Welcome to the Members’ page for the Sexual & Gender Based Violence Working Group. Here you will find tools and resources to assist you in progressing working group projects.
Contact List
If you would like to get in touch with Working Group members, please contact the PILON Secretariat.
| Country | Name | Position | Organisation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samoa | Su'a Hellene Wallwork (chair) | Acting Attorney General | Attorney General of Samoa |
| American Samoa | Fainu'ulelei Falefatu Ala'ilima-Uta | Attorney General | Attorney General Office |
| Australia | Chase Whitfield | Senior Legal Officer | Attorney General Department |
| Australia | Sophie Russell | Legal Officer | Attorney General Department |
| Cook Island | Lauaki Jason Annandale | Solicitor General | Crown Law Office |
| Fiji | Glenys Andrews | Deputy Chief Law Draftsperson | Attorney General Office |
| FSM | Robert Nakasone | Assistant Attorney General | Department of Justice |
| Kiribati | Pauline Beiatau | Acting Attorney General | Office of the Attorney General |
| Nauru | Janwai Uditt | Secretary Justice and Boarder Control | Department of Justice and Border Control |
| New Zealand | Joanne Mildenhall | Senior Crown Counsel | Crown Law Office |
| Niue | Justin Kampala | Solicitor General | Crown Law Office |
| PNG | Josephine Advent Pitmur | Deputy Secretary for Justice Administration | Department of Justice and Attorney General |
| RMI | Bernard Adiniwin | Attorney General | Office of the Attorney General |
| Solomon Islands | Andrew Kelesi | Director of Public Prosecutions | Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions |
| Tonga | Linda Simiki Folaumoetu’i | Attorney General and DPP | Attorney General’s Office |
| Tuvalu | Eselealofa Apinelu | Attorney General | Office of the Attorney General |
| Vanuatu | Josaia Naigulevu' | Director of Public Prosecutions | Office of the Public Prosecutor |
Draft documents
There are no draft documents at this time
Published resources
Please visit the Digital Library to download this Working Group’s published documents.
Learning Resources
Regional Guidelines
The Reviewing Implementation of Special Measures for Vulnerable Witnesses report builds on the Model Provisions and Explanatory Text: Supporting vulnerable witnesses in cases involving sexual and gender based violence. The report examines successful approaches to implementing special measures and outlines the important steps being taken to ensure justice is being served in prosecutions for SGBV offences across the Pacific. The members-only version of this report contains data collected from SGBV Working Group members through interviews and surveys. This data indicates jurisdictions’ use of special measures in legislation and in practice at the time of developing the report.
Please click on the link
The SGBV Working Group has developed the Regional Guidelines for Prosecutors and Witness Support Officers to support Vulnerable Witnesses through the Prosecution of Sexual and Gender Based Violence Offences. The Regional Guidelines are an accessible best practice guide designed to provide direction on how to approach, understand and take measures to reduce trauma to vulnerable witnesses through the prosecution process and ensure the court hears the best evidence. This includes prioritising such cases and providing a uniform standard of support to vulnerable witnesses. The Regional Guidelines also include a number of attachments designed to be tailored to each Pacific jurisdiction and used throughout the prosecution of SGBV offences.
Please click on the link
Reviewing implementation of special measures for vulnerable witnesses
March 2023
Reviewing implementation of special measures for vulnerable witnesses – PILON members
The Special Measures Series, Webinar 1: Lessons Learned
22 April 2022
This webinar recording is brought to you by the Pacific Islands Law Officers’ Network (PILON) Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) Working Group.
This first webinar in a multi-part series showcased the work of two senior prosecutors, who each shared the lessons they have learned in using special measures.
Su’a Hellene Wallwork, Acting Attorney General, Samoa, chaired the webinar.
Panelists for the webinar included:
- Ms Juleen J. M Fatiaki, Principal State Prosecutor, Manager of the Sexual Crimes Division, Fijian ODPP
- Ms Iliganoa Atoa, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Prosecution Supreme Court, District Court and Specialized Courts in Samoa
To view recording of this webinar please click here
To download the live scribe by graphic artist, Ms Jessamy Gee: click here
We thank our speakers and participants for their engagement during the webinar and look forward to your interest in the next part of this webinar series.
This video recording is brought to you by the Pacific Islands Law Officers’ Network (PILON) Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) Working Group
PILON Sexual & Gender Violence: “Supporting Witnesses Through the Prosecution Of Sexual Offences”
Samoa – Silupevaelei Rexona Titi-Reti
The Pacific Law Officers’ Network (PILON) Sexual and Gender Based Violence Working Group is please to present, Silupevaelei Rexona Titi-Reti, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Prosecution Division has kindly shared her experiences of supporting vulnerable witnesses in the criminal justice system.
