Victim Case Management

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Femili PNG is a local NGO based in Lae that runs a Case Management Centre to assist survivors of family and sexual violence to access the services they need.

 

The organisation works with women, men or children who are survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual violence and/or child abuse.

 

Denga* is the Operations Manager of Femili PNG and she works closely with Non-Government Organisations as well as Government departments such as the police, district court, safe houses, welfare and family support to ensure that victims are given whatever they need.

 

"Case management involves the provision of refuge and emergency accomodation for high risk clients who are unable to return to their homes because their safety is at risk.

 

"While clients are staying at the refuge we provide food and other necessities and we also provide support for those clients who wish to seek legal recourse and assist in writing and editing statements for the client."

 

"We also support women who have been in the cycle of violence for too long and simply want to end it by secretly relocating to another state or location," she said.

 

There are many barriers for victims of abuse to access the legal system including the cost of obtaining the necessary medical certificates to verify the crime, low literacy rates and most commonly, ignorance of the rights and options available to women.

 

"Since Femili PNG started we are seeing more women coming forward to take their cases to court, previously women were unable to take legal recourse because there was no support."

 

Despite the improvements, Denga sees many clients changing their minds about having their husband charged, often because they blame themselves for the abuse.

 

"One of the big challenges is when clients come forward to speak out, there are some who do not have a clear plan as to what they really want, or what the problem that they have is - we have identified that there are so many gaps in the client's knowledge about human rights," she said.

 

Femili PNG is supported by the Australian Government, Australian National University and several Australian NGOs and according to Denga this support is having an enourmous impact. 

 

"I would like to say thank you to those who have made it possible for Femili PNG to benefit the people, the Government of Australian and other generous people are making a big difference to the victims here."

 

*For security reasons Femili PNG do not release the last names of their staff