The National Council of Chiefs in Vanuatu is calling on people to seek help from customary institutions in the wake of last week's killing of a young woman and her three year-old daughter.
The council's chief executive, Chief Selwyn Garu Vira Tabe, says the Council condemns the killings.
He says it also supports the development of social services to help mothers and children, which have been proposed by others following the murders.
But Chief Vira Tabe says both the victim and her murderer had a chief and a nasara which they could turn to for help first.
"If there is a conflict for a ni-Vanuatu there is always someone who is behind the people, and these people should be consulted first. Now if that doesn't work then maybe you move on. People nowadays, especially living in Port Vila, sometimes they just bypass the customary institutions."
