Dept failing womenfolk

Letters

GENDER-based violence (GBV) has taken a high time toll.
The office of Development for Women is defunct.
The National Council of Women is defunct.
The Government had allocated K2 million in 2018 to establish the National GBV secretariat but the funds were squandered.
In 2019 funding was reduced to K1 million because the Department of Community Development & Religion failed to establish the secretariat.
Up till now, there’s non-existent of anything to that effect.
A K10 million allocated for sorcery alleviation in 2018 has been squandered.
This department failed the women and girls of Papua New Guinea when it failed to implement the National Gender-Based Violence Strategy.
As the lead agency in the implementation of the strategy it has by all measures failed to provide the leadership needed to manage and respond to the GBV epidemic in the country.
The strategy was endorsed by the National Executive Council in 2016 and to date, nothing constructive has been achieved by the Department for Community Development.
Immediately after endorsement, the department was to establish a number of mechanisms whose responsibility was to plan, coordinate, monitor evaluate the responses of GBV across sectors and at all the levels of society.
To date, the national coordinating committee does not have a budget and is not established.
The main task of this committee is to monitor the sectoral responses to GBV and set standard and quality services to survivors of GBV.
After four years, the department has not established this office.
In the absence of the national GBV secretariat, it is difficult to monitor and strengthen the sectoral responses from the police, health, courts etc.
If the secretary Anna Kavana Bais is blaming the systems for the death of Jenelyn Kennedy, it is because the Department for Community Development has failed as a lead agency on the implementation of the GBV strategy.
The strategy calls for the establishment of the ministerial GBV committee at the ministerial level giving prominence to this epidemic and to ensure information about the implementation reaches the highest level of decision-making so that there is support for GBV.
In the absence of it, the government is seen as not committed to the GBV cause.
In the last five years, there have been countless number of women who have been murdered by their partners all around the country.
In Port Moresby, there a three known cases with the latest just last week.
A woman, Anna Kavana Bais, was the departmental head during this period and she has done nothing.
GBV has not been on her agenda despite being the head of the lead agency on GBV.
As a woman, she would have been more responsive since majority of the victims are women instead she has decided otherwise.

Manson Cooffallah, Via email

2 comments

  • Department of Community Development & Religion Secretary is a great poker player that’s why. About time change the boss.

  • Please do the right thing, make changes asap for the betterment for women in PNG. If she is not concerned about women than no use occupying the seat but go home and stay there. Nothing has been done about GBV of which the Department should take lead and put her feet down and enforce laws to protect women. Tokim em go stap lo ples blo em and planim banana.

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