THE revelation that there has been a 19 per cent increase in crimes against women this year is a concern.
In fact it should concern every Fijian!
Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu raised this sobering reality during a press conference at Police Headquarters in Nasinu this week.
Of the 233 reported cases which involved women, he said, nearly half (47 percent) happened in domestic settings, with spouses or partners being the primary perpetrators.
The most affected age group, he noted, were women aged 18 to 38.
On the other side of the divide, there was a four percent decrease in crimes against children.
We may look at this as a development of note, however, it is still raising the issue of child abuse which is something we should all be against!
With crimes against children and women often associated as emotional crimes, Mr Tudravu said, the police will continue to seek public support in identifying and tackling “the root causes of these moral crimes”.
This needs strong public involvement.
We need to be thinking about how we treat the vulnerable among us, within our own homes!
The statistics here offer us a view of the reality on the ground. They reflect uncomfortable truths about society!
They offer us a view of how some of us treat women and children, and must challenge us to critically look at our social values, our relationships and the way we handle conflict on the home front. We can do better!
Such statistics are important for they give us an opportunity to look at standards, human relations, and abuse.
They provide us scope on human behaviour and how much we need to know and appreciate.
These figures are like a guide for us on what we must do as a nation.
So we can either be engaged and be part of the solution or bury our heads in the sand so to speak, and pretend all is rosy in our little paradise.
We look up to the powers that be to view this as an opportunity to stimulate discussions and get people engaged.
It should also be an opportunity for us to review how we look at, and how we nurture relationships on the home front.
The challenge now for many of us is to identify issues we can focus on and improve and build on connecting families.
We need to be talking.
We need to be aware of challenges our loved ones are facing, and we need to have the courage to own up to our mistakes and say sorry!
