Break the Silence, End the Violence

Break the Silence end the Violence

The Pacific Prevention of Domestic Violence Programme is an initiative of the New Zealand Aid Programme (NZAid) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), The New Zealand Police (NZPol) and the Pacific Island Chiefs of Police Forum (PICP). The long term goal of the programme is a “Safer Pacific Free from Domestic Violence”. Its main aim is to build the capacity of Pacific Police Services to better respond to domestic violence. The Programme commenced in 2006 and while focusing on a core group of countries also known as The Participating countries which include; Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands, it also has a wider Regional component that provides measured assistance to the other Police Services. In 2007, the programme signed a declaration of Partnership with the Police Commissioners of all 20 Police Services in the Pacific agreeing to have a focus on improving their response to domestic violence and according that a high priority.

The Programme is based at Police National Headquarters in Wellington and is managed by 3 New Zealand Police staff; Mr Cam Ronald (Programme Manager), Inspector Soni Malaulau (Programme Officer/Regional Coordinator) and Mrs Kim Bloomfield (Administration Officer). It also includes 7 country mentors who are based around New Zealand and are experts in the field of DV and deploy into the Pacific to provide advice and assistance along with the Management Team.

The Programme also recognises the huge work that non-government, other government ministries, community and religious organisations play in this area and in this regard one of the programmes main key objectives is partnerships with those organisations and encouraging local police to strengthen those relationships at the national level.  At the Regional level the programme works with key regional organisations such as the Fiji Woman’s Crisis Centre (FWCC), The Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT), UNIFEM, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and other organisations that have been involved in tackling this issue for a number of years.

The Programme was accepted to be Official Ambassadors for NZ White Ribbon in the Pacific in early 2010 and since then has encouraged all Pacific Police Services to take the lead in the planning and build up to White Ribbon Day, the programme also actively encourages participation in the 16 days of activism leading up to Human Rights Day on the 10^th December. In October 2010 the programme hosted its Regional conference with 17 countries present in Nadi Fiji, this was the first time that Police and key NGO’s gave ‘joint’ country presentations on the domestic violence situation in their countries. White Ribbon Day was a key theme for the conference focusing on planning and preparation for White Ribbon Day including such things as how to use the media, planning for specific events and activities, and reinforcing that Police needed to take the lead and not be passive observers.  Many countries already had White Ribbon Day planning experience and were able to share their experiences with the conference.

White Ribbon Day 2011 is in the planning and many Police services are gearing up for this as we speak. The PPDVP  is continuing to support police services by providing resources including balloons, wristbands, White Ribbon Day cards and ribbons, t-shirts, posters, banners and flags, all with the message “ Break the Silence, End the Violence” and the White Ribbon emblem. The PPDVP programme will also be gifting 5000 black caps to Pacific Police Services and NGOs to wear during White Ribbon Day marchs. During the build up to White Ribbon Day, PPDVP staff will also be deployed to Pacific countries to assist with planning and providing advice.

The programmes website is: www.ppdvp.org.nz