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A survey of inmates serving jail time in Vanuatu has found that more than six out of ten have been convicted of sexual offences, and many of them are repeat offenders.
The research also found that more than half were in a relationship at the time of offending, nearly all of them had religious affiliations, and around one in ten had leadership roles in the church.
Johnny Marango, Vanuatu's Director of Correctional Services, commissioned the survey and says the findings show that urgency is needed in the government's efforts to address the underlying causes of so many sexual offences.
Marango said they still need to put some measures in place and it is a critical concern at this stage in terms of what the government is doing especially in providing social services to the communities.
“In fact we have to have measures in place otherwise we will still continue to build more prisons in the future,” Marango told Pacific Beat.
The survey revealed that most of the offences were committed within the family and the age range of offenders are as young as 11 and as old as 72.
Marango said the victims knew the perpetrators in 90 per cent of the cases that were reported.
