Key lessons

Some communities and village courts are proactively trying to engage with SARV by coming up with by-laws. In the Eastern Highlands and Chimbu, strong human rights defenders have been a driving force at the community level in preventing and responding to cases of SARV. The CSO Voice for Change in Jiwaka402 supports their local communities to develop community bylaws not only on GBV but also on SARV. In remote and rural parts of the country, human rights defenders, CSOs and faithbased organizations are on the frontline, working on prevention and providing support services, and are the best chance for women to access justice. Investing in them will not only address GBV, but also SARV. As one key informant shared:

“Survivors say, I will forgive everyone if someone can take this mark off my head that has been put there.”

– Key informant working as a researcher in PNG

Faith-based organizations can play an important role in preventing GBV. In PNG, mainstream churches such as the Catholic Church and Lutheran Church have worked to address SARV. This grew out of a need to coordinate messaging due to misinterpretation of the Bible by smaller Christian churches. For example, some of the practices of the more charismatic Pentecostal churches contribute to the problem of SARV by preaching about evil spirits, the devil and the need to exorcise, all of which involve identifying and stigmatizing individuals. While some faithbased organizations have made important progress in denouncing SARV, others may be more reluctant to speak out against GBV because one of their core values is keeping families together.

• Awareness-raising programmes on laws, rights and available services remains a crucial goal across settings.

In these complex settings, awarenessraising is still needed to educate women and girls on their rights as they relate to GBV, and how to access justice and support services if needed.

While the passage of laws is important, women and girls must be aware of the protections afforded to them to access these protections.

• Investment in primary prevention programming is still sorely needed.

While awareness-raising is still needed in some settings, primary prevention remains the most effective way to address the root causes of GBV. This kind of programming often takes time and sustained investment.

• Greater evidence on what works to prevent GBV is needed to adapt these programmes to different settings.

While there is a growing body of evidence on what works to prevent

GBV, there is comparatively less evidence on what works in complex settings such as the ones described in this paper. More evidence is needed to effectively adapt promising programmes.