National Capital District Governor, Powes Parkop, who was the guest speaker at the opening of the Forum on gender based violence said it is not only a woman’s agenda to pursue.
He said men having forums to discuss the issue was the missing jigsaw puzzle piece in combating the social ill.
The term gender based violence is used to cover all violence in terms of any harmful act that is perpetrated against a person’s will, and is based on socially recognised gender differences between males and females.
Governor Parkop said the only reason why GBV is high with women is only because of their gender.
The Governor for NCD Powes Parkop is a Human rights lawyer by profession, and spoke with experience on the challenge of addressing gender based violence.
Parkop said there has been a lot of work done by communities, NGO and the government and the fact is they have been addressing the wrong crowd, the victims, when they should be addressing the perpetrators.
Governor Parkop went on to say that there will be change if only people change their mindset and values.
The Inaugural Men’s Forum had men fly in from all over Papua New Guinea and had discussions on the government and private company’s roles in also addressing GBV.