To view video please click here
Kiribati-Case Study on Supporting Vulnerable Witnesses (SGBV)
Kiribati has a lot of sexual offences in the country. Regarding vulnerable witnesses, we have experienced lots of difficulties in dealing with them due to limited skills and resources. However, despite these difficulties, we managed to achieve what we wanted from some of them. One successful experience is captured below:
One rape case involving a young girl aged 11 years. This girl was raped by her uncle and step grandfather. The first time the victim was brought to us in a police vehicle, we realised that she was a difficult witness. She reluctant to visit us, she was scared, lonely and embarrassed. She was so quiet and did not want to talk and would not appreciate someone being with her. On that first day, interviewing her was not possible therefore we spent that whole day trying to find a way to build her confidence and to allow her to know us (friendly approach – know each other approach).
For instance, without mentioning her case, we spent time chatting about what she wanted us to do such as, her preference for the transport, what she loved to do the most, whether she wanted us to pick her up from home instead of the police, send the men to prison and so forth (to understand her position to the case). From this, we could tell that she really wanted the accused to be imprisoned but she did not say much.
When she indicated her position ie. wanting us to imprison the men, we then tried to explain to her that we could not do that unless she helped us and explained to her how she could assist us (to let her understand our position or what we wanted from her). We encouraged her to think about what we said before we met the next day.
On the next day, the girl came again. She changed a bit – she smiled at us and talked more than the previous day. On this day we took care of the girl ourselves and told the police that we would drop her home. We started talking with her about good things such as entertainment on the island, what she did at home and so forth; we used these type of questions to show we are just friends and be there to help her. We even took her to the restaurant and had a chat with her away from the working place. This took us about 3 days to try to get what we wanted from her.
On the third day she ran to the car and she talked a lot. She even told us that she was happy to assist us to send the two accused to prison. When we asked how, she responded saying that she was ready to tell the court about what the two men did to her. From there we started interviewing her on the incident and advised her of what would happen in Court such as the Court’s setting, the kind of questions she would expect to be raised to her, etc.
In Court during the trial the child was perfectly fine and she was more than we expected. The two accused were sent to prison and one of them got more than 10 years imprisonment.
Following the trial, and during our next visit on the island, the same girl approached me with her son and we both spent the whole day talking in my room. She became my friend.
Solomon Islands : Ms Margaret Suifa’asia
The Pacific Law Officers’ Network (PILON) Sexual and Gender Based Violence Working Group is please to present, Ms Margaret Suifa’asia, Chief Legal Officer, Solomon Islands Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, discusses her development of guidelines and other materials for prosecutors and witness support officers to support complainants and other witnesses throughout the prosecution of sexual offences cases in the Solomon Islands. Ms. Siufa’asia developed the materials and during her participation in the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department’s Remote Legal Policy Twinning Program in 2021.
The views expressed in this videos are those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the views of policies of PILON, or any of the PILON member agency.
Contact pilon@pilonsec.org for more information.
PILON Sexual and Gender Based Violence Working Group Project: Sharing Positive Experiences of Supporting Vulnerable Witnesses – June 2021
The Pacific Islands Law Officers’ Network (PILON) Sexual and Gender Based Violence Working Group is please to present the first in a series of short online videos focused on sharing positive experiences of supporting vulnerable witnesses. In this video recording, three prosecutors from the Solomon Islands have kindly shared their experiences of supporting vulnerable witnesses in the criminal justice system.
Speaker 1: Margaret Adifaka Suifa’asia, Chief Legal Officer, Solomon Islands Department of Public Prosecutions
Speaker 2: Olivia Ratu Manu, Principle Legal Officer, Solomon Islands Department of Public Prosecutions
Speaker 3: Dalcy Belapitu Oligari, Principle Legal Officers, Solomon Islands Department of Public Prosecutions
The views expressed in this videos are those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of PILON, or any of the PILON member agency.
Contact pilon@pilonsec.org for more information.
Next meeting details
Our next meeting is scheduled for:
Date: TBC
Time: TBC
Type: Zoom Meeting
In advance of each Working Group meeting, the PILON Secretariat will send group members a Zoom link. If you have not received a link by the morning of your videoconference, please contact the PILON Secretariat.
To find some handy guides for best practice engagement in meetings, webinars and workshops held over Zoom, please visit Videoconferencing.
