Suva, Jun 28 (IANS): In Fiji, violence against women and girls has cost the economy approximately FJ$300 million ($134 million) annually, which is equivalent to 7 per cent of the island nation's gross domestic product (GDP).

The Principal Strategic Lead of the Pacific Community, Mereseini Rakuita highlighted this at the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police Gender Family Harm Workshop in Nadi, Xinhua news agency reported citing Fijivillage news as saying on Wednesday.

Rakuita said this affects everyone including various family members, the communities that these families live in, and the services these family members access.

The government and the society as a whole are affected by the violence that is experienced in families.

Statistics show that the Pacific region has the highest prevalent rate of gender-based violence in the world, she added.

Rakuita explained that while one in three women worldwide would have suffered some form of violence in their lifetime, for the Pacific, two-thirds women have experienced such violence, which is double the global average.

She said that intimate partner violence or family violence continues to be one of the gravest and most pervasive forms of human rights violations in the world today.

Violence against women is recognized to be "pervasive, widespread and a serious national issue" in the Pacific Island region.

According to Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, at least three in five women or 60 per cent of women have faced some form of domestic violence while one in five women have faced sexual harassment at their workplaces.