Project Report – Fiji 2010 - Pacific Health Voices

in public. Violence against women is a form of gender-based violence and includes sexual
violence (UNFPA, 2008:9) 3 .
The definition of Violence Against Women contained in the United Nations Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence Against Women (DEVAW) as: “any act of gender-based violence that
results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women,
including threats or such acts, as coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring
in public or in private life”, (UNIFEM, 2002:27) 4 . It is important to note that both definitions
include violence perpetrated both in the public and private spheres of life.
4.2 Gender based violence
Now, “gender-based violence is an umbrella term for any harmful act that is perpetuated
against a person’s will, and that is based on socially ascribed (gender) differences between
males and females. Examples include sexual violence, including sexual exploitation/abuse and
forced prostitution; domestic violence; trafficking; forced/child marriage; and harmful
traditional practices such as female genital mutilation, honor killings, widow inheritance, and
others (UNFPA, 2008:10).” 5
Gender-based violence is an issue associated with the spread of HIV and other STI across the
Pacific. Fear of violence reduces the power of women to negotiate safe sex. Violence by men
towards women is a serious problem in all Pacific island countries and territories. Gender-based
violence includes beating of wives and girlfriends, sexual coercion of girls and women, rape
(including rape of wives and girlfriends), violence to sexual minorities, and sexual abuse of
children. In at least one Pacific Island country the police are complicit or involved in this kind of
violence 6
4.3 Sexual Violence
Sexual violence, including exploitation and abuse, refers to any act, attempt or threat of a
sexual nature that results, or is likely to result, in physical, psychological and emotional harm.
Sexual violence is a form of gender-based violence (UNFPA,2008,10)
A piece of work done by AusAID (2008;4), combines all of the above to provide a general
descriptive detail of VAW in Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and East Timor as
encompassing and including physical violence – e.g. slapping, kicking, hitting or use of weapons;
emotional abuse –e.g. systematic humiliation, controlling behavior, degrading treatment,
insults and threats; sexual violence –e.g. including coerced sex or being forced into sexual
3 UNFPA, (2008), AN ASSESSMENT OF THE STATE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN FIJI 2008
UNFPA Pacific Sub Regional Office, Suva, FIJI
4 UNIFEM, (2003), Actions to End Violence Against Women; a regional scan of the Pacific 2002 - A Study for
UNIFEM, UNIFEM, Suva
5 USAID and UNICEF: Strategic Framework for the prevention of and response to gender based violence
in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa, in pp 10 of UNFPA, (2008), An assessment of the state of
violence against women in Fiji 2008 UNFPA Pacific Sub Regional Office, Suva, FIJI
6 UNDP 2009, Gender and HIV in the Pacific Islands region - A review of evidence, policies and strategies with
recommendations, UNDP Pacific Centre,
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