07/08/2013 11:44
Prelude
For 2011 a total number of 262 clients sought the centre’s support services, including women, children and male clients. Domestic violence continues to be the most common source of support provided by WCCC, although reported cases of child abuse in 2011 have increased as have sexual violence cases including higher incidences of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment.
In 2010, a total of 354 clients had sought assistance from the WCCC – of which 274 were Domestic Violence cases. In a nutshell there has been an approximate 25% decrease in the reporting of Domestic Violence cases - which is quite significant. Upon analyzing the data collected by the WCCC, it showed that the drop had been in the referrals made by the DVU and ther Police stations. Although Referals by this particular group still dominate the referral sources in 2011, the decrease in the number as compared to 2010 is quite significant and alarming. It indicates a number of theories that can only and should only be verified by conducting a survey among survivors and their perceptions and/or experiences with reporting to the Police. The decrease noted by the WCCC is also reflected in the Ministry of Police’s reports of Domestic Violence for 2011. Their statistics have also decreased in the 2011 period.
The Tonga Police Statistics shows that there has been a significant increase in domestic violence related complaints since 2007 (116 cases), to 586 cases (2010). At the time of printing this report, the first nine months (January-September 2011) , showed there were 244 reported complaints. This already gives an indication of DV reports to the police decreasing in 2011. We are yet to establish the figures for Oct-Dec 2011.
Statistics
It has been two years since the centre was established yet WCCC’s statistics reflect the broader society trend in which more people are reporting incidences of all types of violence against women, girls and children.
Case Type and Number of Cases
Number of clients each month for 2011
The high peak season is noted between the months of January - August. However the high number of cases received in August is an anomaly - a large number of cases were referred to the centre in August although the incidents for referral occurred over a series of months. Therefore this peak is an exaggerated version of events.
Total number of cases each month for 2011
Low peak season is noted between the months March - April, November – December. Family obligations impact on the time and availability of women to report, which sees a dip in reporting during the beginning of the school year and also during church events of the year, where women often feel that obligations placed on them peak during this time, which they will priorities these obligations to their family and church obligations before their own welfare.
Neglect continues to be the most common reported form of child abuse. Other forms of child abuse, such as child sexual abuse, continue to be underreported with significant barriers making it difficult to report the actual level of these crimes. Barriers include a lack of appropriate legislation – without a Child Protection Act service providers have no legal baking to enter a situation if permission is not granted from a child’s direct guardians. Other barriers include a lack of trained personnel in institutions that work with children (such as teachers and health practitioners) to identify signs of abuse in children. Social stigma around reporting neglect is also significantly lower than reporting other types of child abuse, with significant causal factors of child neglect incorporating concepts that are culturally acceptable to discuss, such as poverty and hardship. Causal factors in other forms of child abuse are less culturally acceptable to discuss, with the role of the guardian of the child brought into question.
Despite increases in other reported cases this year such as sexual violence and sexual harassment (which incudes incest), we acknowledge that such cases are still hugely underreported. Traditional taboos result in significant barriers to victims reporting these serious crimes- victims may feel embarrassed and frightened, and may know individuals in the institutions that they are reporting to. It is also highly likely that the victim will know the perpetrator of the crime - sexual violence is most commonly committed by an individual that is known to the perpetrator. Knowledge of the perpetrator can also be a significant barrier to reporting, with the victim concerned about ongoing relationships with the perpetrator and broader societal values of speaking out against the perpetrator.
Overall the crimes of violence against women and children that are committed – including domestic violence, child abuse and sexual abuse – are the result of gender inequalities between male and female partnerships and the imbalance of power between men and women, men and younger girls and men and younger boys. An analysis of the ‘the contributing factors for violence’ category for WCCC cases indicates that a pattern of male dominance and cultural patriarchy exists and is a significant factor in most, if not all, the cases.
Women, who do not posses the same level of financial security as men and often feel the brunt of the social stigma about divorce, are often hesitant to leave violent relationships.
The system of patriarchy has a two fold impact on society’s ability to address violence against women. Firstly, patriarchy feeds into and encourages broadly held societal values that women are not of equal value to men. These attitudes result in increases in crimes of violence against women. Secondly, the patriarchal system discourages women from reporting crimes as they do not feel entitled to make a complaint, believing that their role in society is not of equal value to men, and that the opinion of men will be regarded as superior to their own.
