Researchers from Australian National University, University of Papua New Guinea and the Lae University of Technology explored the connections between women’s experiences of seeking support to address family and sexual violence and their children’s well-being and opportunities for education in Papua New Guinea’s second largest city, Lae in April 2018. The research involved community focus group discussions town-hall style meetings, individual in-depth semi-structured interviews and meetings with service providers including police, the public solicitor’s office, schools and Femili PNG.

The research findings are provided through four blogs on Devpolicy.org. In this final blog, the research team present the findings of the research project exploring the impact of family and sexual violence (FSV) on families and children. Previous blogs have looked at services to address FSV in Lae, the impact on families, and the impact on school attendance. This post presents the findings on the relationship between the women in the study and the police, including the reasons they did or did not seek police help. This is important in light of the focus over the past decade on the police and criminal justice system in responding to family violence, as reflected in the enactment of the Family Protection Act 2013 and the rollout of specialist Family Sexual Violence Units (FSVU) in many police stations.