CRYING MERI: Violence Against Women in Papua New Guinea

Photographer Vlad Sokhin had passed through PNG several weeks ago. A friend of mine had put him in touch with me, but unfortunately I was unable to assist him with lining up some shots for him. So Vlad if you’re reading this, I’m very sorry again for not being able to help you out.

Nevertheless he seems to have done very well with his images of PNG. These images are quite graphic and a PNG friend of mine took objection to his photography, but I had to disagree. I have a relative who killed his wife over a family dispute, he didn’t mean it but she’s gone and will never come back. Vlad may have only been in PNG for 2 weeks, but as he stated in a radio interview, the women were more than willing to be photographed. They just wanted someone to care about what was happening to them.

Yes its raw, yes it makes PNG look bad, but it’s one aspect of PNG life that we need to see more of, not only to highlight, but more so we can own the problem. We need to embrace this, we need to each own this issue and turn it into some form of hope for our future.

Maybe it is great timing then that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo, will be conducting her first official fact-finding mission to Papua New Guinea from 18 to 26 March 2012.

Ms. Manjoo says that her visit  “…will look at violence against women broadly, studying the main manifestations, causes and consequences of violence against women in the family, in the community, violence that is perpetrated or condoned by the State, and violence against women in the transnational sphere,” She will meet with government authorities, and representatives of civil society in Port Moresby, Goroka, Kundiawa, Minj and Buka. She will also visit shelters and detention centres, and meet with individual victims of gender-based violence.

A press conference on the initial findings of the visit will be held at the Public Information Centre, Deloitte Tower Ground Floor, Douglas Street, Port Moresby on Monday 26 March 2012 at 13:00 h.

Based on the information obtained during the visit, Ms. Manjoo will present a report with her final findings and recommendations to a forthcoming session of the Human Rights Council.

I’m not sure how the UN will help in the long run, although it is some good news, all I know is that this is certainly not a world that I want my daughter to grow up in.

[ Click here to learn more about the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and read about her recent trip to the Solomon Islands here ]

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By Vlad Sokhin

According to the statistics, in Papua New Guinea two thirds of women are constantly exposed to domestic violence and about 50% of women become victims of sexual assaults (in Chimbu and Western Highlands provinces, 97% and 100% respectively of women surveyed said they had been assaulted). Local men don’t respect their meris (“meri” in Pidgin means “woman”), constantly beating them, often using bush knives and axes. While in traditional villages such attitudes toward women can be attributed to tribal culture, today in Port Moresby violence against women shocks modern society.

The main danger comes from the Raskol gangs that rule the settlements in the capital city. Raping women is a “must” for the young members of the gang. In most Papua tribes, when a boy wants to become a man, he should go to enemy’s village and kill a pig. After that, his community will accept him as an adult. In industrial Port Moresby women have replaced pigs.

It is very rare that violence-against-women cases are brought to court. Most assailants are kept in a prison cell at the police station for a couple of days and then released. The police claim the lack of conviction stems from the fact that victims often fear filing a statement or that many wives take pity on their husbands and insist on the termination of the case. According to the Family Support Center’s statistics, more and more violence against women happens in middle class families, where lawyers, policemen or even church pastors strike their wives. Rejected and beaten women are often kicked out of home to the street, where they became easy targets for the Raskol gangs.

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Helena Michael (40), mother of seven children. On December 27th (2011) she was attacked by a “cannibal” near the Boroko police station, in the central part of Port Moresby. The attacker bit off Helena’s lower lip and wanted to sink his teeth into her throat. The woman managed to escape by kicking her assailant in his testicles and biting three of his fingers forcing him to release her. Police arrested the man and found out that it was his third attempt to eat human flesh. Having spent three days in the hospital, Helena went to the police station to initiate criminal proceedings against the cannibal, but discovered that he had been released due to the lack of complaints. Helena is still waiting for the hospital’s approval to start surgery for skin graft on her missing lip.

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Peter Umba Moses (32), one of the leaders of the “Dirty Dons 585” Raskol gang. He says that raping women is a “must” for the young members of the gang. Peter himself has raped more than 30 women, 3 of them were murdered. By his words he has not been involved in any crimes for over a year, but he is still giving criminal advice to the young members of the gang.