Contributing factors data is collected by WCCC to document the reasons behind why violence occurs. Note that they are not comprehensive reasons, nor are they causes for violence, they are an aspect or feature that contribute to the violence occurring. There are different types of contributing factors that the centre uses namely: Jealousy/Direct Relationship Problems, Extended Family Relationship Problems, Financial, Extra Marital Affairs, Drugs/ Alcohol and other. Please note that the WCCC maintains the view that the overall cause for DV is gender inequality and power imbalance between male and female.
Clients can be referred from many sources. The majority of clients are referred to WCCC from the Ministry of Police Domestic Violence Unit, the Ministry of Health Hospital referrals and other NGOs and relevant entities, such as district nurses. Clients also come in of their own accord, having heard about WCCC in the media, or by word of mouth – which is collected in our statistics as walk in clients.
WCCC is based in Fanga ‘O Pilolevu on Tongatapu. Serious cases from outer islands are referred by the Police, but the vast majority of services are provided to those on Tongatapu. Please consider these when looking at the following demographic statistics, as it is not a comprehensive reflection of all of Tonga. The highest numbers of WCCC clients come from the town / inner city district and Mu’a, which has a Domestic Violence Unit at the district Police Station.
WCCC Clients by district
Clients by Religion
New cases make up the majority of work that WCCC does, with ongoing cases accounting for 4% of the counselor’s caseload.
Improvements to Statistics
It is anticipated that in 2012, the WCCC will also collect information from clients regarding their family background, past experiences with violence, current care-duties, extended family support systems, and access to recources, finances and property.
Mo’ui ke Fiefia Safe house statistics
44 Women and Children have stayed at the safe house in 2011. The ‘accompanying children’ category indicates that the children are not clients of the centre - they came with their mother’s who are the clients of the centre. The free, temporary housing at the safe house is only provided by WCCC to those clients who are deemed high risk and in need of a safe place to stay. A comprehensive life skills program is being developed within the safe house to help provide further development for women and children using the centre’s services.
Number of clients at the Safe House
|
Women |
Children |
Accompanying Children |
Total |
|
14 |
5 |
25 |
44 |
The safe house has survived due to ongoing community support. All furniture, clothing and food at the Safe House have been donated. We also farewelled Sr. Anunsia Fifita in October 2011, who had been the Safe House Manager since its inception. Her passion, leadership and commitment to clients residing in the Safe House will surely be missed. Sr. Fifita has taken on a new role with Education sector of the Roman Catholic Church in Tonga. We wish her all the best.
Client to counselor ratio
Client to Counselor per month
Approximately, each counselor has an average of 15-20 clients per month. This enables each counselor to conduct follow up actions with each of their clients and check how their cases are progressing. Although it has only been a year since the centre has established it has been a busy year for the centre.
It is therefore unhealthy for each counselor to take care of more than 15 clients a month but due to the fact that the centre received a total of 262 clients last year still our counselors were able to help and support their clients through their court cases, conducting home visits and also follow up actions by phone.
Unfortunately we had one departure from the counseling team in mid February. Three counselors therefore maintained our counseling services throughout the rest of 2011. It is anticipated that with the counselor-client ratio and workload increasing that a fourth counselor will be employed by mid 2012.
Average Turnaround Time for Client Service Provision – first point of contact
SERVICE PROVIDER |
AVERAGE TURNAROUND TIME |
WCCC |
3.5 hours |
DVU/Police |
16.5 hours |
Judiciary |
504 hours (three weeks) |
Hospital |
6.5 hours |
The above table gives an average timeframe of how many hours a client will have to wait until she has been dealt with appropriately by the service provider concerned. Appropriately in terms of her questions have been answered, her inquries have been referred to the relevant agency and the client has exited the service provider with a level of statisfaction.
Client Satisfcation with WCCC Services
It is a policy of the WCCC that clients are given the opportunity to evaluate the services accessed and quality of service provided. Although not all clients were able to complete the evaluation process, 84% of the clients who accessed the services of the WCCC who completed the evaluation process indicated that they were very pleased with the services provided. 11% indicated that they thought the services provided was good and 5% indicated that they were not completely satisfied with the services provided.
The latter 5% pertains mainly to areas of work which the WCCC feels powerless in progressing forward. For example, not being able to intervene in suspected child abuse of child sexual violation cases reported by a client on behalf of the victim. As noted earlier, without a Child Protection Act in Tonga, there is very little that the WCCC can intervene in – apart from alerting the Police. Other issues are in reference to clients who find it difficult to abide by the rules and regulations of the Safe House. Although we try to keep the rules flexible, we also need to ensure that the safety of all clients in the house is paramount and it would so often happen that there is a combination of High Risk, Medium Risk and Low Risk Clients residing simultaneously, which requires Safe House staff to restrict clients from abusing each others situation, privacy and right to safety.
Community Awareness
WCCC statistics indicate that community awareness programs, media, and advocacy programs have led to increased awareness of the centre’s services and how it supports women and children in need. Awareness programs were conducted at 5 communities, 45 at Hospital and 11 schools during the year as well as at Vaiola Hospital.
Due to the centre’s financial status workshops were kept to a minimum. The more cost effective methods of community awareness were employed – conducting sessions and door knocking in communities which are also viewed as appropriate awareness mechanisms to discuss the topics that WCCC advocates for, which are often considered culturally taboo. Ongoing awareness was also conducted at Vaiola Hospital which involves educating health professionals to recognize signs of abuse and to encourage referrals. School awareness involves dedicating time in school assemblies to WCCC, in which the students are broken into groups of boys and girls, and the services and work of WCCC is discussed. Monitoring and evaluation is incorporated into each of these programs with a variety of feedback indicating that WCCC’s core message is being relayed; that violence is never acceptable.
Above left; WCCC Community Education Team conducting an awareness program to the students of Tupou High School, Vaololoa and to the right is the school teachers of GPS Nuku’alofa.
Above left; Leti Siliva, Lesila To’ia and Tupou Lanumata were attending the White Ribbon Day Program held at Queen Salote Memorial Hall. To the right, the WCCC Community Education Team with police officers after a Training on “Victims of Crime where WCCC invited to do a session on DV at the Police Training School at Longolongo.
Above left ; WCCC Community Education Trainer, Lesila To’ia with the GAMP GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) girls at Taufa’ahau Pilolevu College, Ha’apai after an awareness session on WCCC’s works and services. Above right; Male Advocate, ‘Usaia Hemaloto during his faikava session on Gender Equality and Advocating for Women’s Human Rights.
Communication Officer, Tupou Lanumata with the participants from the pacific region at the Regional Training Program in Suva, Fiji conduct by the Fiji Women Crisis Centre.
As of December 2011, every single staff member has undergone Gender and Women’s Human Rights Training in Suva Fiji conducted by the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC). This training is seen as one of the most critical trainings that all staff members must undergo as being a part of the WCCC. Initially it was quite challenging as the training (Regional Training Program on Women’s Human Rights and Gender) which is a one month intense course – is quite costly. In 2010 half our staff had undergone the training.
The WCCC is happy to report that this year with the sponsorship of UNFPA – all staff members have now undergone the training. The results of this achievement is vividly apparent! The level and depth of advocacy and lobbying around women’s rights issues among all staff has increased dramatically and hasultimately contributed to the grounding of our organisation’s credibility and professionalismas we are now ALL TALKING FROM THE SAME PAGE.
So for the WCCC to achieve this among all of its staff members is an INCREDIBLE internal achievement and one that will most DEFINITELY STRENGTHEN THE WCCC as we continue to grow.
The Male Advocacy program is also run on a minimal budget. The WCCC male advocate attended faikava at a number of communities where he and a large group of men were able to discuss issues regarding DV/VAW. This was free of charge and also convenient because they were able to talk on different views simply spreading the message.
The work on violence against women in the Pacific had also taken another leap with the launch of a Handbook for Male Advocates on Women’s Human Rights on Friday 25 November 2011. The launch on 25 November marked a significant day which begins the 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women campaign. The Handbook is for men who have been through a series of trainings and serves as a guide for communicating the language of women’s human rights.
The Male Advocacy Program for Women’s Human Rights started in the Pacific in 2002. The work is about involving men in efforts to eliminate violence against women from a rights-based approach and one of the key elements is these men firstly challenging their own behaviour before calling themselves advocates on women’s human rights or trying to influence other men.
