The nation should be more responsive towards the plight of women and girls

Dec 08, 2008 Letters

---

DEAR EDITOR,
“Girl, 26, found with throat slit” was one of the front page stories of Kaieteur News on Friday, November 28th. It would turn out that Creavonne Throne’s end was more torturous, as the pm report would conclude that manual strangulation was the cause of death.

I made many attempts at trying to understand the fear of witnessing the robbery of one’s life in such a manner; I would fail at all my attempts. Having a niece, I dare to understand her end in such a cruel way, but I did: the emptiness of loss that would overcome my brother and his wife; and my mother, I don’t think she would survive. As for myself, I may have to ask God Almighty to give me strength (like the father of 13-year-old Kavita Panday, whose battered body was found in a trench a few months ago), so that vigilante justice stays far from my thoughts.

Following that tragic incident, I began to ask friends (men and women) what their thoughts were about domestic violence, in particular violence against women and girl children. What became clear is that many people are totally unaware of the perverseness of this frightening development, in which the battered bodies of women and girls are being found in trenches and along roadsides all over Guyana; as was the case of Sheliza Khan, 15, of Lancaster Village, ECD.

In a letter earlier this year, I had asked if many Guyanese have become unconscious fans of this spiralling crisis. It would appear that not only are they “unconscious” about violence against women and girls, but many have become “accustomed” to such brutal acts. This is a very dangerous attitude to adopt, as it takes away the seriousness of this problem.

After a few days or weeks, the police would have apprehended the perpetrator, or the case goes cold; the issue is removed from our interest, until the next front page headline which may read in a similar or worse manner.

Which is why, as a society, blame is enough to go around to everyone; and the sooner this is realised, the faster we can act collectively to help stop violence against our women and girl children. Almost every week, for the past few months, a woman or girl loses her life at the hand of men in the cruelest manner. Many are savagely attacked but live to tell their horror stories; and this number far exceeds those who don’t make it.

For example, 18-year-old Minella Hackett who, after having her throat slit and being repeatedly chopped about the body, said, “If I didn’t bar with my hands, my whole guggle pipe woulda cut and I woulda dead. All my fingers nearly cut off…” Or the stories of the two nurses at the Wismar Hospital, where one was raped and the other was forced to watch at gun point.

The position taken by the President, to bring stakeholders together and pledging $15 million, must be commended, although it is most unlikely that much can be achieved with that amount, as the scope of this problem is way beyond $15 million. There must be a more proactive approach, with more social programmes to properly educate both men and women about this situation.

The Ministry of Human Services has been making some efforts to help reduce this problem, but many of those efforts can be viewed as beautiful blurs, as they have failed to arrest this problem. At the launching of the National Policy on Domestic Violence, earlier this year, hosted by the Minister of Human Services, the Minister of Home Affairs conceded that, “More effective and aggressive policing is required”. The police must recognise that they are the last line of defence for these women.

Nafeeza Khan was savagely stabbed to death in front of her month-old baby; it was reported by her family that they made several reports of abuse at the La Grange Police Station, but they were often given the “run around in circles,” and at times were redirected to authorities in Georgetown, who would say that there was lack of transportation.

Women are no less responsible for their own lives; there is absolutely no reason for the battered bodies of women to be turning up in trenches, or for disfigured women having to tell their stories from hospital beds. One woman had her skull fractured but was unwilling to say if her husband had done that to her. But, as a society, we must ensure that when those women decide to act responsibly, systems are in place to assist such responsible actions.

As a nation, we should be more compassionate towards the plight of one of the most vulnerable groups in our society, which are our women and girl children. The battered bodies of women and girls that are being found around the country should provoke everyone into action to help stop the pandemic. Something to think about: in 2006 there were just over 1,000 (reported) cases of domestic violence. In 2007, there were over 3,500 cases (90% of these case are against women and girls), 2008 does not look good.  

Raheem Solomon

---

---