Researchers say domestic violence is endemic in Papua New Guinea and the recent high-profile case of an athlete being assaulted is “just the tip of the iceberg”.
On the weekend graphic photographs and a video shared widely on social media showed a woman being hit across her face with a hot clothing iron and repeatedly being head-butted.
Boxing and rugby national athlete Debbie Kaore identified herself as the woman in the video.
On Monday, police announced they had arrested and charged Ms Kaore’s partner Murray Oa, a lieutenant in the Papua New Guinea army, with one count of causing grievous bodily harm after she had filed a complaint with the police.
“I got burned by an iron and then hit by it while our children watched…A victim to Lt. Murry Oa … I am putting this out here cause this has gone too far. I can only hope that there won’t be another victim after me,” she wrote on social media.
Ms Kaore represented Papua New Guinea at the HSBC World Series tournament for rugby sevens last year and has won gold in boxing at the 2015 Pacific Games.
Associate Professor Richard Eves from the department of Pacific affairs at the Australian National University said it was difficult to get reliable statistics on the prevelance of domestic violence in PNG.
“The United Nations estimates it at around two thirds of women have experienced domestic violence. We don’t have good data but the problem is certainly endemic,” he told SBS News.
“The case of this woman athlete is just the tip of the iceberg really,” he said.
PNG's Prime Minister James Marape took to Facebook to call out the latest incident, urging men not to use violence against women and girls even if "some ladies ... cause stress".
"Brothers and sons, leave that lady alone, exercise restrain, don’t jeopardize your own future, your children’s future and your wife’s health and future.
"If you want to build a better and safer country, let us build a better and safer home. It all starts at the home.
"Talk away or walk away from marriage problems instead of fighting in marriage."
Professor Eves said the country already had good laws and policies to deal with domestic violence but that they were rarely enforced.
“There has been lots of media on high-profile women being assaulted by their partners, it’s pretty common for the government to exhibit outrage about it, but when it gets down to it, they have good policies on the books, but their actual policing of the issue is rather poor,” he said.
He said that was largely because many police officers and law enforcement subscribed to outdated views on gender equality.
“It’s a question of the political will to get the police force to police these sort of cases,” he said.
And he said the current case and the media attention generated again shone a much-needed spotlight on the country’s problem, which included other forms of gendered abuse such as sexual assaults, rape in marriage and economic abuse.
PNG's International Olympic Committee chairperson Karo Lelai also condemned the attack saying it went against the human rights aspect of the Olympic charter.
"We advocate for a culture that respects and protects the rights of all athletes regardless of gender, race and other differences," she said in a statement.
"A culture that affirms our roles and guarantees equal participation in our homes, the communities we live in and society at large."
