‘Violence Against Children in Fiji is High, Time to Find a Way Out’
‘We need to be careful, we should never forget that violence against children is derived too from parents or mothers who had experienced violence in their lives.’
We are not delivering the many commitments and policies developed to tackle violence against children.
This was the sentiment shared by the United Nations special representative of the secretary-general on Ending Violence Against Children, Dr Najat Maalla M’jid.
Protecting children from all forms of violence is not only the work of the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, but has to be a multisectoral approach. Dr Najat Maalla M’jid United Nations special representative
Dr Najat is in Fiji meeting key stakeholders to discuss the way forward on how violence against children could be minimised in the
Pacific.
“Protecting children from all forms of violence is not only the work of the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, but has to be a multi-sectoral approach,” Dr Najat said.
“Violence against children in Fiji is still high and it’s time that everyone finds a way out of this, the communities need to be involved.
“There are lots of forms of violence,
it is crazy.
“We need to be careful, we should never forget that violence against children is derived too from parents or mothers who had experienced violence in their lives.”
She said it was not only about the law, but what kind of alternative that could be put in place to support parents and communities to change their perspective on discipline.
Assistant Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Sashi Kiran said dealing with violence against children made up 3.9 per cent of the national GDP. “There is political will and we are committed to this change,” Ms Kiran said.
“If we are to have a violence-free world, we will need a whole of society approach.
“There is a high level of commitment from the Government level and we need to work together to combat this issue because it is a national issue.
“Our ministry is looking at developing a special unit for child care just like we have a social welfare department.
“We will have special child protection officers in different districts.”