Islanders in drive against violence

 LIHIR Island is leading the way to respond to to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Papua New Guinea.

That follows the completion of a month-long training course at the Lihir Meri Developmen Senta facilitated by East New Britain’s chairperson for the provincial family and sexual violence action committee (FSVAC) Ruby Matane.

Matane, who is the trainer on social issues and owner of Grace Counselling Services, said the cycle of violence, which is a moral and humanitarian tragedy, must be broken first before PNG could move positively into the future. 

It is understood that between 60-80% PNG women experienced gender violence, which impacted on women, their children, extended families and communities. 

In 2013, Lihir joined the nation in the National Haus Krai March, with 300 men and women marching on the streets of Lihir, raising their voices for people without a voice and who suffer silently. 

Last May, about 1000 men and women from the community marched during the Lihir Ailan Haus Krai to protest against the delay in helping survivors and reduce familyviolence on Lihir.

The Tutorme Women’s Association heard this appeal and with funding from private sector stakeholders brought Matane to the island for the first-ever certified and accredited counselling course. 

The training began with two weeks of Gender-Based Advocacy (GBV) training with 22 women and three men attending. On the second week,  24 men attended.