The new Domestic Violence Decree is the dawning of a new day, not only for women but for the vulnerable citizens of our community, says Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr John Rabuku.
The Acting DPP added that the legislation marked the beginning of what would be a systematic building of a legal framework that would ensure the immediate protection of women and vulnerable citizens from violence within their very homes.
“For long, domestic violence in its forms, faces, degree and sizes have been long tolerated in our communities” Mr Rabuku said.
“The debate about its acceptance or otherwise in our communities crosses every level and does not discriminate between age, colour, race, social status or financial standing.”
He said that even the educated or the sensitized wondered whether domestic violence was really just a part of what it was like to grow up in the Pacific Way.
“Some Pacific women have come to accept this perpetrated violence simply because of the long absence of adequate protection and redress over the decades. The violence becomes a regular occurrence with no hope of a brighter day.”
However, as reiterated the new Domestic Violence Decree will be the legislation to address this form of abuse, which previously under the Penal Code did not adequately protect the victims.