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Gynecologist Dr. Freeda Wemin examines the genitals of 14-year-old Freda Masked, who was raped by a 40-year-old lawyer. Freda said that the man was a friend of her family and she didn’t suspect anything when he offered her a lift to the market. Instead he drove Freda to his house, raped her and then left her on the road of the settlement. Freda’s father brought his daughter to the hospital but wasn’t sure if he wanted to sue the rapist.

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Richard Bal (45) shows disfigured ear of his wife Agita Bal (32) in the Morobe block, Port Moresby. In December of 2010 after coming home drunk, Richard took a bush-knife and cut half of Agita’s left ear. He spent one night in the police station and was released next morning due to “insufficient evidence” to initiate criminal proceedings. Agita’s relatives didn’t allow her to leave Richard, having received 500 kina (about 240 USD) from him for the “potential damage”.

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Members of the Raskol gang “Dirty Dons 585”, Nine Mile Settlement, Port Moresby. All of these young men committed a set of rapes and armed robberies. The gang members admit that two thirds of their victims are women.

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Mary Elaes (48), a wife of a Raskol gang member, called Blackie. Her husband hangs out with the gang almost all the time, coming home from time to time for food only. When there is no food in the house, he beats Mary, causing limb fractures and other injuries. Because of his criminal activities the police repeatedly look for Blackie in his house and, quite often, having failed to find him at home, arrests his wife. Mary was taken to prison many times, often with her children. To escape from her husband and police brutality, Mary often finds shelter in the local Catholic Church. Port Moresby, Eight Mile, Settlement.

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Banil Yalomba (16) came to the Antenatal Clinic of Port Moresby after having been sexually assaulted by her ex-boyfriend. A day after they separated, her former partner came to her parents’ house and dragged Banil to a bush area, threatening her with a knife. There he beat her and raped her. Banil’s father managed to find his daughter laying unconscious on the ground and brought her to the hospital.

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A Prison cell of the Boroko police station is mostly filled with murderers and rapists. The police officers on duty admit that it is very rare case that men are imprisoned on accusation for domestic violence.

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Molly Liri (42) is waiting for the medical examination at the Family Support Center of Port Moresby General Hospital. Molly was brutally beaten by her husband, a security guard, who does not allow her to leave their house. At the Family Support Center she will be given a 24-hours shelter and thereafter she will need to decide whether to report her husband to the police or go back home, where she is subjected to regular domestic violence.

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Police officer Job Eremugo shows on his computer screen a photo of a woman who was a victim of domestic violence. According to him, at the Boroki police station at least three women report being assaulted by their husbands or strangers every day.

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Anna Smith (42) and Bernadette Ktui (26) have been living in the City Mission refugee center since December of 2011. They arrived there severely injured and decided to ask for three months shelter, not wanting to go back to their husbands who abused them. The Port Moresby’s City Mission can shelter only 30 women at the same time. In the PNG capital, with the population of three hundred thousand people, 50% of the women are estimated to be in need of protection from domestic or street violence.

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Andres Sime (39), is waiting for trial in a prison cell, having been accused of multiple rapes. The Boroko police station, Port Moresby.

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A nurse of the Antenatal Clinic of Port Moresby is conducting a medical examination of Doring Kande (23), 5 month pregnant, who was brutally attacked by her husband and expelled from her house early in the morning. Doring’s drunken husband assaulted her, kicking her in the abdomen, and repeatedly striking her face against the wall. During the ultrasound the doctors did not hear the heartbeat of the unborn baby. Doring reported to the police, but the man at the time of this report the man had not been arrested. Linda Amaki grieves the death of her 25-year-old daughter Amanda, who died at the Emergency section of the Port Moresby General Hospital after being raped on the street by members of the Raskol gang. The bandits stabbed her several times and she died without regaining consciousness.

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Linda Amaki grieves the death of her 25-year-old daughter Amanda, who died at the Emergency section of the Port Moresby General Hospital after being raped on the street by members of the Raskol gang. The bandits stabbed her several times and she died without regaining consciousness.

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Examination room at the Antenatal Clinic of Port Moresby. Doctors say that every week they receive at least three women, who were victims of sexual assault. However, the majority of Papua New Guinean women are afraid to report sexual violence, not wanting to have their case became known to relatives and neighbors.