Sexual and Gender Based Violence

Papua New Guinea: "I was raped by someone I know"

 

A young girl plays with a pig in Benaria Village, Tari, Papua New Guinea.  Photo:Jodi Bieber

 

“It was about 6pm. I was in the garden to collect the piglets. A guy came up from behind me and raped me. I knew the guy. No one was around. He tore all my clothes off, he raped me several times. He then ran away. I was weak but I rounded up the pigs and went to the house to inform my relatives what happened. I was brought to MSF by my relatives. The guy left town and we never went to the police. Because he ran away my relatives prefer to do compensation. The community is against rape and it is taboo.
- Woman, age unknown

 


Home to more than seven million people, Papua New Guinea is the South Pacific’s largest island. A country of rich ethnic and cultural diversity, where more than 800 languages are spoken, this Commonwealth country gained its independence from Australia in 1975. It is estimated that more than two thirds of PNG's population lives under the poverty line, on less than US $1.25 a day.  The country also has the worst health indicators in the Pacific region. Since 2009 MSF has treated 27,993 survivors of family and sexual violence care in Papua New Guinea and carried out 68,840 major and minor surgeries, one third of which were for violence-related injuries.
 


Read MSF's press release "Papua New Guinea: New MSF report reveals cycle of abuse for survivors of family and sexual violence"
Read
MSF's new report "Return to Abuser"