Congratulations to the organisers of the International Women's Day essay competition and programme on, "Ending Impunity for Violence Against Women and Girls" [2]. What a great initiative. Well done.

On the question of: do you think that sexual violence against women or just violence against women is a cultural thing? My answer is that it all depends on where you sit and how much you unquestioningly agree with / support the existing culture. People have been using culture, tradition and religion for many moons to justify why we should NOT talk about THE sensitive subjects that we need to talk about if we are going to be successful in preventing the spread of HIV. Usually the most vociferous are those who benefit most from the preservation of the status quo.

This argument "It is against our culture, tradition and religion to talk about sensitive subjects means that it is more important to maintain our modesty than to save lives and improve the quality of life for our women, girls and other marginalised groups. The argument ignores the fact that most living cultures are not set in stone. Cultures need to change and adapt to the needs of its population and the changing living environment of its people.

Using culture, tradition and religion to justify both sexual violence against women and violence against women should not be accepted. It should be challenged, debated and questioned at every opportunity.

Both sexual violence and violence against women can be attributed to the patriarchal culture, which is a common feature of many cultures. It is a controlling mechanism, a show of power to control women, to show them who is boss. To what extent violence against women is practiced is dependent on the cultural norms, religious beliefs and how acceptable it is to the community/culture. The extent of the reported cases of rape, incest and sexual violence against women (and children) shows that under certain circumstances, these acts are acceptable/ condoned/ ignored in our Pacific societies, as they continue to occur (why are the churches not speaking out more on this issue). My father used to say that: "Evil flourishes when good people don't speak out." More than ever, good people need to speak out. This includes speaking out against violence against women.

It is heartening and hopeful to read what some of the young people in Tonga have said in their entries in your competition.

What would it take to make these acts totally unacceptable to discourage the perpetrators of violence? Leaders from all sectors of society, the churches, the media, women, politicians and business. Silence has been the major cause of the spread of HIV in the world. The cost of silence can be devastating.

Have a good International Women's Day.

Stephen Vete

UNAIDS APLF Sub Regional Coordinator

email: svete [at] unicef [dot] org