Dear Editor;

Pastor Alan Nafuki is quick to blame outside influences for the endemic and rampant sexual abuse and mistreatment of women and children in Vanuatu society.

A true Christian looks to his own heart before blaming others. The rampant criminality that the Daily Post has recorded on its pages is not new to Vanuatu. The difference between now and the past of his imagination is that nobody talked about the abuse of women. Nobody saw a problem with girls being raped and abducted.

The difference between now and then is that women and children have rights. They have the right to legal redress and they are pursuing it. The government has made its stance clear that this kind of behaviour must stop. It has increased the penalties for such heinous crimes and the Daily Post is right to publish the progress the courts are making to punish wrong-doers.

The Pastor should stop pretending these problems never existed before and admit that they are common to all human societies.

Until all men admit their own role in this plague-be it through ignorance, complacence or participation-horrific stories will continue to occupy the front page, and people will continue to ask whether Vanuatu truly is truly living up to its Christian principles.

Signed,

Abuse survivor

This letter was written to the Editor of the Vanuatu Daily Post