The Papua New Guinea government is failing to protect victims of family violence, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.

The report, titled Bashed Up: Family Violence in PNG, found that women are left unprotected, even when they have gone to great lengths to seek help.

It accused the government of neglecting survivors' needs for safety, services and justice, and found women often had no choice but to live with abusive partners.

More than two thirds of PNG women have experienced family violence. In some parts of the country, 80 per cent of men admit they have been responsible for sexual violence against their partner.

Sorry, this audio has expired Human Rights Watch calls on PNG to lift its game in tackling family violence ( Jemima Garrett )

Two years ago the PNG government passed the Family Protection Act which set new penalties for family violence and was designed to protect and assist victims.

But Human Rights Watch (HRW) Australia director Elaine Pearson says the situation on the ground is still dire.

"We spoke to woman after woman who told us really harrowing accounts of how they'd been attacked by their husbands, sometimes with knives (or) burnt with hot sticks," she told Pacific Beat.

"After these attacks they'd gone to the police, but there were remarkably similar stories from women about the lack of responsiveness of police.

"Too often police were simply ignoring their claims or telling them they should go back to their husbands because there really weren't any other options."

Women told to 'solve it at home'

The report found that police and prosecutors rarely pursue criminal charges against perpetrators, even in the most serious cases of rape or murder.

One woman interviewed for the HRW report suffered multiple broken bones and went to police 17 times asking for the arrest of her husband, but they refused.

Monica Paulus, co-founder of the Highlands Women Human Rights Defenders movement, says women often encounter resistance from police, especially if the offender is a powerful member of the local community.

"Police will tell them 'go back and solve it at home'," she said.

Sorry, this video has expired PNG's domestic violence rates at 'pandemic' levels, AFP member says

"Most times if it's a very senior person then that's what the response will be. They look at the status of the man who is involved as the perpetrator."

Ms Paulus said women trying to escape violence were also battling poverty, traditions that tie them to their husband's families, and a lack of safe houses.

She said women who wanted to pursue their cases in village courts also had to pay several fees and were often saddled with paying for medical reports documenting their injuries. Often cases dragged on for so long, women gave up.

Accusations of sorcery could be raised against a woman, particularly if the husband wanted to remarry, said Ms Paulus.

"Sorcery accusations all too often become a form of family violence, with abusive husbands threatening or using sorcery accusations to silence and control women," the report said.

Medecins Sans Frontieres staff treat victims of sexual and physical abuse at a clinic in the PNG capital. ( Supplied: Philippe Schneider/MSF )

More support services needed

In recent years there has been more training for police and 14 family and sexual violence units have been set up in police stations, partly-funded by the Australian government.

But Ms Pearson said more needs to be done.

"We hope the government takes this report seriously and the government will implement regulations for the Family Protection Act," she said.

"We would like police officers to start issuing protection orders as a matter of course rather than as an exception."

She also called for Port Moresby to fund more support services for women fleeing domestic violence.

The Family and Sexual Violence Hotline, free for callers in Papua New Guinea, is available at 715 080 00.

ABC/AFP