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31 March 2008

Press Release

First Ever Pacific Men's Training on Violence Against Women & Gender Equality - 34 Men, 6 Pacific Countries

For the first time ever, Pacific men came together to discuss and analyse the issue of violence against women and look at ways of working with women’s organizations to bring an end to the inequalities faced by women. “This is actually a milestone in terms of work for women’s human rights in the Pacific”, said Shamima Ali, Coordinator of FWCC and convenor of the training meeting.

According to Ali, this work has been more of an evolution with progress built on other milestones over the years. “For us and the Pacific communities, the timing was right, because there is significant awareness on women’s rights issues and more specifically violence against women so it is timely that men be involved in this work”, said Ali.

This training meeting was unique because it brought together 34 men from 6 countries in the Pacific Region, and these are men who have undergone various stages of training and who are working alongside women’s organizations in their own countries. “We have men from Fiji, Cook Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea; and all of them have been through an initial training with us. The men came from different backgrounds and are in positions where they can influence other men and they use the knowledge and skills in their line of work”, said Ali. Participants included police officers, village chiefs, church representatives, youth workers and community workers.

Facilitating the training was Stephen Fisher who is an expert on masculinities and programmes on violence against women. “For this training meeting we brought a facilitator from Australia who has a great deal of experience working in this area, and he took the participants much deeper into the issues of violence against women and women’s human rights. He has assisted us previously with programs in Fiji and Vanuatu”, said Ali.

The training meeting was officially closed by the HE James Batley, the Australian High Commissioner.

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