Family & Sexual Violence in a Relationship

What is Family and Sexual Violence? Family violence is often referred to as the intention of a person using violence to exert power and control to ensure what is convenient, useful and functional to them. The intention can be to harm or intimidate in order to control.

Family violence involve behaviour toward other members of ones family, including be marriage or blood ties, de-factor relationships or relationships of similar nature to these such as step parents to step children, adopted parents and to adopted children.

Usually, the person using violence is already in a position of greater power to resist or remove themselves from the situation. Family Violence can assume a number of forms.

 Physical Violence: Physical violence involves attachks on or threats of attacks on one’s physical safety and integrity- hitting, kicking, punching and assault with weapone even murder. It can involve harm or threat to weapons even murder. It can involve harm or threat to harm children, relatives, pets and possessions.

Emotional Violence: This behaviour does not accord importance and respect to another persons feeling and experiences. It involves refusal to listen to ro denial of others feelings, blaming or punishing them for how they feel, ridicule, shame, forcing others to supp9ort their point of view to avoid conflicts.

Verbal Violence: This includes verbal put-downs and ridicule of any aspect of a person’s being, such as their body, beliefs, occupation, cultural background, skills, friends and family.

Sexual Violence: This includes all sexual behaviour without consent or threats of such behaviour, such as unwanted touching, rape, incest, exposing oneself or making another expose to them, making him/her view pornography, expecting to have sex as a form of reconcilitaiton after one has been beaten especially when one is unable to withhold consent because of fear of further violence.

Social Violence: This behaviour limits, controls or interferes with the person’s social activities or relationships with others, such as controlling his/her movements and denying them access to family and friends.

Financial Violence: This includes not giving woman access to shared resources, expecting her to manage the household on an impossible low amount of money, and criticise and blame her when she is unable to.

Spiritual Violence: This includes all behaviour which denigrates a person’s religious or speritual beliefs, preventing them from attending religious gathering or practicing their faith. It also includes harming or threatening to harm men, women or children in religious or cult rituals.

Domestic violence, which includes child abuse, has been ignored as a major problem until recently and remains poorly understood, although it is a complex problem impacted upon by multiple variables. There is little chance or preventing domestic violence as long as it is condoned as accepted behaviour by the public and instituionts.

Domestic violence prevention plays an important role in crime prevention, because not only is abuse a criminal activity, children who witness violence or are abused, are at greater risk of engaging in antisocial and criminal behaviours in later life.To get more information about FAMILY & SEXUAL VIOLENCE visit the following centers in these provinces:

• Bougainville – NGO Alliance
• Central – Central Welfare Services
• East Sepik – ESCOW
• EHP – Goroka Family Voice
• Enga – Community Development Office
• ENB – FSVAC/PCW
• Gulf – PCW
• Madang – FSVAC/PCW
• Manus – Pihi Manus Council of Women
• Morobe – Women and Childrens Support Centre
• Milne Bay – Milne Bay Counseling Services
• NIP – Community Development Office
• Oro – Oro FSVAC/OCD
• Simbu – FSVAC Women’s Centre
• West Sepik – Community Development Office
• WHP- PCW
• WNB – Community Policing
• WP – Daru Community Development Offic3
• Country Women Association (CWA) 

Contacts in NCD:

• ICRAF                                 PH: 325 1537
• NCD Welfare Services       PH: 311 2505
• NCD Community Policing PH: 326 0104
• PMGH Family Support Centre PH: 3248452/451
• Lifeline PNG                        PH: 326 0011
• Pom City Mission (Haus Ruth) PH: 320 3375
• PACE PNG                           PH: 320 3375
• Sexual Offences Squard (Boroko) PH: 324 4257
• National Council of Women PH: 326 0375
• YWCA (National)                  PH: 325 2181
• Catholic Family Services (Pom) PH: 325 5250
• Salvation Army Social Services PH: 321 6000
• Anglicare                                 PH:325 1855

What do you think about Family and Sexual Violence in PNG?

What do you think should be done?

Do you have any experience you would like to share?

Do you have some comments or  advice you would like to give?

Remember: You are not alone – there are many people who care.