Churches join alliance to fight violence

**The Papua New Guinea Council of Church members gathering to sign the church leader’s alliance against violence. – Nationalpic by NICKY BERNARD**

MEMBERS of the Papua New Guinea Council of Churches (PNGCC) have joined alliance to fight against violence through counselling and church activities in the community.
This followed an agreement signed by the members, gender based violence (GBV) committee member Powes Pakop and the Justice Department on Friday.
Attorney-General Dr Eric Kwa said people looked up to churches and to help address GBV in the communities.
“We are dealing with 500,000 cases by the village court officials in the 1,670 village court houses throughout the country,” he said.
Kwa, also the deputy chair of Femili PNG, said the criminal code for glassman offences in regards to sorcery accusation-related violence had been amended after the parliament decision to pass the law.
Kwa said the Domestic Violence Act or Family Protection Act had been amended to protect safehouse workers from perpetrators.
He said plans were underway to engage community leaders to issue interim protection order (IPO) immediately instead of going to the court house.
Kwa said by next year, 10 per cent profits from Kumul Consolidated Holdings would be diverted to churches to fund these activities.