The Male Advocacy for Women’s Human Rights Program is Pacific grown and the WCCC Male Advocacy Program stems from this. There is a group of Male Advocates in Tonga who are coordinated by the WCCC and the Male Advocate.
Tongan Male Advocates in Suva at the Male Advocacy Handbook Launh Fiji with Shamima Ali (Coordinator FWCC), Edwina Kotoisuva (Deputy Coordinator FWCC) and ‘Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki (WCCC Director)with Sami-Pola Likiliki. Male Advocates from back row L-R: Apolosi Fangalua, Tito Kivalu, Viliami Filimoehala, Misinale Paea, ‘Usaia Hemaloto and seated in front: Sio Tu'iano.
Community Awareness and Advocacy Statistics
It is anticipated that the trend of increased reporting will continue in 2012 as community awareness about all forms of abuse increases.
Lobbying and Advocacy
The WCCC continued to support the Changing Laws, Protecting Women project aimed at developing a Domestic Violence Act for Tonga. In August 2011, Lepolo Mahe Taunisila, one the Trustees of the WCCC, played a critical role in the facilitating of the National consultation on Changing Laws, Protecting Women hosted by the Women’s Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Education, Women’s Affairs and Culture (WAU/MEWAC) of which she is based.
The meeting looked at the options of having a separate Domestic Violence legislation in relation to the civil, criminal and the family law aspects of the draft documents. The consultation involved presenting draft legislations and best practices from various countries so that the participants from Government ministries and the non-government sector could discuss the elements of suitable domestic violence legislation for Tonga. Lepolo said that this type of consultation was critical because at the moment Tonga does not have any legislation that specifically addresses domestic violence. Domestic violence complaints, Lepolo said, is currently addressed under the criminal assault laws. There is a tendency sometimes for law enforcement authorities to refrain from pursuing a case under the criminal assault legislation, because it is seen simply as a family matter to be resolved only within the family.
Criminal assault laws only addresses physical violence. It does not address other forms of violence like psychological abuse, emotional and mental stress, deprivation of access to family finances and other monetary resources, sexual harassment, and stalking that deprives a woman of her freedom, but there are currently no laws or protection orders to safeguard women from such situations.
Consequently, drafting Instructions for a comprehensive violence against women (VAW) and Children Bill was approved for review by Tonga’s cabinet in 2011. This marks a significant step forward in which the WCCC will no dobut continue to play an activie and activist role in promoting the Bill’s enactment. The review process will involve extensive consultations throughout the country. The aim is to gain as much support and encourage ownership of the bill before it becomes law. The WCCC will continue to effectively use our case studies and anecdotal evidence as support for changes in legislation – where it is most needed. This is indeed a milestone in Tonga’s legislative history that WCCC wants and WILL play a big part in. Therefore, it is crucial that we intensify our lobbying and advocacy in this area.
The WCCC will also continue to advocate for the ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and women’s rights to land. In 2011, the WCCC made a formal oral and written submission to the Royal Land Commission where it recommended that it reviewed the current contrainsts of the 1875 Land Act barring women from economic and social development. It will continue to lobby for reforms in this area.
Challenges
The WCCC has been in operation for two years. Since its establishment in October 2009 the centre staff has accomplished a lot despite the many challenges and barriers it has had to overcome. With 16 full time staff in 2011, the WCCC has been able to build its credibility at all levels; national, regional and international.
Initially it was quite challenging – as it would be –with the establishment of a new NGO. Funding sources mainly came fromMama Cash, the Global Fund for Women and Aus AID Canberra via the Fiji Women’sCrisis Centre (FWCC) and UN Women Pacific. The FWCC has also continued in 2011 to provide extra support through its own fundraising efforts.
The main challenges presented in 2011;
- Inconsistent receviership of funds (staff wages)
- No organisation vehicle
- Limited activity funds
- No core funding for multi-year framework
These challenges will be addressed in 2012 with the anticipation that by July 2012, a 3 year multi-year core funding will be secured to ensure the sustainability of the provision of support services to victims and survivors of violence against women and girls.
Moving Forward
One of main activities for 2012 will be to develop a 5 Year Strategic Plan which should guide our key areas of work for the next 5 years. We welcome any recommendations or inputs from our key partners who work passionately with us to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. This work cannot be done by one organisation or by one Govenrment Ministry. We must all make the effort to combat this epidemic so that future generations in Tonga can live in a society where violence is NOT tolerated on any grounds.
