VIOLENCE against women and children is illegal, it can never be justified, and an apology will not fix it.

And without mincing his words, Fiji’s head of State Jioji Konrote said a loud, clear and unequivocal message must be conveyed that those acts needed to be punished.

Mr Konrote said it was a matter of shame and disgrace that violence against women was reported in such high numbers in Fiji — “a nation we claim is the way the world should be”.

He said the island nation’s combined action was well overdue to combat this “life-threatening problem”.

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