Reporting crime is everyone's duty. Crime can only be tackled when voices are raised with the correct authorities. Society must change so that it no longer practices staying silent.

 There have been instances when crimes go unreported or people who are witnesses to crimes are reluctant to give statements. It is either because of family ties or village hierarchy. Each time a crime goes unreported, injustice is committed. It is not only true for crime, but there is a culture of silence that exists and allows abuse of office, corruption and nepotism to go unchecked. This is why many in powerful positions do not think they need to be accountable.

As a responsible citizen of the nation, raise your voice against all forms of injustice. It can be even the smallest of things, like telling someone to pick up litter or intervening when someone is getting bullied or in situations of domestic violence. There are times when people will only stand and look while a man beats up his wife in public. Many will not lift a finger to save the woman because they have been made to believe that it is something between a man and his wife, and the outside party should not interfere. It becomes everyone’s responsibility when a man lifts his hands on a woman.

This culture of silence and injustice can no longer be tolerated. If we are to protect our children and young women, there is a need to speak up irrespective of the social standing of the perpetrator. The village council and the chiefs have to change their mindsets as well. For too long, we have seen innocent families banished because they have spoken out against chiefs or people with high social standings. Village councils need to act following the law. This is one of the many reasons why many families and individuals are scared to speak out about such crimes.

This is the stigma families have to deal with and most opt not to report the matter to the police. Firstly, they feel great shame has fallen on the family and then there is a fear that the village will banish the whole family.

The most number of cases being dealt with by the court are sexual offences and in most cases, the perpetrators are known to the victims, who are often children. Such is the decay gripping society but instead of dealing with it, the matter is never spoken of because it will bring ‘shame’ to the family.

What of the trauma suffered by the child victims? There are 85 children at the Campus of Hope and there are more than that whose cases have not been reported because it would bring shame to the family.

Just because we continue to pretend that there is no problem, does not mean that the problem has gone away. Wake up, Samoa, and do something about this evil, these heinous acts that are destroying lives and families.

There are serious issues of concern. It is about alleged nepotism, possible corruption, and above all, a dictatorial style of how people are being oppressed into not speaking about injustice and corruption. One of the key fundamentals of living in a democracy is one’s ability to point out the wrongdoings in society, the government, the judiciary and in the community.

It seems people are being sent a message that you should never speak out against injustice. This is equal to telling young women and girls not to speak about physical and sexual violence, this is similar to not reporting a person of power who continues to mishandle public funds or not raising alarms when civil servants are corrupt.

It might seem that staying silent is a way of avoiding conflicts and unnecessary drama but then, it could be sending the wrong signal. Refusing to speak against injustice might translate to accepting the status quo. This makes people enablers of injustice.

If it happens to anyone, then it can happen to you. When injustice abounds, it breaks all strata of moral thresholds and creates room for more injustice. As long as you fail to speak up against little things, you are exposing your human rights to being trampled upon in the future. If little issues are often overlooked, they aggravate into bigger societal issues. Therefore, if you are not speaking up when things are wrong, you might find yourself embroiled in the issues you once overlooked.