Increase in Crimes against women: Concern for all

Recently, PNG media was filled with horrifying stories of women being murdered, raped and burned alive. This is becoming a daily occurrence and it is happening right before the eyes of everyone.  How do we define a woman? An adult female human being, some would say. But there is more to it than just a female human being. She is a friend, a mother to children, a person who has feelings, a wife, a sister or a friendly neighbour. She is a member of the society which we live in and has every right to talk freely, to be listened to, to be respected, to be loved, to make choices for her best interests and to walk freely. However, the opposite is happening right here, right now and is a total disgrace to everyone.

For instance, online National Newspaper dated 29^th April, 2013, reported a murder case in which a young single parent mother was murdered in her family garden on a Friday when she went to do gardening with her one year old baby girl. The incident took place in Wanam Farm, Morobe Province. Her body was found some hundred meters away from her baby the next day. Luckily, the baby survived. But the culprits who did this for reasons unknown were still at large.

She was the second one to be killed in Lae in a fortnight. In a separate case, an Eastern Highlands woman was also killed and burned before being dumped off near Kunai Block, Morobe Province, similarly, for unknown reasons.

In other instances, brutal killing of women accused of sorcery is escalating at such a phenomenal rate. The National Newspaper, 2013, reported that three Bougainville women accused of sorcery were killed. Apart from that many other women accused of sorcery in other parts of PNG, such as Lae and in the Highlands Region were killed or burned alive before the watchful eyes of the public.

Incidence of rape is also increasing and is happening almost everywhere, to any women considered vulnerable. Recent stories in the newspapers reported that an Australian man was murdered in Mount Hagen during a break and enter and his Filipino girl friend was packed rape. In other case, an American researcher was also packed raped by nine men on Karkar Island, Madang Province. The news as reached the global community and the leaders of Madang Province are very unhappy.

A mother grieves the death of her 25-year-old daughter who died at the Emergency section of the Port Moresby General Hospital after being raped on the street by members of the Raskol gang. The bandits stabbed her several times and she died without regaining consciousness.

This inhumane and cannibal acts are portraying a bad picture of PNG to the global community. Why calling ourselves a Christian country and not upholding our Christian beliefs. Think of the poor child, she will be growing up without a mother, think of the women who suffered in the hands of heartless people who accused them of practicing sorcery and think of the women being raped for no good reasons.

How many more women be killed before we call them sisters, how much more tears to be shed by them before we call them friends, how many more women be raped before we call them sisters, how many more motherless children be left behind before we can help, how many more women be burned, tortured, or murdered before we can called PNG a Christian country? The answer, my friends, is you and yourselves. Do the right thing and do not harbour those responsible for their crimes against women. Bring them out and let them face the full force of the law for the crimes they make. It is the role of everyone to protect this vulnerable population.

Women are not created from the bones of the arm so that they can be punched, nor from the bones of the leg so that they can be kicked but from the rib bone, to be close to the heart, to be loved and treasured.