Violence affects not just women

VIOLENCE against women does not only imply to women but it also covers vulnerable people who are victims of such violence.
Many other group such as children, disabled people and others have fallen victims to these types of violence in our communities but in many cases these are unattended to.
A week-long workshop on paralegal training which ended recently saw more than 20 participants from different stakeholders taking part in Wewak, East Sepik.
The training was the first of its kind to be held in the province and has gained much attention from the law enforcers as it equips them to enforce law at the community level which targets rural areas.
The training was conducted by Oxfam in partnership with other stakeholders to equip individuals to employ court procedures and processes at the lowest level where simple people could easily benefit.
The participants were from the government departments, non-governmental organisations and others involved with practice counseling and settlement of disputes and social issues within communities.
Principal magistrate in East Sepik David Susame challenged the participants to use the skills and knowledge gained to protect the rights of victims of violence of all types and enforce in a court of law, particularly at district level.
Susame said apart from other things the training was about court procedures and processes, drafting and filing of court documents that were available to help women and others who were subjects of victims of violence and whose basic rights and freedoms were violated.
Susame asked the participants to be fair with the training they had taken and avoid charging high fees on those who come for their help, especially when assisting clients in drafting summons or other court documents.
Maprik police station commander Inspector James Baugenin told  participants as the training suited the law enforcers in the province, the next training should include all those that involved in enforcing law and order.
Insp Baugenin said there should be more such training conducted in rural areas to include more participants so that everyone could part take in enforcing law and order at the rural areas.