New Support for Survivors of Family and Sexual Violence

Deputy High Commissioner to PNG, Bronte Moules cuts ribbon to mark the official launch of the Eastern Highlands Family Support Centre.

A new family support centre for survivors of family and sexual violence in Eastern Highlands Province has opened in Goroka.

Australian Deputy High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Ms Bronte Moules, and Eastern Highlands provincial leaders officially opened the facility on May 6.

Funded by the Australian Government, the centre at the Goroka Base Hospital will benefit more than 500,000 people by providing integrated care and counselling.

Staff from the Eastern Highlands Provincial Health Authority Family Support Centre and partner organisations from the Provincial Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee will work together to  provide services and improve community safety.

Ms Moules said: “Family and sexual violence is a crime that affects millions of women and children around the world – in Australia and in Papua New Guinea. These crimes are usually hidden and unreported. Violence not only fractures our families and our communities, but is a barrier to economic development.”

“Violence against women and children is a problem that can be tackled through determined leadership that changes attitudes and behaviour to prevent violence, as well as through protecting survivors, and – importantly – through prosecuting offenders,” she said.

Ms Moules said health centres in remote communities must link survivors and perpetrators of violence to the family support centre to access support services.

Australia works in partnership with all levels of government, civil society, international partners, women and men to respond to violence against women through a range of different programs.

The family support centre was built by the support of the Australian Government through a funding commitment of PGK 650,000 in partnership with the Eastern Highland Provincial Health Authority.