Domestic violence is not just a big issue in Fiji. In Australia, debate has been raging for days about a wave of recent cases of women murdered by their partners and demands by women’s rights advocates for a Royal Commission to uncover the extent of a truly alarming crisis.
For Fijian women, there is a great deal of resonance in the Australian experience, much of it encapsulated in the tragic story of Lynda Greenwood.
This in-depth report by Jordan Baker – the Chief Reporter of the Sydney Morning Herald – isn’t just the searing story of a helpless woman victim but of the helplessness of her family and those around her to protect her from a violent and controlling partner.
It is a tragedy that as Minister for Women and Children in Fiji, Lynda Tabuya chose to have “brutal” extramarital sex with a domestic violence perpetrator and even more tragic that she and the local women’s movement remain silent as Aseri Radrodro – who almost killed the Prime Minister’s daughter – has been restored to the education portfolio.
How can attitudes to domestic violence in Fiji change when these women are enabling a man who beat his former wife to within an inch of her life? In Australia, no-one like Aseri Radrodro would be allowed a place in public life. But the Coalition is so corrupt that he thrives and the Prime Minister is so morally bankrupt that he accepts Radrodro in his cabinet and also shelters the woman who had sex with him in Room 233 of the Windsor Hotel last August.
The silence of church and community leaders on this ongoing outrage is deafening. Fiji has no hope of fundamentally tackling its crisis of domestic violence when perpetrators are enabled and appeased. And there are a lot more local versions of Lynda Greenwood to come.
I’m glad DV is in lights finally however it’s been going on since goodness -as long as I can remember.
Not in my circle but definitely the extension. I can recall an aviation friend being bashed to death in Fiji.
Bashed so bad she passed. Liver gallbladder all internal organs affected. But he left her face clear.
Coward.
May she rest in Peace.
From the micro interactions of control that a misogynistic culture condones (any culture or religion where women aren’t seen as equal & men are head of the family) comes the building blocks to coercive control physically, emotionally, socially & financially. Fiji is a long way off making the core changes that will filter through to women – even further away with this government & elites who hide despicable behaviour behind extremest religion, forgiveness & meaningless apologies. Since when does an apology rewire a violent controlling brain and protect women?
Unfortunately a reflection of Fijian society where men almost tend to get away with it due to the petty stigma against female victims.
Do the FWCC’s major donors review the effectiveness of their funding assistance to the organization?Including Australia, NZ, arms of the UN, Asia Foundation, EU, World Bank etc. which also support the education of our children. Donor harmonization? Their silence (fear of China?) will no doubt contribute to the eventual collapse of our education and governance systems. That collapse will incentivize Fiji’s future leaders to turn to and remain with China. Vinaka “role models” Aseri and Lynda of Fiji, plus PM and AG. Out soon please!
Not really.
Do they care less or more?
Not really too.
It’s just funds.
Throw them in.
Makes them look good as aid donors.
Makes NGOs look pretty doing nothing most of the time.
Release a strategy.
Sing and dance about it.
That’s that.
That’s how they roll.
We are here because of donor reliance on a lot of things in Fiji.
Government is just a show pony. Appear where needed to cut a cake and wear the salusalu.
Media should ask Shamima and others what have they achieved after a strategy.
The hypocrisy in Fiji under the coalition has reached dizzying heights – at least FF were upfront about it all.
Late Feb 2023 I was on a flight from Nausori to Labasa. This was around the weekend of Dr Brij Lals ceremony in Tabia, where his family from overseas was present and other political dignitaries as reported in the media.
Also on the flight was Shamima Ali, with some of the other attendees to the professors ceremony.
This MAY have been a personally paid travel to the event by Ms Ali. One hopes that the NGO she works for and funded by donors did not pick up the tab.
If this was not a private visit but undertaken as the leader of the Fiji Women’s Rights movement or the Women’s Crisis Centre – then is this type of activity, which I think was political in nature, something that is in the charter of these NGOs.
Are donors potentially funding Ms Ali’s political ambitions rather than her job description …. Which would be to achieve better outcomes for Fijian women and children I would think. If the Fiji women’s leaders are off target and focussing on unrelated issues , who are representing and advocating for the most vulnerable and has there been measurable improvement over the years foreign donors have been providing the gravy train to the free riders?
