Guyanese Women in Development said it is time that domestic violence is viewed as a national issue as it affects productivity in the workplace as well as the victim’s ability to contribute and participate in society.
In a press release the group lamented the murder of “[y]et another Guyanese woman” whom relatives and friends said had been the victim of spousal abuse for many years. “And no one did anything,” Guywid added. “This is beginning to sound like a broken record,” it said, adding that it believed that extreme circumstances necessitated extreme measures.
In a release it termed its contribution to the national discourse on the issue; Guywid said friends, neighbours and community leaders cannot afford to take the “non-interference” attitude regarding instances of domestic abuse. “Knowing, but not taking action on situations that they know or even suspect could lead to a fatality, is almost equivalent to complicity,” it said. “It is astounding to read what neighbours and family members say about relationships between the victims and their killers after the fact,” the release said.
It said perpetrators of violence should be prosecuted whether or not the victim withdraws the complaint. It said too an act of violence against a person impinges not only on the rights of the individual but on the right of the society to benefit from the contribution the victim would have made. It said the family suffers, the community loses and the nation is poorer either through the victim’s death or curtailed ability to contribute.
Guywid said it should also be made mandatory for doctors and nurses to immediately document and report cases they suspect to be the result of violence, especially domestic violence and rape. Failure to document suspicious cases should result in severe penalties for the practitioners, it said. Every emergency room at medical institutions throughout the country should have at least one counsellor on duty at all times, it added.
Guywid said teachers should also be trained to detect early signs of abuse in children and it should be mandatory that they report all such cases to the Human Services Ministry or police. It is time every school has a child counselor, the group added.
The group said managers and supervisors in both the public and private entities should also be trained to detect signs of abuse among its workforce. It said the productivity of a person who is a victim of constant abuse whether physical and psychological will undoubtedly be affected and there is no one better than a supervisor or co-workers to notice. Further, perpetrators tend to boast among their workmates how well they have “handled” certain situations.
Guywid said rape must become an unbailable offence. The recent release of persons accused of rape, including the rape of a minor is a mockery of the legal and justice system, it added.
“The penalties for rape in Guyana are ludicrous,” the release said.
Guywid urged the public to become involved and to assume a zero tolerance approach to violence against women and children.
