She welcomes Brigadier-General Qiliho’s pledge to address offences against children and women

The Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Rosy Akbar, has commended the Acting Police Commissioner, Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho, on his plan of action to address sexual offences against women and children.

In his official welcoming address this week, Brigadier-General Qiliho pledged his commitment to vigorously address the cases regarding sexual attacks on children and women in Fiji.

“The Ministry is extremely pleased with Brigadier General Qiliho’s leadership and commitment to prioritize and urgently deal with cases concerning the welfare of women, children and families in Fiji,” the minister said.

“The Ministry of Women looks forward for strengthened collaboration with Fiji Police in intensifying efforts to increase reachout to the communities and working together as a nation to protect our women and children.”

She said the support was timely since a new Memorandum of Understanding would be signed between the Ministry of Women and Police.

The MOU is expected to be signed before the year end. The objective of the MOU is to strengthen co-operation in areas of eliminating violence against Women and Children [EVAW], creating safer communities for our women and children, and building strong families.

“This approach will strengthen the existing partnership between the Ministry and Police in improving the care and protection services for women and children. Once the partnership is formalised, the ministry will also provide advisory support to the Fiji Police on technical issues of gender mainstreaming,” the minister said.

The ministry has organised the national awareness programme on (Prevention on Child Abuse and Neglect) in Suva this week.

The theme is “It’s your turn to make a difference: stop child sexual abuse”. A special programme was organised yesterday for students of Hilton Special School in Suva to commemorate the Universal Children’s Day, which is marked annually on November 20.

Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation

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