The Fiji Police Force has been looking to faith-based organisations which it believes could help address domestic crime.
The Director of Operations, Maretino Qiolevu, raised the issue when he addressed the Interfaith Search Fiji panel discussion, to which the Force was invited in Suva last week.
“We have been reaching out to religious organisations. We strongly believe that, together, we can help answer the question as to why women and children continue to be victims of sexual crimes which are very often being committed by their loved ones,” Qiolevu said.
“The partnership forged with the Methodist Church (of Fiji) has been greatly welcomed and we have had some of our senior officers speaking at various affiliated gatherings about domestic crime.”
Qiolevu said officers under the Duavata Community Policing have been linking up with the various religious organisations throughout the four policing divisions.
A total of 71 separate incidents of rape and sexual offences was recorded by the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for the month of July this year.
Of the 71 incidents, 37 people were charged. The offences included rape, attempted rape, assault with intent to rape, and defilement and sexual assault.
Thirteen of the people charged were under the age of 18.
Statistics also revealed that there were 71 incidents in which 21 victims were involved, 15 of those being under 18 years of age.
In seven of the incidents, the accused and the victims were related to each other.
Between August 2016 and April 2017, 787 child abuse cases were recorded, an increase of 34% on the previous year.
Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Mereseini Vuniwaqa, says almost every week there are new cases in which children have been sexually abused.
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