MEDIA RELEASE: Executive Level Police Take On Challenge
31 Jul, 2017
Executive Level Police Take On Challenge to Ensure Access to Justice for Women
For a region that has some of the highest rates of violence against women (VAW) in the world, police play a critical role in ensuring that survivors have access to justice.
22 executive level police personnel from around the Pacific are taking on a specific challenge this week to reflect on current processes and procedures when dealing with cases of VAW. They will use their reflections to better understand gaps and weaknesses that can be improved on the part of police response under the guidance of Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) Coordinator Shamima Ali who will lead the intensive one week participatory interactive training.
Shamima will navigate discussions around the dynamics of VAW with the aim of raising executive-level police consciousness around recognising and responding more sensitively and appropriately to female survivors, particularly in the contexts of the Pacific, “it is crucial that they understand how vital their leadership positions and roles are in ensuring that women get access to justice,” said Shamima.
The 22 executive level police are from Kiribati, Kiritimati Island, Tuvalu, Samoa, Cook Islands, Nauru, Vanuatu, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji. They will be given a unique opportunity to examine current policies from around the region. They will be looking closer at the links between policing, human rights and gender equality which aims at enabling them to contribute in putting together procedures and policies that will uphold human rights and provide justice for survivors when they return to their respective countries.
This weeks training follows a successful string of specialised training for both front-line police and executive police over the last three years. Funded by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in partnership with FWCC, the initiative is part of the AFP’s Pacific Police Development Program Regional (PPDP-R) which supports a broad range of police development activities throughout the Pacific. Co-facilitators for the training are ‘Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki from the Tonga Women and Children Crisis Centre (TWCCC) and Vanessa Stone and Stuart Campbell Federal Agents from AFP.
For more information, please contact FWCC Coordinator Shamima Ali on +679 9992875