For more details contact 22 240 or email: wccrisiscentre@gmail.com
Annex to this report:
A] A few selected Case Studies
B] Examples of Press Releases from 2011
C] AGM Minutes from 2011
ANNEX A
CASE STUDIES
I think to myself I am an adopted child
A firsthand account from a survivor of an incest case.
When I was 8 years old my father began to treat me in a way that is not right for a father to do to his daughter. He gave me money $10 to $20 and told me not to tell anyone, and most of the time I was scared and think to myself what I would do to overcome this and what will happen if someone knew.
All these things that happen to me were all done at our own house, and I think to myself maybe I am an adopted child of the family. Eventually my mother left the country and this is the saddest time in my life. I knew that my mother left me but she didn’t even know what is happening to me. On the day she left I drew a picture of an aero-plane when it departed at the airport.
I moved to stay with my older sister but my father still continued the same thing to me. Most of the time when my father came to pick me up from my sister’s house I was very unhappy when seeing him, and sometimes my sister would get mad at me and ask why I didn’t want to go with my dad, but she did not know what was happening, but because of her trust in him that he is our father, she told me to go. It was very hard for me, but at that time I didn’t have the courage to tell her.
Now I am 14 and one day I was lying on my bed in my bedroom and I saw a book on the table in my room and its says, “Hold on to your belief”. I grab the book and read it and its talking about being obedient and being a virgin. This has encouraged me to speak out and talk about what is happening to me.
On the same week, I went to church on Sunday and I knew for sure I will go and ask our Bishop for time to talk to him about what I’ve been going through and finally I fulfill my dream. I explained everything to him.
So the Bishop went to the police and explained it to them and the police came to my sister’s house and take me, they questioned me and recorded everything. After that they told me they will take me to WCCC’s Safe House which is the best and safe place they think I should go to while they do their work.
While I’m staying at the Safe House I feel safe and it helps me a lot trying to get rid of the problems that I face and other things in my life. So I encourage all women that they struggle with many problems in their life or experience the same problem I am going through to speak up and tell someone that you know for sure that she or he will help you, and I believe it give us an important message to always be careful with ourselves of what is happening in our life!
This is a poem written by the client.
HOME
Home is where you live with Family
Brothers are drunk, daddy is smoke
This time I don’t know what to do
I felt like I’m not part of the Family.
WCCC Annual Report 201117
Home is like we are in hell
Cause most of the time,
They are fighting and swearing
So, I wonder why this happen in life.
Sometimes I talk to myself,
Why moms leave me without staying with her?
But I thought that mom is the one that will
Stay with us at Home to grow love.
At home there’s no time to talk with family,
Cause they just leave me without saying anything.
I sometimes cry and cry
Cause there’s no friends to have, talked or even
Somebody to share
Love.
“My marriage life was like living in hell”
A firsthand account of reporting Domestic Violence from a client at WCCC.
I have been married for thirteen years. I was fifteen and he was seventeen. He wasn’t my first man but he knew it before we got married. His family didn’t want him to marry me but he insisted so they let him.
I really don’t know why they don’t like me but it made my marriage life like living in hell. My husband beat me up a lot because of what my in-laws told him about me, even my father in-law and his brothers, they had beat me too. I felt like a second class citizen just because I came to the marriage not a virgin.
The nightmare starts on the second week of our marriage. He had continued to beat me up ever since, sometimes with his fist, sometimes with an object. There’s a scar on my right chin, he threw a spade at me while I was talking with another person.
We’ve been separated so many times, but when it came to his apology I always went back to him. The black marks on my face shadow my eyes like its normal. I never made a complaint to the police, but I always told him that once I made a complaint, it will be the one.
Finally, I decided to run away to Ha’apai with my two children to my sister who live there with her family. He called me once to send some money and I told him to send it to my sister so that he knows that I have nothing to do with the money, it just for the kids. The second time he called to send money I told him that I can take care of the children and I don’t need the money. The very next day he showed up at my sister’s place and asked to take the kids with him for the night, so I let him.
The next day was a Sunday and my sister and her husband went with their kids to church, all of a sudden he showed up with the children and demand that we have sex, when I say no, he drag me into the room and try to force me to have sex. He didn’t care about our children standing there, he started to beat me up, I grabbed the phone and dialed my sister’s number before he punched me and the phone went off my hand.
