While the global average of women experiencing domestic violence is one in every three, Fiji has an average of two in every three women who face violence.
And the cost of domestic violence in the country is a staggering $300million annually or 7 per cent of Fiji’s GDP.
In Parliament yesterday, Minister for Women and Children Sashi Kiran highlighted sobering figures of what local women experience through domestic violence.
She referred to a study by Dr Lice Soraurau Vaniqi last year which screened domestic violence cases at the Nadi Maternity Antenatal Clinic between March and June, 2024, that focussed on 345 women.
“Two hundred and forty-seven (71.6 per cent) women had experienced domestic violence in their lifetime; 13 per cent experienced physical violence during pregnancy.
“The husband or partner was the most common perpetrator of physical violence.
“Domestic violence carries a significant economic cost estimated at around a staggering $300million annually, that’s 7 per cent of Fiji’s GDP.”
She said this figure included medical and related government services.
“Then there is grief, fear, emotional scarring for life for not only the victim, but also other members of the family, often children, who witness and suffer from violence with their mothers.
“According to Fiji police statistics, the Western Division topped the reporting at 37 to 40 per cent of all reported cases of domestic violence against women and around 35 per cent of cases of violence against children in the past five years.
“More specifically, 1103 out of 2692 victims were from the West in 2020, that is 40 per cent of all cases reported and 970 out of 2617 cases in 2024 at 37 per cent.
“The Eastern Division has sat around 17 to 18 per cent, Northern Division around 11 per cent and the Central Division recorded 3.3 per cent of all cases in 2024.”
