Female students at the University of Papua New Guinea’s Waigani campus led a peaceful march from Games Village to the campus Forum Square in protest over continuous harassment on female colleagues on campus.
The march was in line with a planned forum that was scheduled for the day to address harassment cases on female students.
A group of male students attacked and prevented media personnel who turned up on campus to report on the protest march and demanded that they (media) leave; throwing sticks and stones at them. No one was hurt.
The open forum was held afterwards for the student body to air their concerns over the security and safety of students, especially females when on campus.
This follows the recent sexual harassment of a female student which prompted an outcry from the female students on the lack of support from the institution which has left most of them claiming they do not feel safe on campus.
A female final year student leader stated that the forum was a great opportunity for victims to speak out of their experiences, which she believes has gained the full attention of the administration to swiftly act on the matter.
“We will continue to follow up and make sure that we hold the administration accountable if they do not keep to their words.”
“We are looking forward to the administration to take our points into consideration and for them to immediately enforce the pointers which have been raised.”
She further encouraged victims of harassment to not be afraid of speaking up as there are support systems in place to get you through.
Chancellor of the University of Papua New Guinea, Robert Igara, who was present to listen to the concerns raised by the student body made it known that University Council will now take control of the university’s security.
Igara stated that the University Council has been asked to convene this Thursday to discuss this among other matters which will need to be addressed immediately.
“We will take charge of it and make propositions regarding how we manage the security of this university, enough is enough!”