19 May 2010

Tonga's police commander advocates an anti-violence curriculum in schools

6:25 am on 19 May 2010

Tonga's police commander is advocating an anti-violence curriculum be introduced in schools in the midst of soaring rates of reported violence against women.

Chris Kelley told a workshop considering ways to improve domestic violence legislation, that 22 women per month are reporting incidents of violence.

"More than two and a half thousand (2,573) women were victims of violence in the past decade, with 404 cases reported last year compared to 113 in 2000."

Commander Kelley says police will soon release a domestic violence response policy, and have already introduced a 'no drop' policy of prosecuting all reported physical assaults.

But he says more needs to be done to change attitudes learnt over generations

Maybe an anti-violence curriculum is just as important as reading, writing and arithmetic in schools. Tonga police are looking to introduce a school programme about keeping yourself safe and violence is not ok and no drugs. I think publicly identifying young aggressors through the medium of the courts and probation service is not a bad idea.

Chris Kelley says there's already legislation related to violence against women, and any move to improve it needs to come from the community.