is to formulate a strategy for Fiji to address violence against women by identifying entry points, as well as linkages, with existing interventions on violence against women. It will also determine the roles and opportunities of agencies, including the UN to plan and contribute to initiatives to stop violence against women.

An updated baseline report titled, Country Assessment on Violence against Women: Fiji, was prepared which reveals that 457 cases of domestic violence were reported to the Fiji Police Force in 2007, and the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre received 685 new clients for domestic violence in the same year.

The assessment further indicates that according to police statistics, sexual assault and harassment is prevalent across all age groups, with the largest group of victims falling between 11-15 years old, and reported cases of sexual assault have increased steadily over the past 5 years, with a 155 percent increase from 2003 to 2007.

The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre, in collaboration with a representative of the Task Force, and agencies such as UNICEF, UNFPA, AusAID and others, presented the findings of the updated assessment at the Southern Cross Hotel in Suva yesterday.

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For more information, please contact:

Mr. Najib Assifi,
Director Pacific Sub-Regional Office and UNFPA Representative

UNFPA Pacific Sub-Regional Office
Level 5, FNPF Place
SUVA, FIJI
Phone: (679) 3308022
Fax: (679) 3312785
Email: assifi@unfpa.org

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund - because everyone counts