Gender, child violence warning
Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Mereseini Vuniwaqa encouraged villagers of Votua in Lekutu, Bua, to fight against the social evils of abuse, sexual assault and rape of women and children.
She made this statement while opening the Votua Women’s Resource Centre on Saturday.
“The communities, Government and churches should work together in eradicating violence against women and children,” Ms Vuniwaqa said. “We read it in the newspapers, see it on the television and hear it on the radio … the high number of children and women being abused, raped or sexually assaulted every day.”
Ms Vuniwaqa said the Government alone could not eradicate the social ills.
“Fiji stands very highly when we compare our statistics with other countries worldwide. We have one of the highest numbers of sexual assault of women and sexual violence against women and children,” she said.
“The Government is doing a lot in preaching about it and putting in place programmes to alleviate this problem. “The Government can’t do it alone. We need the communities, we need the church to stand by the efforts of the Government so that we spread this message across to every family, every church and every religious denomination.”
She added: “We are all saying the same message to our children, brothers and sisters and the hope is that one day we can get through and will be able to fight against this evil in our society.”