United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects 2022, Online Edition. Estimates 2021.
Proportion of women aged 18–64 years experiencing sexual violence perpetrated by someone other than an intimate partner since age 15.
Source: Fiji Women's Crisis Centre, 2013. National Research on Women's Health and Life Experiences in Fiji (2010/11): A Survey Exploring the Prevalence, Incidence and Attitudes to Intimate Partner Violence in Fiji. Suva, Fiji.
Proportion of ever-partnered women aged 18-64 years experiencing intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime.
Source: Fiji Women's Crisis Centre, 2013. National Research on Women's Health and Life Experiences in Fiji (2010/11): A Survey Exploring the Prevalence, Incidence and Attitudes to Intimate Partner Violence in Fiji. Suva, Fiji.
Proportion of ever-partnered women aged 18-64 years experiencing intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence in the last 12 months.
Source: Fiji Women's Crisis Centre, 2013. National Research on Women's Health and Life Experiences in Fiji (2010/11): A Survey Exploring the Prevalence, Incidence and Attitudes to Intimate Partner Violence in Fiji. Suva, Fiji.
(1) Conduct awareness-raising programmes in collaboration with teachers and the media, including social media, to promote understanding of the fact that gender-based violence is a violation of human rights, make women and girls aware of their rights and encourage victims and witnesses to report violence;
(2) Encourage the media to adopt codes of professional ethics that incorporate respect for the principles of non-discrimination and gender equality, as enshrined in the Convention;
(3) Adopt a national action plan for the prevention of gender-based violence;
(4) Strengthen capacity-building for law enforcement personnel to ensure that under no circumstances are victims forced or put under pressure to accept traditional methods of dispute settlement in lieu of criminal proceedings against perpetrators;
(5) Further strengthen training for law enforcement officers on the strict application of criminal law provisions regarding gender-based violence against women, ensure the implementation of the “no-drop” policy and the issuance of domestic violence restraining orders, increase the number of female police officers and set up a mechanism allowing victims who report violence to submit a complaint in the event of harassment, threat or pressure by law enforcement personnel;
(6) Ensure that perpetrators of gender-based violence receive sentences commensurate with the nature of their crimes and that patriarchal perceptions of the roles of men and women or irrelevant criteria, such as when the offence is the perpetrator's first, do not serve as grounds for reducing a sentence;
(7) Train health personnel adequately on the Convention and the rights of women who are victims of gender-based violence and systematically provide victims of rape with emergency contraception and post-exposure prophylaxis;
(8) Establish appropriate services, including properly equipped shelters, medical assistance, psychological counselling and rehabilitation, for women and girls who are victims of gender-based violence and provide adequate support to civil society organizations that supply such services;
(9) Set up a fund to ensure that victims of gender-based violence against women have access to reparation even if the perpetrator is destitute;
(10) Assist women who cannot safely return to their homes to build an independent life, through psychosocial support, vocational training, income-generating opportunities and protection including, if necessary, by changing their identity;
(11) Develop gender-sensitive policies and involve women in disaster preparedness and response planning and delivery.
(12) Criminalize statutory rape under all circumstances;
(13) Ensure that sexual assault, including rape, is defined on the basis of lack of freely given consent, taking into account coercive circumstances;
(14) Ensure that, in cases of sexual abuse of children, the burden of proof regarding exculpating circumstances relating to the victim's age lies with the alleged perpetrator;
(15) Enforce the prohibition of child marriage, prohibit all forms of pressure on victims of rape to marry perpetrators and increase efforts to prosecute and punish perpetrators and accomplices in cases of child marriage;
(16) Promote a positive image of girls and their potential as active participants in development rather than portraying them as commodities.
The Committee recommends that the State party conduct a full assessment of the implementation of the Family Law Act and the Marriage Act and examine the root causes of the poor functioning of and lack of recourse to the Family Court, with a view to improving its structure and the training of the judiciary and raising awareness of its functions. The State party should, based on the findings, design a strategy to increase the efficiency and use of the Court and set aside adequate resources for it.
(1) Strengthen mechanisms to identify, protect and assist victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation and to provide them with legal support;
(2) Undertake a study of the parties who benefit from trafficked labour and use structures in the State party that may facilitate trafficking, the number of victims and the factors that render them vulnerable to trafficking, with a view to addressing those factors and structures;
(3) Boost training and awareness-raising programmes for border police, immigration and other law enforcement authorities on their role in preventing and combating trafficking in women and girls;
(4) Strengthen long-term reintegration measures for the victims of trafficking.
<u><a target="_blank" href="https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2F…, CEDAW Committee, Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Fiji, 12 March 2018, CEDAW/C/FJI/CO/5.</a></u>
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