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I am so sorry to read your story but even more sorry that I am not more surprised. During my first field assignment I was shocked and disappointment to step into a culture of sexism and sexual harassment, despite the values espoused by the organization. I was one of only two female international staff and all of the local female staff served in domestic functions. Despite being a technical expert, I was routinely excluded from strategic decisions, and rather asked to perform secretarial work, such as attending meetings with our head of office to take notes for him. On one occasion I was asked - in writing- to not attend a strategic decision making meeting so that I could cook dinner instead for my male colleagues. I experienced recurrent sexual harassment by a male colleague where I felt obligated to laugh off him making repeated comments about my appearance in the workplace even though they made me feel very uncomfortable. Ultimately, on an evaluation mission in the field where I was the only female present, the male colleague felt emboldened to make unwanted sexual advances towards me. After I asked him to share with me his feedback on a document, he pushed me to work on it together in his room where he had moved the WiFi router. He proceeded to suggest that we work on it together on his bed. Upset, I left his room but he did not take no for answer. He repeatedly knocked on the door to me my room and sent me texts asking me to reconsider spending the night with him. When I reported the incident, I was informed by my manager that it was not considered sexual harassment but was attributed to "cultural differences". Several of my male colleagues who openly spoke of frequenting sex workers and a male colleague dating a local staff (despite it being strictly against the organization's policy) was also attributed to "cultural differences". Yet, I simultaneously was informed that my boyfriend was not welcome in my room with the door closed due to needing to respect the cultural values of my male colleagues. At the end of the mission when I shared my frustrations with sexism in the work place, I was retaliated against with an evaluation that said I was not "respectful of other cultures", did not uphold the values of the organization and that I did not manage a high stress work environment well. For refusing to tolerate sexism and sexual harassment, I was punished. I wish I could say that my experience is an exception in the humanitarian sector, but I am realizing it is all too common. Blatant sexism and sexual harassment need to be extinguished by the humanitarian sector.

Are Pacific students allowed to travel to and enter Australia, provided taking the necessary Covid requirements for example testing and quarantine etc ? If yes , i would love to know more as I am currently a student from Fiji trying to travel to Australia for studies with a valid visa and also accepting to quarantine. Thanks

I’m sorry this happened too. It’s hard to believe men thinking kissing on the lips is acceptable. It’s clearly sexual harassment. So was some of the behaviour during the time I worked in Solomon Islands. I’m referring in particular to a small group of very smart young men. I was told later by one of their colleagues that they had a competition to bed local girls. Of course they all returned home to brilliant careers. I wonder if they reflect on their behaviour.

Thanks for sharing your story Anon. I'm surprised there aren't more comments on the post or social media about this, maybe more will come through in the coming days. In my experience there's something in particular about men working abroad in some countries, particularly some long-term expats, and their attitudes towards sexual impropriety that is particularly troubling. It would also be wrong to assume that this behaviour doesn't make its way into some Australia-based workplaces as well. (It should go without saying that I am talking about some male expats, not all, and that there are many good men working in our sector, but just clarifying so this discussion doesn't go sideways...). When I was very young and working in the media abroad rather than in aid, a group of expat men decided to make comments on a public forum and in an anonymous blog post explicitly mocking me, my body, and my apparently radical feminist views, using my full name and photographs -- and from some of the details they shared, it was very clear that some of them were much older white men in my own workplace. All this for just existing as a young woman and working, and quite possibly being quite clear about my 'line' a few times with some of them. The workplace culture was definitely one element in the decision to change careers from working in newsrooms. In my aid-related workplaces I haven't directly encountered issues like the above, but it is all too clear that in some of these international workplace environments the HR structures mean that even if you did make a complaint, there's very unlikely to be any accountability, and the best option for your career is often to just leave. Having your visa tied to your employment also puts you in a more vulnerable position in some situations, as does the frequent use of short-term contracting. In smaller cities you also end up socialising with colleagues more than you would in other contexts, so your social circle and workplace are often tightly linked. Then of course there's the question of - imagine how these men are treating local women both in and outside of the workplace if they are treating their colleagues in this way? This is something that always troubles me when I have seen or heard about this kind of behaviour. There's also the issue of support when your workplace is in a particular environment, for example in a country with higher levels of sexual or other violence, and you may face incidents on the street or in daily life while based in that country for work. This often is seen as being 'part of the job' of being a development worker, and there's not necessarily support or other structures in place for this, or those structures only activate for particularly serious cases. The international development workplace is complex, but should be more attuned to these issues given the topics we work on are often so deeply rooted in systemic inequality and that the principles of our sector are aimed at addressing this. Thanks for bravely sharing your experience and I am hopeful it starts important conversations and appropriate action if people witness behaviour like this. I also hope the kisser reads this and reflects on how deeply inappropriate that behaviour is in a workplace, and the impacts that these things have on women's lives and careers.

Dear anonymous I am so sorry that you had to go through this disgusting experience. What he did is sexual harrasment. Plain and simple. Even though you might not want to go any legal or other route, maybe it would be good for your own healing to write to this man and explain to him the damage his behaviour has resulted in. It seems he's completely missing any sense of self awareness or just ignored your vulnerability all together. Unfortunately the systems will not provide an environment that protects other women of such behaviours because the top leadership is mostly the same people who would behave in such ways. I hope you have managed to recover and heal from both your first and then the second sexual harrasment and assault situations.

At quick perusal, this is wonderful and such useful research Grant. Glad you directed me to it. Far too often brilliant research such as yours remains as wonderful publications and sits in libraries or other repositories accessible to a limited number of readers and then other interested researchers in the field only. I sure hope our Pacific media pick on these and share it with policy makers and a wider audience of Pacific citizens, in order to read, reflect and come up with definitions and positions that recognise corruption, as that evil that impedes growth and development in our regions and nations. Thank you for pointing these out. More late night reading to widen my knowledge base and look forward to more blogs that we can share with our Pacific audiences. Hopefully with greater research such as yours and visibility on all manner of corruption; those grand scale one's and on the small scale common bribery, our Pacific leadership and citizens get motivated to call for a strengthening of our INDEPENDENT oversight institutions, to not only improve fiscal governance but to curb common bribery and corruption practices in our respective Nations, small developing Pacific countries and with our developed neighbors too. Vinaka Sadhana

True

Thank you for this obituary. Late Sir Michael Somare was great man indeed, despite his rise and falls. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

The fact that in those areas people don't have access to proper support only makes things worse. Untreated mental health issues don't just go away, they become worse.

Thank you Dr. Kama you've shed much light to the current Madang Case. You insights brings higher hopes to our marginalized population being deprived over so many years of basic goods and services. The ignorance of our political and beauracratic leaders can not be let alone. Justice must be done and served. Precedence is set and I believe flood gates will soon be opening. Soon under performing leaders and beuracrats will bow out to allow for decent and uprights to serve our people.

Accepting defeat in the first vote of no confidence was one of Sir Michael Somare’s greatest decisions. It set a precedence for acceptance of defeat and smooth transition of powers by prime ministers over the years. Other leaders of newly independent countries who decided to find a reason to hold onto power became dictators, and had to be removed through revolutions and military coups. And they then had to be removed through more revolutions and coups. PNG’s unbroken chain of democracy has its foundation in early acts like Somare’s acceptance of defeat. A lesson worth remembering.

Thanks for the comment and examples Ash!