The pervasiveness of male dominance in Guyana places direct and personal responsibility on all males to take steps to dismantle the rules, habits and practices in their spheres of influence which control the behaviour of females, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) said yesterday in a message to commemorate International Day to Stop Violence Against Women (VAW).
The GHRA noted in a press release that there was a recurring theme in virtually all forms of violence against women and that was the controlling behaviour of males over females, which manifested in religious, cultural, professional, political and economic relations.
Because of this, the GHRA stated, men in leadership and prominent roles have an even greater responsibility in this respect.
It took the opportunity to comment on the ruling by acting Chief Justice Ian Chang in regard to a challenge to the Sexual Offences Act, which effectively declared paper committals to be in violation of the constitutional right of defendants to a fair trial. This was the second such ruling made by Justice Chang. The GHRA noted that a paper committal is not a trial, but had simply replaced the gender-biased, grossly unfair and now discredited preliminary inquiries (PI) precisely because PIs had been corrupted from administrative procedures into mini-trials.
It noted that PIs have been replaced in Caribbean jurisdictions and in the United Kingdom and had not provoked the kind of objections as it had here.
The GHRA pointed to several cases, mainly in rural locations, where it had been reported that the police discouraged victims from reporting sexual offences, distorted statements to eliminate sexual offences or refused to take statements altogether.” The unpredictable response of the police is possible because reporting takes place in police stations, an environment completely under control of the [police] and isolated from modern thinking about sexual offences,” the release said.
It lamented that when a sexual assault was reported at police stations in Georgetown, the complainant is referred to the Brickdam station where a medical examination is performed without the use of a rape kit, an important forensic tool that may increase likelihood of conviction. The complainant is then referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital to have other medical needs addressed. This, it said, resulted in the complainant having 2 medical exams after making 2 reports.
The GHRA again pressed the need for integrated provision of services in one place. An indirect benefit of integrating the police role, it noted, would also be “to undermine rape myths – such as the way women dress provokes rape – which appear to be still alive and well in the Guyana Police Force.”
Today’s commemoration, the release said, is also an opportunity to recall the categories and circumstances globally in which such violence occurs. It noted that according to the World Health Organization, domestic violence, child and forced marriage, female infanticide, female genital mutilation, sexual trafficking and rape all contribute to a global health problem of epidemic proportions.
