By Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti
Palau, much like other Pacific islands, is rich in tradition and culture, and its legal system is a blend of United States common law and indigenous customary law, which has constitutional recognition. Palau is traditionally a matrilineal society, but the average number of women in parliament from 1997 to 2020 was just 2.34% the World Bank says.
Palau’s Vice President, Jerrlyn Uduch Sengebau Senior, says there are several reasons why Palauan women are discouraged from taking up leadership positions.
“The cost is high, it can be difficult to juggle primary caregiver to children, parents, as daughters-in-law, and traditional obligations, all factors that can be burdensome for women elected to office in Palau,” she says.
According to the 2021 Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Parline ranking of women in parliament, women currently made up 6.3% of the membership of the House of Delegates and 7.7% for Senate; that is just two women out of a total of 29 members of Congress, apart from the Vice President. They are Vicky Kanai from Airai state and Rukebai Inabo, who was elected in a common roll seat.
“We need to be the change that we want to see in our society, so it is important that support, particularly for women, is encouraged because it can be difficult to run for office in the Pacific Islands,” she recently told regional reporters.
Sengebau Senior believes despite the many cultural, family, and other obligations Palauan women have; it is important to have women in Congress for the benefit of families in the country.
Women in Leadership
“Women in leadership will take actions for the benefit of the family. I want to share the need for maternity and parental leave to be passed in Congress,” she says.
In 2013 Sengebau proposed a Bill (SB 9‐20‐SD2) to the Senate requiring all employers to pay up to three months of maternity leave and an additional one-month unpaid leave.
“We were close when I was a senator in 2020, and we will pursue it again this year in the hopes that it will be passed in Congress so that we can raise healthy children,” she declares.
Palau’s current Maternity leave laws allows one month of paid maternity leave and the option of an extended one month leave without pay.
Gender-based violence in Palau
According to the figures from the Belau National Research Project on Violence Against Women in Palau (2014), 25.2% of women in Palau have experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence by a partner in their lifetime.
“When I came in as Minister of Justice in July 2021, I established a victims of crime advocate,” says Sengebau Senior.
“The sad reality of these cases is that the act is often performed by those trusted within the family, particularly for child sexual predators.
“The advocate is someone who will be supporting the victims, ensuring forms seeking protective orders are filled out,” she says.
The growing concern over gender-based violence has raised questions over the effectiveness of penalties and whether there are other measures in place to help survivors of domestic violence.
Sengabau Senior believes the penalties are adequate: “At the moment, it is sufficient, penalties are stringent enough, specifically the Family Protection Act 2012.”
She says the ‘no drop policy’ is particularly strong in domestic violence cases. This means that when criminal cases are filed and ready to move to trial, if the woman decides to drop the case out of fear of failing her marriage, or her financial situation or living situation because the partner is the sole bread winner, the Attorney General has no discretion to drop the case because police officers, respondents, doctors, and nurses involved in the case can testify. In the event this happens, an outreach programme, the ‘victim of crime advocate’, talks to survivors about their experiences and helps stop the cycle of violence.
Sengebau Senior is a strong believer in the Pacific Way of solving underlying issues through ongoing dialogue and communication. She has joined forces with the social justice team and Dr. Sylvia Wally, the only Palauan psychiatrist at the hospital, to do outreach work, raising awareness of gender-based violence, leading conversations and condemning the culture of violence.
“Some of the challenges we face are finding temporary shelter for victims of crime. The court provides temporary shelter. We reach out to the Palau Red Cross Society, who are able to provide two- or three-days’ housing. Other times, we look for the survivors within the family who can help,” explains Sengebau Senior.
Palau’s President, Surangel Whipps Jr., has expressed interest in setting up a property to house women and child survivors of violence.
Unfortunately, due to COVID, the outreach programme has been put on hold, and people find it difficult to communicate face-to-face, which is important for a small island country like Palau.
According to Sengebau Senior, as Palau opens its borders, they are slowly visiting villagers, and talking about child sexual abuse, particularly with relatives in homes.
Sengebau Senior says, “We have food supplies available for those victim-survivors of violence, and we use our connections, we need to proactively search for resources, understand their challenge and find solutions; it’s the only way we can help women and children in these situations.”
Effects of COVID-19 in Palau
The pandemic has had a devastating effect on Palau, a country that relies heavily on tourism. Previously, tourism accounted for more than 50% of the country’s GDP, according to Ngirai Tmetuchl, chairman of the board of Palau Visitors Authority. However, since the COVID lockdown, tourism numbers have plummeted, despite attempts to open travel corridors with Taiwan. The Bureau of Immigration states just 3407 people visited Palau in FY2021, compared to 89,726 in FY2019.
“It has had a big effect on women in both private and public sectors. We want economic prosperity, but the pandemic has affected all those relying on the day-to-day subsistence economy,” Vice President Sengebau Senior says.
Sengebau Senior said people diagnosed with COVID-19 have also been assisted. For example, Omicron-positive patients in Palau have been given a subsistence allowance of US$200 to assist during the 10-day isolation period.
The pandemic has also affected education. Sengebau Senior says schools have been closed for more than three weeks and children are apprehensive about resuming school.
“The announcement of schools reopening on the 14th of February, has caused some apprehension amongst students. However, we are ready to open. Strict COVID protocol is being observed in schools, social distance is being maintained in schools, and masks are being worn,” she said.
Palau is experiencing a new wave of COVID infections with 577 new cases reported in the second week of February according to the World Health Organisation. However, the Vice President says the arrival of an additional 5000 booster shots on top of the high vaccination rate of 99% of eligible citizens means the country is ready to receive visitors and slowly return to normal.
