A representative from Punanga Tauturu Inc., the Cook Islands Women’s Counselling Centre, recently attended a regional training programme on Gender-Based Violence against Women and Girls/Children, gaining valuable knowledge and skills to combat gender-based violence in the local community.

Cook Islands’ Terina Teiri-Karaiti attended the 44^th training programme alongside 41 participants.

The training programme held in Suva, Fiji, brought together multiple agencies who are working to combat violence against women and children in the Pacific region.

The four-week training programme from July 29 to August 23, 2024, was organised by the Fiji Women Crisis Centre (FWCC), and aimed to enhance the skills and knowledge of participants in addressing gender-based violence against women and girls/children within their respective communities.

Teiri-Karaiti said: “This training has empowered me to become more in tune with the issues that we are facing in the Pacific.”

“This enabled me to analyse, strategise and organise more effective ways to address and reduce gender-based violence in homes and in the community, on women and girls/children.”

She said discussions included gender sensitisation and society’s expectations of the male and female genders, which became the basis of Gender-Based Violence (GBV).

Teiri-Karaiti explained that gender inequality was linked to gender-based violence and that violence could be perceived as “a man’s tool” to keep women in their place.

Domestic violence is defined as any form of violence that is committed in the home under the same roof, generally by the partner. It can also be classified as intimate partner violence.

Domestic violence includes:

• Physical - such as hitting, punching, slapping, kicking, and using a weapon;
• Emotional - swearing, belittling, degrading and making the person feel ashamed;
• Coercive - stalking, depriving you of basic needs, such as food, monitoring your time, taking control over aspects of your everyday life, such as where you can go, who you can see, what you can wear and when you can sleep; and
• Economical - control of the accounts, property damage, restricting access to financial resources.

Dialogue at the training programme involved the impact of domestic violence on women, children, family, men and the nation, and the myths surrounding its causes such as alcohol and stress.

“Which are merely excuses used to justify domestic violence,” said Teiri-Karaiti of the myths surrounding the causes of domestic violence.

“What we have found is that the cause of domestic violence is gender norms, power and control seeking, patriarchy, gender inequality, misinterpretation of culture, traditions, and the Bible, hence this learned behaviour.”

The training programme also discussed sexual assaults such as rape – a sexual act involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without their consent.

“The myth is that most rapes are committed by strangers which is not true, it can be family, friends or people that are known to you,” said Teiri-Karaiti.

Other topics of discussion were child abuse, child sexual abuse and child labour, how these issues are perceived in society and the impacts on survivors.

Although the second week of training based on counselling was intense and challenging, Teiri-Karaiti said she enjoyed the experience.

“It was quite draining because of the commitment and understanding involved in being an effective counselling advocate,” she said.

“Being a counsellor for gender-based violence requires trust, being able to keep matters confidential, providing information not advice, and most of all doing no harm to the survivor.”

Counselling tools participants were provided with to conduct counselling included: “Communication is very important, to be a professional, be an active listener, have patience in allowing the survivor to talk and make their own decisions to act to change their own lives to empower them.”

Teiri-Karaiti added they were taught to understand to be “trauma aware”, to acknowledge that the survivor has the power to make the changes in their lives, and that the counsellor merely lays out the information and lets the survivor decide.

“Gender-based violence counselling is very sensitive and requires the person to be aware of what the survivor is going through, and also themselves. If the session is too much or triggers an emotion in the counsellor, then the session must stop and the counsellor must excuse themselves and seek assistance from their supervisor, as there will be more harm to the survivor,” she said.

Presentations were delivered by vulnerable communities such as the LGBQTI+, persons with disabilities and the elderly on the stigma associated with gender-based violence and how it affected them.

The Pacific Community (SPC) presented on the role of the working group on how they can help the participants and their regions to find better ways to cope with gender-based violence, and how to best use the resources such as funding available to them.

Lawyers presented best practices and emphasised the importance of survivors receiving assistance with their victim impact statements. They discussed the necessary tools to better support survivors during their court appearances.

Using the media to help with the awareness of gender-based violence was also talked over and how regions can help survivors by promoting services that can help.

Participants were also introduced to prevention strategies, male advocacy and men’s roles in the assisting of survivors of gender-based violence and how they can assist with awareness and prevention, and how sports can be used to promote awareness and reduce stigma.

An open forum was facilitated to discuss concerns, requests and how to better resource different centres or regions to ultimately establish a fully functioning Crisis Centre.

Teiri-Karaiti said her highlight was site-visits to places that assist with violence against women/girls in Fiji such as the House of Sarah (faith-based), Legal Aid Commission, Police Sexual Offences Unit and the Salvation Army.

She said seeing the work done by these groups was an eye-opener, giving an insight on how best to work with similar stakeholders in the respective regions.

“Overall, this experience was empowering, and overwhelming but satisfying,” she said.

“Knowing that you can make a difference and promote awareness in gender-based violence against women and girls/children, support survivors, and become an advocate is something that is powerful and very much needed in our communities.”

Reflecting on the monthlong training, Teiri-Karaiti said: “I need to be proactive in training others to better understand to be able to offer more support in a much-needed area of society.”

“I’m blessed and grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend this regional training programme and believe that I have returned empowered to do more in the area of gender-based violence against women and girls/children for Punanga Tauturu and Education.”