My eight year old daughter was running down the road crying and my six year old son was standing there watching us. Luckily my sister heard me screaming before he smashed my head on the side of the side-board which made me unconscious.
Few minutes later my sister got home with her family. He just stopped and left. He tried to contact me but we knew that’s the end of our marriage.
I stayed with my sister for a short time before I decided to go back to Tongatapu. I was shocked to find that we were on the same boat with him. We talked most of our time while on the boat and we both agreed that we should file for divorce.
When we got to Tongatapu we both went our separate ways, but very shortly he was like my shadow again following me around. I decided to move and stayed with my cousin in another village, he found me there and attacked me with a knife, so my cousin moved me with her friend, he found me there, no one was in the house but he open the mosquito net from outside and burn the curtain. I did file a complaint to the police but
the couple who own the house didn’t want anything to do with the police; they just want me and my two children to move out from the place.
Luckily I know one of the government agents who know about the services and support offered by the WCCC. I told them about my story and suggested that I be referred to the WCCC Safe House. I moved to the Safe House and waited there for the court order against my husband. He was found guilty and the magistrate sentenced him to five months in jail. Now I have a chance to get out and file my divorce and do whatever I want legally before he gets out.
My hope is that women who have and are still suffering years and years of abuse will seek help and get the support that they need. It always starts with the first hit with promises that it won’t happen again - but it does and it just gets from bad to worse. The longer you prolong it the longer you suffer, your children suffer, your extended family members suffer, and everyone suffers!
“I was so frightened and so sad that I kept quiet”
It happened on a Friday night when I went back home with my mom after attending a funeral. We stayed at another family’s house and while my mum was having a shower I went in the kitchen and ate with the other family. We watched TV in the living room after and two of the women in the house left for the funeral. It was only me, a lady and her daughter and an older man (whose wife had gone to the funeral) left watching TV.
I felt tired and I went to my bedroom and lay on the bed. Suddenly the man walked in and started pulling down his pants and began to touch me. I started to scream but he said not to make any noise so that the others would not hear me. I was so frightened and so sad that I kept quiet. After doing what he did he put back his clothes on.
The old lady was standing at the door and was surprised to see the perpetrator in my room. She asked him what he was doing and he said he was going to turn on the light because the light switch was in my room. The old lady knew that he was lying so she called his partner to come back from the funeral. The wife started to beat me up when I told her what happened because they all believed what he said. So they called my mom who was in the small house at the back and my mom almost beat me up too.
They told us to pack our things and go. We went and explained everything to my dad who was working at the time. He asked my mom to take me to my sister and her husband’s house. But still my mom felt that I wasn’t safe there. So she met up with one of the centre’s staff who happened to know my dad at his work. And they took me to the centre and they were very welcoming which made me felt comfortable and calm.
Now I am so happy staying at the safe house and the most important thing is that I am not afraid anymore because now I am safe.
I just want to encourage my friends to speak up and call for help. What happened to me is wrong and I didn’t have enough courage to call for help when it happened to me.
My brother in law would always write me a love letter and put it in my bedroom
My brother in law would always write me a love letter and put it in my bedroom. He would always give me a certain time that he would pick me up after school and on our way home after school, he said that he loved me. So I was afraid if the situation got bigger that I told my sister everything and when she asked him, he said that he was just joking. It was all a joke.
I went on the weekend and slept over at my friend’s house because I was so afraid that something bad might happen to me if I still stay at my sister’s house, and by Sunday my sister and her husband came looking for me with the police and told me to go back with them to our home. So the police took me to the police station and asked me questions about why I ran away from home, and I told them what happened, so they caught my brother in law and they took to the centre and no I’m not afraid anymore and I feel very safe at the safe house.
I just want to encourage the young girls to speak up when they feel unsafe and afraid so it will avoid the problem, be courageous because we now know that there are a lot of people waiting for our calls for help.
ANNEX B
A FEW MEDIA REELASES FROM 2011
Gender Training of Trainers for Pacific Community Educators [Source: FWCC]
“…it is the birth of a new initiative and it marks history in our work against Violence Against Women in the Pacific…”
These are the words of Vanuatu Women’s Centre (VWC) Coordinator Merilyn Tahi, used to describe the first ever FWCC Gender Training of Trainers that was held earlier this month in Pacific Harbour for two weeks.
