Continued violence against women linked to weak enforcement – Public Health Minister

Sep 30, 2015 News

– need for “serious” action plan emphasized

Violence against women continues to be a national epidemic, a state of affairs that is largely linked to weak enforcement and the absence of a coherent national plan.

Minister of Public Health,
Dr. George Norton

This is in spite of the passage of legislations such as the Domestic Violence Act and the Sexual Offences Act.
This assertion was made by Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, who emphasized the need for a serious action plan to counter the increasing frequency of violence against women.
The Minister’s disclosure was forthcoming as he addressed the 54th Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) Directing Council in Washington D.C. yesterday. The Directing Council which commenced on Monday is slated to culminate on October 2, 2015.
Dr. Norton informed the attentive Council gathering that “the issue of violence against women is one of deep concern for us in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. Our new government, which has only been in office for four months, recognizes violence against women as a human rights violation.”
In fact, he went on to point out that crimes such as Trafficking in Persons, murders, rapes and domestic violence are still rampant in these parts which gives credence to the fact the current enforcement measures are inadequate to protect women.
The Minister, however, dubbed as fortunate, the fact that there are a few organizations that have been proactive in their agenda to eliminate discrimination against women.
“For example, as a result of the efforts of the Guyana Women Miners Association, which was led by the Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection of our new government, several women and teenage girls were rescued from sexual enslavement in Guyana’s hinterland, where the population is principally indigenous, and gold mining the main source of employment,” the Public Health Minister shared.
Turning his attention to maternal mortality, the Minister pointed out that “…we can all see in the 2014 document on Trends in Maternal Mortality estimates 1990-2013, the rate in Guyana increased significantly during the period and we continue to have an unacceptably high rate, being one of very few countries with exceedingly high maternal mortality rates in the Americas.”
He continued, “Although no specific studies have been done in our country, we are aware of findings from Canada and by the CDC in the United States which suggest that partner violence can be an important contributor to maternal mortality.”
According to the Minister, the mortality rate among our indigenous population is extremely high. “As a person of indigenous heritage, this is extremely painful to me as an individual. This does not mean that I am not pained by the high rates among fellow Guyanese of other ethnicities, but the disparity among the indigenous peoples would indicate some amount of inequity and fly in the face of our goals to achieve universal access to health services,” asserted the Minister.
But Dr. Norton made it clear to his colleagues in health that the coalesced A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change is poised to work assiduously, and leave no stone unturned to arrest and reverse both the high maternal mortality in Guyana as well as violence against women.
“We see the need for a national action plan on violence and the introduction of educational and enforcement initiatives to eliminate this scourge, and recognize PAHO’s proposed Strategy and Plan of Action on Strengthening the Health System to address violence against women as the framework which can be used to develop our own plan,” he noted.
But according to him, Government has recognized that “we cannot do it alone, and therefore wish to appeal to PAHO and our brothers and sisters of this Region to assist us in our own efforts to address violence against women as well as in each and every one of our member states.”
He therefore assured that Guyana is keen on supporting the proposed resolution on the Strategy and Plan of Action on Strengthening the Health System to Address Violence against women, document CD54/9.