Domestic violence tops crimes list
DOMESTIC violence continues to top the list of crimes against women, with the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) recording 6768 existing and new cases for 2022.
During a news conference on Thursday, FWCC coordinator Shamima Ali said of this number, 1751 were new cases – a stark increase from the 994 new cases recorded in 2021.
Domestic violence and child rape recorded the highest increases from 2021, going from 573 and 24 respectively, to 1114 and 79.
“Since our inception in 1984 until the end of last year, the FWCC has seen in excess of 50,000 people, women and girls, a lot of children, including boys and girls, and this is inclusive of the LGBTQI community, and also people with disabilities, particularly women and girls and children with disabilities,” she said.
“So that’s in excess of 50,000 over about 38 years of work and the numbers seem to be increasing. The reporting rates are increasing, of course.
“Of the 50,000, about 75 per cent would be domestic violence cases. There’s a lot more awareness on domestic violence.”
Other crimes included child rape, adult rape, marital rape, sexual harassment, child sexual abuse and other issues including inheritance, human rights abuses, police, military and corrections brutality.
Between 2016 and 2022, there were also 1031 rape survivors and 1086 rape perpetrators.
Ms Ali also noted a disturbing trend uncovered from data between 2016 to 2022, which revealed that 91 per cent (992 out of 1086) rape perpetrators were known to the victims, and 64 per cent were related to the survivors.
She said only four per cent of perpetrators were strangers.
“Often we think of stranger danger. We are not taught to be beware of our grandfathers or fathers and so we are taught to beware of strangers. Don’t get into strange cars, don’t take sweets from them, don’t take any gifts from them and so on.
“So that’s what four per cent only are strangers and these are just those that are reported to us. And if we are looking at police statistics and other service delivery statistics and DPP’s statistics, it all matches.”