31 participants from six Pacific countries (Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Is and Fiji) were handpicked to undergo the thorough and in-depth gender analysis training in the hope that they will use these analysis tools in promoting gender equality and reducing violence against women (VAW).
FWCC Coordinator Shamima Ali said, “with alarming cases of VAW and gender discrimination still prevalent in the Pacific, and a lack of good gender trainers to address these, there is a need for such a training program”.
Ali added, “we need to develop a cadre of trainers who can address these issues at different levels of society in their own countries, and this is exactly what the FWCC has planned…”
The first week of the training was co-facilitated by Ali, FWCC Deputy Coordinator Edwina Kotoisuva, Tahi and Tonga Women and Children’s Crisis Centre (TWCCC) Coordinator Ofa Guttenbeil Likiliki, with the second week facilitated by world reknown gender trainer, Dr Juliet Hunt.
Hunt’s teaching focused on strengthening the skills of current gender trainers to:
- Critically analyse documents including policies, budgets, projects, media reports, current trends etc from a gender perspective
- Strengthen the skills of the trainers in communicating sound gender analysis in current training programs on violence against women as well as in public discussions and debates and in negotiating for women’s rights at policy / project level.
TWCCC’s Guttenbeil Likiliki added, “most of the trainers are already able to understand and identify gender and gender inequality and so the next step is exploring other key gender concepts and knowing how to apply a gender analysis on policies / programs, strategic plans etc”.
Chief Guest at the opening of the training, Regional Director UN Women Pacific Elizabeth Cox told participants, what was needed was people who could go out with proper gender and human rights training, she added “we need people to leave your training with a light-bulb moment and for them to fully understand gender equality and pass on the message”.
While SPC Deputy Director General Fekita ‘Utoikamanu, who was chief guest at the closing, encouraged the participants and stakeholders, to do that little bit that they are tasked with well and consistently and “together we can make a difference in the lives of the people and the communities that we serve”.
Also at the closing, Dr Juliet Hunt said that for gender analysis to truly work and to be used in all levels of society, it needed the support of key women’s NGOs in the South Pacific like the crisis centres in Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga.
She also encouraged the new crop of gender analysts to return home and put into practice what they had learnt which in turn would definitely promote gender equality and improve women’s lives.
The Gender TOT was supported by AusAid.
WCCC To Commence Awareness to All Government Schools
The Ministry of Education, Women’s Affairs and Culture (MEWAC) has officially approved WCCC awareness programs to be carried out to all Government schools in the country. This is a major milestone and a step forward for the work of the WCCC who only just established themselves in November 2009.
“Building our credibility to prove that we could carry out the awareness programs professionally and efficiently has been the core goal of the Community Education team of the WCCC for the past two years,” says Community Education Trainer Team Leader, Lesila To’ia.
There are 52 government primary in Tongatapu and 13 government secondary schools in Tonga. To’ia will be spending the latter part of 2011 planning and dialoguing with the Principals of these schools to develop a cohesive timetable for the WCCC programs to reach the classrooms. There are two main programs that the WCCC has developed for the schools and are appropriate for their intended levels. The Primary School program is called Stay Safe and it teaches children at the primary school level about their personal security and safety. The program developed for the Secondary School level Mo’ui Ke Fiefia is a program based on information dissemination on the cores issues that the WCCC address mainly violence against women and girls, domestic violence and sexual abuse. These programs are delivered separately to both genders because of our culture of faka’apa’apa between brother and sister, and we do take this into account when we address our audiences. Our main goal is to get the information out there in order to empower the young and older children – giving them critical information that may one day save their lives or the lives of their friends and family members,” says To’ia.
The WCCC Stay Safe Program and the Mo’ui Ke Fiefia Program will first be rolled out on the main island of Tongatapu with a pilot program to be tested out with a couple of primary and secondary schools. Thereafter, it is envisaged that both programs will be rolled out throughout the outer islands and will be sustained for a five year period and evaluated thereafter.
WCCC acknowledges this tremendous support made by the MEWAC as ongoing cooperation is needed from all sectors of the community in trying to address these issues since women and children are cornerstone of our society.
For more information on how your school can get involved, please contact Lesila To’ia on 22240.
