Papua New Guinea (PNG) will start to establish support centers and safe houses across the country for victims of family and sexual violence, in what government representatives, health and aid workers say is an “unprecedented” recognition of the battle against the shockingly high levels of abuse.
The Pacific nation is routinely singled out as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for family and sexual violence, which has been described as an epidemic affecting both women and young children.
Recent studies have found that rape was the first experience of sex for one in five women, and one in three men had been sexually abused as children.
A study by NGO ChildFund Australia found that more than half of rape victims who presented to hospital were under 16 and one in four was under 12.
A two-day conference in Port Moresby held by the PNG Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), and the National Department of Health aimed to improve medical, social and clinical support for victims in parts of the country lacking services. It was attended by PNG government ministers and representatives of the EU and AusAID.
NEW GROUND
The national coordinator at the action committee and chair of the conference, Ume Wainetti, said the conference, which included delegates from 11 PNG provinces, was breaking new ground.
“The action plans that we have developed … are a real step forward and an unprecedented recognition of the urgency of responding to this crisis,” she said in a statement.
The delegates vowed to establish the centers in hospitals across their provinces as well as set up safe houses.
“Their passion and commitment was so visible and so tangible,” MSF head of mission Paul Brockmann said.
“That’s never happened in PNG before. Often in my 20 months here I’ve felt like we’re pushing the message that this is a public health emergency so [you need to] respond to it as one,” he said.
While PNG government officials pledged support, Brockmann said it was essentially up to the the provinces to take control.
“One thing we hear from the national government frequently is that it’s not a problem of availability of money. It’s a problem of making sure the money gets to the right place,” Brockmann said. “Even in a meeting I attended with the secretary of health last month, he said the money’s there, it’s just not getting into the program that it needs to get into. In the end I do think PNG provinces have a lot of responsibility for implementing.”
PORT MORESBY CENTER
The first center to offer both medical and psychological treatment opened in Port Moresby in May. It is among a number of centers MSF sets up or supports in the capital and the towns of Lae and Tari.
MSF will monitor the work undertaken by the delegations and will check back in a year to ensure promises have been fulfilled, Brockmann said.
“I know that a conference doesn’t necessarily mean a reality of a change, but I do think it will start to change,” he said.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS