The Catholic church of Timor-Leste said family was the main educational foundation for children.
Father Juvito Rego said family had an important role to play in the future of the country because it was the first education children received and parents were their first teachers.
“If the parents cannot be the teachers of humanity for their children, certainly they cannot get a good education and learn how to respect and love each other,” he said at a press conference to discuss recent cases of gender-based violence at the Women and Children’s Legal Aid Service (ALFeLa) in Vila Verde, Dili.
He also expressed concern about the increasing numbers of broken families, which meant many children had no adequate guidance or education.
“Family should be an institution to control their children otherwise it will be difficult [in the future],” he said.
He said family also had an important role to play in reducing violence across the country, adding that more family support was needed.
Deputy President of Rede Feto Alzira Reis also agreed that family was the key to reducing violence in society and that’s why peace within the family unit was needed.
“Some children commit suicide by hanging due to the domestic violence that is happening in the family, like happened recently,” she said.
In some cases even though the parents were still together, the family life was dysfunctional and this also had a big impact on children’s futures, said Reis.
She said issues of family violence remained a significant challenge for women’s organizations and they must continue to put more effort into advocating about the impact of domestic violence on children’s futures.
She said the high prevalence of violence and sexual abuse against women and girls in Timor-Leste was also linked to cases of women committing suicide by hanging and dumping their babies.
