The Parliamentary Committee on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) met this week to prepare for their first round public hearings that will run on the 24th -26th May at the Parliament Haus.
Chairman of the Committee, Governor Powes Parkop stated that the committee will use all its powers to hold government agencies to account on how they respond to matters that affects our mothers and girls.
“We have to make sure in this term of Parliament that we use our oversight powers to demand better responses from Government agencies.”
“We want to know what funds are being allocated, what activities are being implemented – and why the women and girls of our country are still not feeling any tangible change in their daily lives despite gender equality being a core priority for the country.”
The Day 1 public hearing will be on Wednesday 24 May, and it will start with testimony from a range of NGO representatives and women’s experts who will provide the Committee with insights from the field on the real-life experiences of women and girls around the country.
The second half of the day will then review the current GEWE institutions and policies that are supposed to be driving the GEWE agenda across the country.
Days 2 and 3 will focus on reviewing the Government’s efforts to address gender-based violence (GBV) and sorcery-accusation related violence (SARV).
ALL these discussions will build on the work of the Special Parliamentary Committee on GBV from the 10th Parliament and Deputy Chair of the Committee, Governor Allan Bird, was very clear on his expectations of the hearings, stating: Governor Bird stated that, “I want us to be very focused on action
. Officials need to come prepared to answer questions and explain why the Government is still failing to protect our women and girls and ensure they can safely enjoy their human rights.” “I’m tired of ‘talkfests’ that don’t result in any changes.”
“We are taking these hearings very seriously and will use them to drive change and hold public officials to account where they are failing to properly do their jobs and implement their mandates”.
Parliamentary Committee on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) other members of Parliament as its members apart from the Chairman Governor Parkop and Deputy Chairman Governor Bird (East Sepik) are Governor Rufina Peter (Central Province); Hon. Ricky Morris (Alotau); Hon. Lohia Boe Samuel (Port Moresby North West); Hon. William Bando (Koroba Lake Kopiago); and Hon. Marsh Narewec, (Wau Waria).
The public hearings will be live streamed on the Committee’s Face book page as well as on the National Parliament’s committee’s platform.