Peter himself has raped more than 30 women, 3 of them were murdered. In Australia, one in three women will experience violence in their lifetime and one in five women will suffer from sexual violence.
In the Pacific Island region, these statistics are much higher. Describing the epidemic that is VAW is difficult. In his photos, Vlad has managed to capture the gravity of the situation, and has certainly inspired me to continue to campaign for gender equality and the empowerment of women throughout the world.
In Australia, we arguably have the laws and facilities in place to deal with domestic and sexual violence but we still have a long way to go to change the culture that perpetuates this abuse.
In the Pacific Island region, there is a much longer way to go to put an end to VAW and one that I hope more people will know about after reading this Blog Post. Linda Amaki grieves the death of her year-old daughter Amanda, who died at the Emergency section of the Port Moresby General Hospital after being raped on the street by members of the Raskol gang.
I was pretty excited by the opportunity as it gave me the chance to meet some amazing people who were working for the United Nations in the Asia Pacific Region and who had also worked much further afield in Somalia, Afghanistan etc. You know, all your usual holiday hot spots.
