Senior Police officers and policy staff members from Fiji are undergoing a workshop that will better their response in violence against women cases.

The workshop at the Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa on Denarau Island is the first workshop for regional executive-level Police officers facilitated by the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) and funded by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

It also includes senior enforcement officers from other Pacific island nations.

FWCC co-ordinator Shamima Ali who is facilitating the five-day workshop said: “Understanding the gender dynamics and power relations at play in cases of violence against women should help these officers critique and develop policy and procedures to respond to such cases.

“With rates of violence against women in the Pacific among the highest in the world, Police officers are key partners in eliminating the problem because they are the ones women turn to first for protection.”

The participants include Tuvalu’s Acting Police Commissioner Luka Falefou and Tonga’s Deputy Commissioner Corporate Ashley Fua. Officers from Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Vanuatu.

The officers will develop action plans that will enable them to implement their learning during the week on how to improve their response to female survivors of violence.

The series of workshops with regional Police officers is part of the Australian Federal Police’s Pacific Police Development Programme Regional (PPDP-R), an Australian Government initiative supporting a broad range of police development activities through the region.

Source: Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre

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