SUVA – Fiji’s Police Commissioner says the police have a zero tolerance policy on offences against children and he has issued a plea to the community to report child abuse.

Ben Groenewald says he was rung directly by witnesses to a father beating his eight year old daughter on Sunday last weekend.

He says the accused man has appeared in court and is remanded in custody, while the child is in the care of the Welfare Department.

Commissioner Groenewald says hitting children is against the law and while it is common it is not often reported.

“Those people who know about these acts there is an obligation towards them in terms of the Juvenile Act to report this.

“And I’m pleading to the community that if they hear or see any child abuse they must report it to the police so that we can take action against those perpetrators.”

The General Secretary of the Fiji Teachers Council Agni Deo Singh says teachers have a clear legal obligation to report any evidence of child abuse or neglect to authorities.

He says corporal punishment in schools has been outlawed for more than ten years.

“Definitely behaviour management is a challenge for teachers, especially when we have class sizes between 40 and 50 in our urban schools and teachers managing multiple classes in the rural schools.

“We’ve had instances where teachers have sort of lost control and gone beyond their jurisdiction, some teachers have been terminated and others have been disciplined.”

The head of Save the Children Fiji, Raijeli Nicole, is calling for more resources to help parents raise their children without violence.

She says hitting a child is always unacceptable and making the shift from policy into practice is where the work needs to happen.

Nicole says parenting programmes are a fairly new idea in Fiji but parents need to learn how to talk with their children.

Parenting is challenging and we recognise that there are many demands but that does not make it okay for children to be at the receiving end of their frustrations.”

Nicole says culture should not be used to excuse bad behaviour and more people need to have the moral courage to speak up and intervene when they witness violence.

The Communications Secretary for Fiji’s Methodist Church, Reverend James Bhagwan, says it’s a challenge for the church to help people find ways to resolve conflict peacefully.

He says the recent case of abuse is a reminder to parents that taking your own anger out on your children is not discipline.

“We’ve noticed domestic violence on the increase as the result of people being more frustrated but hopefully now that we are moving into a more democratic environment these things will start to change.

“But the key message from the church is that we don’t condone violence in any way, shape or form.”

Reverend Bhagwan says violence is legitimised by many cultures, institutions and some Christian groups but the church’s role in Fiji is to develop a climate of openness and build ways to keep the vulnerable safe from harm.

He says this is a massive task for a society raised with the notion of “if you spare the rod, you spoil the child”.