Concern about increasing domestic violence

As Barbados begins its 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign, experts are warning that incidents of domestic violence are rising at a worrying rate.

During the launch at UN House on Wednesday, Chairperson of the National Advisory Council on Gender Dr Letnie Rock said gender-based violence continues to predominately impact women and girls in the region.

“Sadly, we know that gender-based violence, whether it occurs in the privacy of the home or the public sphere, has a negative impact on women and girls. Research has found that globally, one in three women has suffered assault due to domestic violence or intimate partner violence and that a similar ratio of girls is affected by child abuse. Yesterday, while in a consultation in a gender forum, I learned that recent research out of Guyana has found that it is now one in two women in Guyana who is affected by the violence,” she reported.

Dr Rock was also quick to warn that Barbados has not escaped the levels of violence seen elsewhere in the Caribbean.

“Let us not think for one moment that we have escaped this scourge. The atrocities are so many, and the acts of violence so pervasive in our society, that although we may not have all experienced the violence directly, we are affected by it in some way because the violence is systemic. We must remind ourselves, too, that with the violence comes trauma. It not only threatens the life of an individual, or harms the individual, many times it ends the life of the individual,” she said.

Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Cynthia Forde revealed that the Government, having seen the initial uptick in domestic violence at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown earlier in the year, implemented initiatives to combat the issue.

“During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, the Bureau of Gender Affairs and UN Women were engaged in an initiative which sought to develop messages aimed at changing attitudes and the behaviour around the issue of domestic violence and COVID-19. Today, I can report that these messages have been developed and will be rolled out as part of the 16 Days of Activism campaign,” Forde revealed.

“The Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs also created a hotline for persons in need of services or experiencing forms of domestic violence. Moreover, the Shelter for Battered Women, managed by the Business and Professional Women’s Club, remained open and accommodated those women who were in need of such services.”