Papaua New Guinea should say NO against domestic violence just like Australia.

Women and children of this world deserve to live in peace and harmony, they should be protected by man not harmed.

We need to make a difference......where do we begin?

A good start would be educating the both boys and girls at a very younf age- probably primary school level.

Every basic life skills should start from HOME - parents should take the lead in educating their children to respect each other. It is too late when they start in school.

that is the answer.

that is the answer.

Education on preventing domestic violence begins at home. Most abusers grow up in an environment where domestic violence is accepted, and so the cycle continues. Governments and society at large need to stand up and collectively state that domestic violence, whether perpetrated against women, children, the elderly, or men (yes, it occasionally happens to men) is not an acceptable practice. Police officers enforcing laws on domestic violence also need to take these matters more seriously. Unfortunately, high levels of domestic violence against wives/partners is not an uncommon practice in police circles, and not just in PNG.

On the issue of toughening up domestic violence laws the government needs to be very, very cautious. Domestic violence laws in Australia allow police to remove persons (who have allegedly engaged in acts of domestic violence) from their homes and locked them down for four (4) hours in the Watchhouse. These people are not entitled access to legal representation/advice during this period. This police action supposedly allows time for the alleged perpetrator to cool off before returning home. Sounds fine in theory. The abuser has been removed from the family home and now everybodyelse involved is temporarily safe.

Unfortunately, many abusers(mostly men)are also clever enough to have accessed and read the relevant legislation beforehand. They know how to exploit it to their advantage, and continue to abuse their wives and partners by other means. For example, on the basis of set-up evidence and lies reported to police by male perpetrators of domestic violence, there have been more than a few cases in which women who are ongoing victims of domestic have been removed from their homes by police and locked down in the Watchhouse, along with other common criminals. The husband/partners excuse for setting up his wife/partner and lying to the Police is usually something along the lines of 'she needed to be taught a lesson'. The woman continues to be abused, but this time it is by the system. The male perpetrator is still engaging in domestic violence, but he is clever enough to have removed himself once for the act. He now gets the police to do his dirty work. It is only when the matter comes before the Magistrates Court that people (including the police) realise what has happened. The Court throws that matter out. No action is taken against the man involved. The Police move onto yet another reported case of domestic violence, which few of them really want to have anything to do with. The only person damaged is the unfortunate female victim of domestic violence, who is by now in a highly traumatised state.

My advice is don't give the Police (who are mostly men) even more powers to abuse, because I can assure you that these powers will be abused and used against defenceless women. Governments are much better off educating the general population against domestic violence. They also need to pour large amounts of money into funding Women's Shelters and voluntary Women's Legal Services. A female victim of domestic violence who is informed about her legal rights and responsibilities, and who has voluntary court support, is far more likely to be able to manage domestic violence that a female victim left to her own devices without any voluntary assistance. PNG's female lawyers have a very important role to play here. Voluntary Women's Legal Services in Australia provide a good model for assisting women in situations of domestic violence, divorce, property settlement, etc. Maybe it's time for PNG's legal profession to step forward and empower local women by taking a stance against the ongoing abuse of women and children in PNG. Many men would think twice about bashing up their wives/partners if they knew that same woman had access to free legal advice, and was willing and ready to use it against her husband/male partner in an effort to stop ongoing domestic violence.