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$19.7M allocated to rehabilitate two domestic violence shelters
Kaieteur News – Aimed at improving its response to issues of domestic violence, the Government of Guyana has allocated a sum of $114.9 million to the legal aid services in Guyana, of which $19.7 million was budgeted to rehabilitate two shelters for victims of abuse.
Human Services Minister, Dr. Vindhya Persaud
This was announced by Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, during the presentation of the 2022 Budget in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
According to reports, up to October last year, over 1000 cases of domestic violence were reported, many of which were filed through the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s new toll free 914 emergency number.
“Mr. Speaker, abuse of any form is unacceptable within our society and a social issue that cannot be ignored. The Government continues to pursue initiatives to prevent domestic violence,” he said.
Minister Singh explained that the $19.7 million is budgeted to go towards the rehabilitation and extension of the Whim and Onderneeming shelters, which will continue to provide services for victims of sexual and domestic violence.
In terms of initiatives to safeguard victims, he stated that the Inter-Ministry Gender Focal Point Committee (IMC) was reconstituted to mainstream gender in all government agencies.
The IMC serve as the coordinating committee for the upcoming implementation of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Some other initiatives that came on stream to help victims of abuse, was the 914 hotline, which was launched to link survivors to agencies, advocacy programmes, referral pathways, microenterprise industries, public-private skills employment database matching and offer immediate help to extricate them from violent situations.
The Human Services Ministry had also established a Survivor’s Advocacy Programme, which allowed women to receive the necessary support and assistance they need from the moment of reporting to the conclusion of their cases.
In December last year, the Ministry also launched a network to tackle domestic violence against women and girls called the Community Advocates Network known as CAN.
Notably, domestic violence training is now part of the curriculum of the police training college. The Ministry had also launched an initiative called the ‘COPSQUAD2000’ which targeted 2000 police officers from various stations across the country. Officers were being trained on ways they would go about handling domestic violence cases when it is being reported to them.
The Guyana Police Force has established domestic violence units and special rooms at identified police stations to receive reports in more suitable environment, the Minister concluded.
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