APIA – An increase in police complaints about domestic violence in the Pacific is being seen as a sign a Pacific-wide campaign against violence is working.

But those involved in the UN’s campaign against gender-based violence say attitudes still need to change – starting with the people in power.

Lina Chang, who runs the Samoa Victims Support Group, cares for about 70 children who are the victims of violence. She is urging family members to report violence where and whenever it occurs, to avoid cases like Fatima Tupa’i, who was brutally murdered by her husband in October, while she slept holding her young children.

Despite dealing with such cases, Chang says increased police complaints shows women in Samoa are starting to feel more confident in reporting violence, and the village representatives who work with the support group are doing their jobs.

“That’s the idea, to keep reporting incidences of violence. Inside the village itself it’s making an impact that people know that there is a village representative, someone they can go and talk to, someone like that.”

Lina Chang says taxi drivers in Samoa are promoting an anti-violence support helpline by putting stickers on their vehicles. She says taxi drivers often find themselves on the frontline of violence and are often the first people to respond to incidents after a woman has been beaten.

They also have opinions on why there is so much violence against women.

One taxi operator, Tauiliili Pasitale Afamasaga, says young men accessing violent and pornographic material on mobile phones is an issue.

“The mobile phone is a very good technology but they use it unwisely. We need more education about these things. It’s really, really changed the image of the young generations now, to those bad, bad, terrible things – pornographic movies and those things.”

There are so many causes, Chang says, but one thing all advocates agree on is that society attitudes need to change.

On White Ribbon Day last month a senior police inspector thought he was being helpful by telling women to “think carefully” before reporting violence because it’s “a waste of paperwork” if they later retract the complaint.

That officer was slated in the media and the incident prompted Samoa’s Police Commissioner, Egon Keil, to go into damage control saying “that goes against everything the police are trying to do”.

“Totally goes against the grain of this organisation and what I’m trying to instil in this organisation,” he said.

“It’s a backward way of thinking and I tell you that kind of behaviour, that kind of thinking, is not tolerated here in this organisation and shouldn’t be tolerated anywhere.

“So I take this very very seriously and as a matter of fact that officer is under investigation right now.”

Keil says the problem is a global one and those in positions of power need to face up to the issue.

Taliaoa Filipo Tipoai is the chairman of the Samoa Victims Support Group in Auckland, and has been running his own anti-violence sessions for men in New Zealand for 35 years.

He says too often men blame their partner or their culture for their anger issues but they need to realise they always have a choice.

“Violence is nobody’s culture, it’s a matter of choice. Men need to do deal with their own problems.

“A lot of men say, ‘it’s my wife’ – you know, I always say to the men it’s got nothing to do with that. Everything, as far as the issue is concerned, it comes down to your choice.”

Chang says 200 men have recently graduated from anger management courses in Samoa, but next year they will look to expand the programmes to include forums for men who can voluntarily come and talk about their issues.

- Dateline Pacific/PNC