Donors must open their eyes and have part responsibility to ensure funding is not misused.
Donors only did one evaluation on one NGO in Fiji and that is Shamima’s team in 2020. It was a combined DFAT and MFAT evaluation.
And that’s it. No other external evaluation has been present on this NGO or any other NGO in Fiji.
They are all very well funded compared to what an NGO of the same will be given in a place like New Zealand.
NGOs in New Zealand will be lucky if they had more than $300,000 a year from any funding. FWCC gets over $800,00. That’s from NZAID only. DFAT Australia showers money in millions.
What have these NGOs achieved is a question. How effective has the taxpayer funds from Australian and New Zealand alone been in Fiji and how much of that goes in high management salary?
Under the Charities Act are these disclosed to public as we would in New Zealand for a charitable organization?
Fwcc gets over $800,000 per year from nzaid only.
The Navua Fiji police were called for help when a father assaulted his little girl.
The police did not show up!
That child knows that noone will protect her not even the Fiji Police. She has seen her mother and other family members being abused and noone did anything.
When men can assault their wives and children with no consequence then what’s going to stop them. There have been other abuses by this man on family members such as strangulation but they finally called the police on this occasion ane and they got nothing. I guess assault on a child is not serious enough!
Navua Police this is unacceptable! When people reach you they must act!
Navua Police why aren’t your protecting your citizens???
Lynda Tabuya if you can’t get the police to even respond to a child being attacked then I don’t want to hear a word from you. You and Rabuka should be insisting the police to their job to protect citizens. Better get rid of them and hire intelligent competent people. The police are even rumoured to be drinking kava at home on duty!!
You need to start over. Everyone knows that police don’t show up. Why don’t the police have funding for police cars? This is absolutely outrageous. How many govt cars did we see with tinted windows yet they don’t have cars. What kind of joke is this. Spend less on travel and conventions and get cars in every station!!
I would not allow Lynda to have any voice on any child’s matter. Unless one wants that child’s video blasted over the internet for Lynda’s PR benefit.
Lynda needs to go.
With a charge on child abuse.
But that’s Fiji Police now.
Don’t trust them
In Vanua Levu (Taveuni, Labasa, Savusavu) the Police will turn up. Perform a counseling session and leave. No one really gets arrested.
The violence is on repeat because police allow it to happen. Take bribery. Leave.
This is only if they arrive at the scene. Most of the time they have no vehicle.
I hate to say GD but our women and girls are not safe in Fiji. Not only from the abusers but also the systems and the Police. No Ministry really cares about abuse on girls and women. That’s concrete.
I would never bring up my daughters in Fiji. Never.
The country has this mentality that women are second class citizens. Just look at governance boards, leadership teams, the government leadership, doctors in power, head teachers at schools, media, tourism leads, etc.
We mostly see men in power. That’s it.
And then these men go to church and preach about women being subservient to men. Drink kava. Get served by women at the table at 3am. Sex spread after. And then off the men go to work looking all good and proper. That’s the norm for many women in Fiji. And the cycle repeats every night.
It’s disgusting. Family values have shifted so poorly.
The power of men in media and how they report about violence on women is sickening.
Read this Facebook post as an example of MaiTVs post. Now a young pregnant mother is dead. MaiTV reports about the father of the dead woman forgiving the killer straight away. Again, God is used as a scapegoat. Same story repeating wherever violence is present by men.
Check the quality of response and entitlement by MaiTV Director Stanley Simpson.
If people can read this stupid article from media then they can also read the reader feedback.
Simpson smartly answering that they have media training on how to report violence on women. It is well known that they don’t. Not with that calibre and insensitive reporting.
BTW, Simpson is the media lead at the media council in Fiji.
We wonder why it is all shit in Fiji. Here is a good example of why.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0THvVRmwBRGE2GvXgxp6CfgXERrEED6ZE1HPCfT2fdyko5CRTpBgWVBCGJof7UJMKl&id=100000228104275&mibextid=Nif5oz
In Fiji’s recent case of the young mothers killing, the alledged killer was sentenced to prison last year for possession of Marijuana.
Just marijuana.
No proper mental health support offered for these men from isolated parts of Fiji.
What has Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and other NGOs done with all the millions of donor funds? How are they supporting rebuild of families for small crises before they become big?
What are we doing to help men?