In an effort to prevent and eliminate violence against women, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in partnership with the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) and other partners has launched the Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme Caribbean which is aimed at bringing focused attention to the issue.
According to a press release yesterday from the CARICOM Secretariat, the newly launched programme seeks to move the issue into the spotlight by placing it at the centre of efforts to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment, in keeping with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The release said that Deputy Secretary-General of the CARICOM Secretariat Dr. Manorma Soeknandan who spoke at the virtual launch of the signing ceremony on Tuesday expressed that violence against women and girls “is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations,” while noting that it was a major obstacle to the fulfilment of women’s and girls’ human rights, and to the achievement of the 2030 goal.
“The global average indicates that one in three women is affected by some form of gender-based violence perpetuated by an intimate partner,” the release quoted her as saying; while adding that “in Guyana one in every two women between the ages of 15-64 years has been abused by an intimate partner and 50% of those women have never reported the matter to the police or told anyone.”
The release said that the initiative is aligned with the Caribbean Community’s Strategic Plan 2015-2019 “as it seeks to ensure economic and social resilience in a unified Community where all people, especially women and girls with particular attention to the most vulnerable, can live lives free of violence to not only harness their full potential, but also enjoy the full complement of their human rights.”
The release said that the project aims to enhance existing policies and programmes, replicate and share good practices, in an effort to sustainably address the challenges women and girls encounter in navigating national systems.
It went on to state that the current public health crisis as a result of COVID-19, with attendant socio-economic impact, disproportionately affects women; adding that these adverse effects include gender-based violence, undue burden of care, increased poverty, unemployment, under-employment and food insecurity.
According to the release, Soeknandan said the Spotlight Programme was an exceptional, ground-breaking initiative, and a comprehensive programme that should positively impact the lives of thousands of Caribbean families. She is quoted as saying that “it would complement the investments of regional institutions and contribute to the scale, sustainability, visibility and lessons learned, since it addresses specific regional challenges that inhibit progress, including the prevention of and response to violence against women and girls.”
Soeknandan, the release also said, pointed out that the initiative related to four pillars that have been agreed on by CARICOM, including establishing comprehensive and evidence-based prevention programmes aimed at changing social norms and gender stereotypes and promoting the collection and use of quality, comparable data to inform public policy, advocacy and delivery of complementary services to improve violence prevention.
According to the release, the Spotlight Initiative is expected to equip government and civil society to deliver comprehensive data to inform evidence-based planning and policies that would reach both victims and survivors in especially under-served communities. It is hoped that it will also promote gender sensitive masculinity as a means of ending violence in communities and institutions while providing feminist movements and women’s organisations with skills to advocate for and shape policy. The release detailed that the Global Spotlight Initiative is supported by an initial investment of Euros $500 million, with the EU as the main contributor.
It said that other UN agencies and partners have been invited to contribute to the Trust fund; while adding that $50 million of the $500 million Euros is to be spent in the Caribbean to eradicate family violence with six countries— Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago having already received Spotlight funding to carry out national programmes and projects over the next three years.
According to the release, complementing the Spotlight country programmes in these Member States, the regional Spotlight initiative titled “Strengthening Regional Cooperation to Prevent and Respond to Family Violence in the Caribbean” has a budget of US$11,360,711.
Soeknandan has been named co-chair of the regional programme, with Didier Trebucq, UN Resident Coordinator, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.
Guyana’s initial outlay under the programme is $1b.
