Samoa ombudsman opposes blaming sexual assault victims

Samoa's Ombudsman and the head of the National Human Rights Institution, Maiava Iulai Toma, says victims of sexual abuse should not take the blame.

This is in response to media comments by a Catholic priest Father Muliau Stowers who said members of the opposite sex face assault if they are in the wrong place at the wrong time and wearing provocative clothing.

The Samoa Observer reports that while Father Stowers subsequently apologised for causing offence, he maintained his broader point was that there is valid reason not to overlook the "occasion of sin".

Maiava, who is an ordained Anglican priest, disagrees, saying the responsibility for sexual assault cannot and should not be placed with the victim.

"It needs to be made quite clear that responsibility for these hideous acts lies with the perpetrators and should never be palmed off onto the victims of the crimes," he said.

He says that no woman or child wants to be sexually abused and the psychological and physical impact can be devastating and lifelong.

Maiava added that for the most part, there is self-blame, shame, and guilt.

"There must be no ambiguity on this point in society's attitude towards these vile activities if we are to make headway in battling the unprecedented upsurge we are witnessing in their occurrence around us."' he said.

Fr. Stowers last week explained that his message was to encourage women to have more self-respect, starting with how they presented themselves.

"If you don't have the respect for yourself, then you don't have the respect of others for you," he said.

Ombudsman Maiava maintained that dressing a certain way, being out late or drinking alcohol did not mean that a woman wanted to be assaulted calling that idea "a myth".

"We need to ask what it is that we are thereby teaching our children and our boys in particular. Are we teaching them that wearing revealing clothes is an invitation to rape? Are we teaching them that women who out late deserve to be raped?"