SHOCKING STATISTICS! PS Ministry of Youth and Sports, Burchell: 'Over 60 per cent of women in the Pacific have been beaten by a spouse......"

3/5/2017

PS Allison Burchell

More than half of all Pacific women beaten

OVER 60 per cent of women in the Pacific have been beaten by a spouse

The Fiji Times
3 May 2017

Ministry of Youth and Sports, Permanent Secretary, Allison Burchell highlighted this during her opening speech at the Human Rights and Gender-Based Violence against Women and Children Training at Semo Village in Nadroga this week.

According to a Government statement Ms Burchell told the participants that "we need a living Constitution where it is real in our everyday lives, where we all understand our rights and our obligations."

She said the 2013 Constitution ushered in a new era - an era of equality where men and women are equal.

"We need to respect each other and if there is real respect, no-one will beat a woman or child or vulnerable person," said Ms Burchell.

"Part of this workshop will be about respect, about understanding and about dealing with difficult issues which will make you feel uncomfortable as it will challenge you and your perceptions and stereotypes," Mr Burchell said.

The training event is the third conducted through a partnership between the youth ministry and the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre.

Radrodro: Among the 60 per cent
wife beater

"I also conveyed my regrets that the Youth and Women’s Wings [of SODELPA] that champion ‘non-violence’ found it acceptable not to object to my former son-in-law [Aseri Radrodro, above] who brutally beat up my daughter before divorcing her and marrying a woman who became a senior member of the Party’s Women’s Wing and its
PR/Media Cell."
Sitiveni Rabuka to Pio Tabaiwalu,
Secretary General, SODELPA Headquarters, 31 August 2015

VIOLATED: Indo-Fijian women were gang-raped by Rabuka's soldiers after the racially motivated 1987 coups.
Fijileaks: It is another compelling reason why we must bring this man - The Devil's Agent- to TRIAL under UN conventions. The trial of four former members of Bosnian armed forces set a milestone in international justice by recognising rape as a form of torture, and as such both a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions

BETRAYING the "Children of the Indus" by sucking up to Devil's Agent

http://www.fijileaks.com/home/be-man-pro-democracy-activist-laisa-digitaki-challenges-bainimarama-to-tell-the-nation-who-was-behind-her-and-other-activists-beatings

8 Comments

Dekho

3/5/2017 11:47:48 am

Did the 1970 Independence Constitution and the 1997 Reeves Constitution say it was okay for a man to beat a woman?
Living constitution my foot . The 2013 constitution is a constitution that was designed by the Bainimarama dictatorship and IMPOSED on the people of Fiji. No amount of sugar coating by hired hands will change that fact.

maropito

3/5/2017 12:07:21 pm

Victor you have forgotten Bainimara's name in 60%.

Welcome Home

3/5/2017 12:45:17 pm

The statistics given by PS Allison Burchill may seem shocking to some. Let's be plain: in the case of Fiji, they are understated. I am a mother and a grandmother. My duty has been to protect family and staff. There have been multiple occasions when a failure to do so has produced pronounced upset. In courts throughout Fiji from 2002 to 2013, one has gone into court to aid and strengthen witnesses to some very traumatic events and crimes. Mostly female victims or witnesses but not only females. Many were overwhelmed by their treatment. Threats were uttered in the courthouse itself by perpetrators still undergoing Due Process or their Hangers On. Organised criminals have various and multifarious channels. This is precisely why chambers of commerce must be found accountable if they provide a Safe Harbour for serious crime. Notwithstanding these lapses, in the Nothern Division reports of rough handling were being received. A Japanese lady petitioner was back-handed by the very Government Official from whom she was seeking assistance. Hospital treatment was required and her distraught husband sought support. Was anyone prepared to assist on the ground? Even after the tumult of 2000 and the demonstrated bravery of the Labasa Police Officers - men and women - no one dared come through. The phenomenon of augmented brutality in the absence of the Rule of Law is thus indicated. The monthly documented cases of rape and sexual assault are now morphing into alleged 'Gang Rape'? That is a known progression. Check Latin America and Mexico where impunity so often reigns through ..... IMMUNITY!

Gulong

3/5/2017 04:11:50 pm

Of course, if you include Papua Bew Guinea with its 6 million people in the Pacific with the region's total population of about 7milliom and when you factor in the huge problem of gender violence that occurs in that country where it's Constitution permits men to have multiple wives of course you are going to get skewed statistics for the region. The UN is notorious for the manipulation of data to develop a picture to support a particular stance and ideology.Why can't statistics kn Fiji be presented? We want to know what the picture is in Fiji so that it can be fixed. And as culture is one of the determining variables when trying to understand and respond to the challenge of gender violence under Khaiyum's directive we will not know in which communities is the problem most acute because statistics in Fiji are no longer dileniatef by race. This is why you get absurd cases of uninformed and easily fooled expatriate puppets of the central administration mouthing offf questionable supra national statistics to deal with a particular national issue

Tomasi Tabanidalo

4/5/2017 02:14:28 am

Aseri radrodro and meli bainimarama are known wife beaters. Both beat their wife's senseless and are now claiming moral high ground. Bainimarama's henchmen tortured many women activists and subjected them to degrading acts. Rabuka's henchmen did much worse to the indo-fijian sisters. all women abusers will end up in hell

Chiku

4/5/2017 03:46:59 am

It's amazing isn't it that nearly 5 decades after independence Fiji needs to recruit an expatriate as PS for Ministry of Youth and Sports!
Who then holds workshops to educate natives about everything!

Welcome Home

5/5/2017 05:31:39 pm

Unfortunately for Fiji, there is a longish verifiable history of these 'Specialists' being recruited at extraordinary sums and packages. Try the SWG9 the Goverment Planning Committee for Justice, Law and Order: LAST of nine. Five expatriates were recruited in 2005 when PM Laisenia Qarase was in place. They appeared to be each earning around F$250,000 each plus housing, car etc etc. the local members were not even permitted to claim per diems despite travelling long distances four times per annum to attend. But we accepted this as a necessary 'pro bono patria' situation. Silly us! The experience we gained was beyond price. It has never been forgotten: not by a long-shot.

Chiku

6/5/2017 09:58:13 pm

So much about Bainimarama's ideological craftsman Khaiyum's claim to bringing a " paradigm change " under their rule. To dismantling the colonial order we had inherited and designing a more authentic Fijian specific order. Apart from tokenistic, and cosmetic stuff like Fiji honour awards ( mostly for regime sycophants) and the flag change nonsense, not TOO MUCH has change. This hiring of expatriate " specialists " is a stark reminder that our colonial hangover is not over!

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