Call for the Prompt Return of Mr. Chris Kelly
The Women and Children Crisis Centre (WCCC) would like to call for the return of Mr. Chris Kelley to a renewed contract under the Ministry of Police as Police Commissioner.
WCCC Director, Ofa-ki-levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki said, “Mr. Kelley has consistently taken real action to improve the police force response to end Violence Against Women and Children. The role that Police play is absolutely critical to acknowledge and work towards ending these crimes against women and children.”
WCCC acknowledges his significant contribution to the improvement of systems and processes within the Police in dealing with and addressing domestic violence and all forms of violence against women and girls in Tonga.
We also acknowledge his contributions to strengthening relationships between the police and the NGO and CSO sector, bringing together key leaders to form the first ever National Advisory Committee to the Police on Domestic Violence.
We further acknowledge his commitment towards developing the first ever Domestic Violence Policy Draft within the Police and his call for Non Government Organizations (NGO) and Community Service Organizations (CBOs) contributions towards this Policy.
We appreciate his firm stance on the No Drop Policy and appreciated the roll out of this policy within the Police while at the same time noting that further training is needed in this area to improve front line reporting and victim support.
We value his passion and his determination to share domestic violence statistics, relevant information and best practices on the elimination of all forms of violence in Tonga, particularly of violence against women and girls.
The WCCC calls for urgent government action to facilitate the return of Mr. Chris Kelley to the position of Police Commissioner.
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For more information please contact ‘Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki on ofa.guttenbeil@gmail.com
Do You Care About Women’s Rights to Land?
The new minister of Education, Women’s Affairs and Culture, Dr. Ana Taufeulungaki called for greater partnership between women’s organizations and the Ministry in order to address the needs of women comprehensively.
One issue that has been raised unanimously by women’s organizations is Tongan women’s right to own land in Tonga.
Currently women do not have the same privileges as men to own land, which has implications for accessing loans and the requirement to make alternative leasing arrangements in order to establish stability of their land. The United Nations Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) promotes gender equality in terms of access to assets, including land.
A taskforce has been formed to write a submission to the Royal Lands Commission in which the current land laws are under review. Taskforce members include Siale 'Ilolahia from the Civil Society Forum of Tonga, Polotu Paunga from the Women’s Affairs Department at the Ministry of Education and ‘Ofa-ki-levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki from the Women and Children Crisis Centre.
WCCC is now seeking women to come and tell their stories if they feel that the current land laws are disadvantaging them. WCCC will write up case studies for the submission to The Royal Land Commission.
The case studies are confidential, with no identifying details of the people involved, but the individual may be called upon to provide further details to the Commission. An example is provided below:
Case Study
The land that I am living on at the moment belongs to my parents. They are both dead. I am the eldest in the family, I only have one brother. He is in New Zealand and he has overstayed his visa, he has a wife and his life is all there in New Zealand. I am the one who is staying at my parent’s house, looking after the land. My husband and I built the house on the land many years ago, although I have not been in contact with my husband for almost 30 years now and he is overseas.
I am the eldest daughter but I am worried because the land does not belong to me, at the moment it belongs to my brother. I have to go to New Zealand to see my brother if there are any issues with the land, and I have to negotiate with the Ministry and Lands and Survey here in Tonga.
If my brother was to die, the land would go to my Uncle’s eldest son who lives in Tonga. Fortunately he does not seem interested in living in my village, but I worry about what would happen. It is hard work to move. My whole life is here, I have been taking care of the place for almost all my life. Living somewhere else would be another problem, which at my age I do not want.
Sometimes I worry about if my brother has already sold the land to someone in New Zealand, such as a friend or a Chinese person. I think they could turn up and tell me to get out, that it is their house. I do not really think my brother could do this, but I hear stories of this happening to other people. When money is involved, families can change.
If I win the lotto, and I had lots of money, I would build a house on my husband’s land for my children to move there. I think that this land would go to my son who is now over 21, although my husband is nowhere to be seen and I am unsure what this means for the land entitlement. Still I would feel safer spending the money on my husband’s land instead of the land that I am living on, as I am not certain that my children will be able to live on the land that I live on now.
As I understand the existing law, it will never happen that my children will be able to live on my parents land. It makes me angry. My parents worked so hard for that land, and I have worked so hard for that land, and yet my children are not entitled to it. When I think about it, it makes me angry.
