FIJI’S national response to gender-based violence (GBV) has failed to stop the killings, with 57 women now dead at the hands of their partners or spouses.
This was among the confronting findings revealed in new research by Avelina Rokoduru, a Doctor of Philosophy candidate at the University of Otago in New Zealand, who says the four-decade-long GBV strategy must be urgently reviewed.
“Despite four decades of national, regional and international response, GBV especially in the form of intimate partner violence (IPV), is regularly reported to date, 2025 and motivated this PhD thesis,” she wrote.
Titled Masculinities and Gender-based Violence (GBV) in Fiji: The Perceptions of iTaukei (indigenous Fijian) Men, the study reveals 54 women were killed by partners between 2013 and November 2024, with three more deaths in April 2025, prompting public admissions of failure from Fiji’s leaders.
“The iTaukei men in this study are disconnected from the GBV national response,” Ms Rokoduru wrote.
“Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, and the Minister for Women Sashi Kiran, both declared the national response ineffective.”
Her research found iTaukei men often reject gender and GBV concepts as externally imposed and culturally irrelevant.
“Fiji’s National Action Plan wrongly assumes the acceptance of gender and GBV as words, ideas and approaches of doing intimate partner relationships in bula vakavanua,” she said.
She argues the feminist approach to GBV cannot be the sole driver of a national response.
“A national GBV response is not only ineffective, but also costly to individuals, collectives, and the country.
“This study has established that iTaukei male perceptions are drivers of iTaukei men’s violence,” she said.
