More than two thousand women gthered atthe Lae’s Eriku Oval yesterday to markthe National Dayof mourning (National Haus Krai); a call to end all forms of violence against women.
Whilethe mood was upbeat and encouraging, sickening revelations of abuse unfolds. One testimony read out was of a woman who was kidnapped from her home and pack rape by six men. Another woman’spoke of how her husband continually abuses her in her own home.
Many more cases of abuse remain unreported.
Anastasia Wakon fromthe organization ‘Doctors Without Berders’ said inthe last twelve months more than a hundred and seventy cases of abuse have been reported. Half that number has been children.
Doctors Without Berders throughthe family support center has taken care of about one thousand eight hundred survivors of sexual violence and nearly ten thousand survivors of family violence.
These are startling realities of violence in Papua New Guinea And ifthe testimonies aren’t powerful enough,there are images oPNG women beaten and tortured bPNG men all overthe internet that stand as reminders ofthe challenges we face.
Whilethe crimes committed against women are deplorable,the general consensus among women is thatthe death penalty isn’tthe answer.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZOWOF7YQzts%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
