Crimes against Women Up

October 21, 2004 -(Fiji Times) POLICE statistics between 1997 and 2001 have indicated an alarming trend in Fiji in relation to violent crimes committed against women with 9370 cases reported to police within the five years.

This was the recent finding of the Fiji Law Reform Commission at the end of its first phase of the review of the Domestic Violence Reference Discussion Papers issued on 23 September 2004.

The report stated that the figures for 1997 compared to 2001 indicated an increase of about 24 percent. Each case could involve more than one crime.

The type of crime against women frequently reported to police included serious assault, act with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, common assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. There were 13,426 reports.

A total of 1370 reports were received by police on acts against morality of women, rape and attempted rape, indecent assault, incest, unnatural offences and defilement. And a total of 30 reports for homicide, murder, attempted murder and manslaughter, the report stated.

The report found there were not enough statistics and research in place that would give a true picture of the extent and seriousness of domestic violence in the country.

The report recommended a need for further research on domestic violence.

The workshop on Strengthening Pacific Partnerships for Eliminating Violence Against Women held in 2003 had strongly recommended that regional, national and community based research on incidences, responses and impacts of violence against women should be undertaken and shared widely.

It also recommended relevant participatory research methods, gender indicators on violence against women data systems should be used by government and non-governmental organisations for policy and programme development and action strategies.

A paper presented in 2002 highlighting the cost of violence against women in Fiji, Governor of Reserve Bank Savenaca Narube said the biggest challenge on the studies of violence against women was the lack of a central database where agencies are connected and share statistics.

He said this was a problem that was pronounced in developing countries like Fiji where each department had its own separate statistics and collation and correlation was difficult.

In 2001, a Fiji Women's Crisis Centre Report further recommended an in-depth research into domestic violence in Fiji on issues such as the development costs of domestic violence and the effects

From: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=10317