Domestic violence, in every form, is extraordinary in the wacky, off-the-wall sense. It is committed by those in whom we place our extraordinary trust; against those we love in the most extraordinary sense; is punishable by extraordinary laws; and causes extraordinary damage.

Some of the most simple reasons that cause it are extraordinarily accepted social behaviours, which cause extraordinary consequences in our society, and which, extraordinarily enough, sets a large part of our society with extraordinary beliefs that those who suffer from it “deserve it”.

As we flick over pages and pages of our law books which govern every preliminary piece of legislation on our security and safety in this country, the family stands out like a sore thumb and asks for protection and stability. Simple. And if life has been quite extraordinary in the last decade, our people have had extraordinary feelings about why things have happened the way they did.

WAIT…

An extraordinary decree is here. It's in your face, Mr Smoothie, and will be so powerful it will make you think deeply about causing more black eyes, ruptured spleens, cracked crowns, split families, if you have hurt fathers of wonderful daughters who will never be normal again, even deaths.

It will clearly define what constitutes “domestic violence” and will be so powerful against you there will be no barrier against you and your punishment.

The decree is a tougher one than what has saved you before. Government has just published, by authority, an extraordinary piece of legislation that will govern the way we will go from now on in saving what's left of our sacred family and unit to the point where everyone in society will watch over each other against domestic violence.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

ECREE 2009

The decree, Fiji's newest piece of legislation, was gazetted on Friday, 14 August 2009, and will be promulgated into the law books in the coming weeks.

Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku, his officials, Director for Women Dr Tokasa Leweni, her officials, Social Welfare executives, Soqosoqo Vakamarama General Secretary Adi Finau Tabakaucoro, and senior Government officials are in a training workshop in Suva to dissect the decree and understand what it contains.

And what better legislator to do this with than Nazhat Shameem, former DPP and Fiji's first woman High Court judge. Nazhat has been in the criminal jurisdiction of the High Court of Fiji for more than 20 years and articulates on its critical sections and clauses.

Implementing the Domestic Violence Decree 2009 has just taken on a more modern form of law reform in Fiji. Nazhat shares our current laws are unfair on certain sections of society.

“Historically, we find it quite difficult to articulate domestic violence in court because we are often subjected to powerful institutions like the church, mosque, the temple, our traditional and cultural beliefs, our patriarchy and so on,” she said.

“Domestic violence takes on meanings like, 'O she deserved it!', why were you out at three in the morning?, why were you wearing a short skirt?, etc” Our women are constantly marginalised because our cultural practices are so elaborate they decide for us what we do and what not to do.”

Nazhat said there were no major survey to determine how many women or children were subjected to domestic violence, although there had been surveys by Fiji Women's Rights Movement and Fiji Women's Crisis Centre on rather small scales.

“We have a set of attitudes and they all sound the same, we know them so well and isn't that the way we live,” she said of how inborn our traditions had been in dealing with domestic violence. The Decree would empower women, allow them to lodge complaints against the police if they don't take up their cases and/or apply for a restraining order and get it immediately. Judicial officers would also get a restraining order at any stage.

MASKS, KIDS, MR

SMOOTHIE, POLICE

“While we constantly focus on religion and our cultural beliefs, as institutions that support our cases, there's also the police to worry about,” she said.

“They are male-dominated institutions; it's not very easy for women to talk to, they are very rigid, and are often difficult for women to talk to about violence in the home.”

“Patriarchy affects women, it also affects the justice system and this decree is looking for a gender-competent prosecutor, or a gender-competent judiciary, which very often is quite difficult to find, to set things in motion.”

In her 25 year career, Nazhat has seen “a whole host of social factors” determining causes for domestic violence and they were “all patriarchal and determine everything”.

She outlined cases that she had presided on through the years, sharing that sadly, women also fell into the trap of saving face in society by coming up with excuses not to press charges.

“Women can also be gender-biased in our society, they also extend this whole patriarchy attitude,” she said.

“We have a legislation now that will empower police and everyone to enforce the rules and regulations.”

She called on what she called “Mr Smoothies” to buckle up and start realising they no longer needed to hide behind archaic laws on domestic violence. The decree will restrain them.

RESTRAINING ORDER

Adi Finau paid tribute to Nazhat, DPP and legislators who have worked tirelessly on the legislation.

“This is a landmark piece of legislation by this government,” she said. “For the first time ever, we now have a clear definition of what constitutes domestic violence.”

“It clearly defines for us what domestic violence is and how it affects our families,” she added.

Adi Finau paid tribute to the positive aspects of the decree.

“It provides for immediate protection for victims, in that our police officers will swiftly use the legislation to apply for, obtain and use the restraining orders,” she said.

“And because obtaining a restraining order is done immediately, our male population and those who are perpetrators of domestic violence will now get some form of self-discipline.”

Adi Finau also shared that the Decree would now allow for both, monetary and in-kind compensation, which, she believed, provided perpetrators with some room to see for themselves that committing violence against women paid dearly.

“The Decree provides for all kinds of situations when it comes to domestic violence and what it causes in our society.

“And these provisions actually cause them some form of exercise of control and in a way, allows them to bounce back and save what they have destroyed in moments of rage.”

The two-day training workshop has allowed for a major understanding of the legislation and it's understood there would be more training in the future for those who could be used to monitor our domestic violence situation.

“We are looking for a gender-competent society and when this legislation is effected, it actually provides us with ways to respond to what our justice system did not protect in the first place,” Nazhat said.