22% women between ages 15 and 64 victims of partner violence – study

The scourge of domestic violence continues to rear its ugly head in Guyana as millions of dollars continue to be spent with the hope of minimising and eventually eradicating occurrences of this nature in society. However, although some successes were reaped in combatting this prevalent issue, there is still a long way to go.
Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan on Thursday revealed that a recent study in Guyana on partner violence revealed that 22 per cent of women between the ages of 15 and 64 were victims of partner violence at least once in their lifetime.
“That statistic bespeaks something about our men and we must appreciate that, we have some very violent men around the place. This statistic does not include the other forms of abusive behaviour that women are exposed to— including psychological and economic— again, generally experienced by women at the hands of men. Because of the serious consequences of domestic violence, it is both a family and community problem”.
He explained that domestic violence is a global issue that continues to plague and affect development and progress of individuals and countries on a daily basis with some one in three women worldwide experiencing either physical or sexual violence under the category of domestic abuse/violence.

Domestic violence reports
Meanwhile, Acting Police Commissioner Nigel Hoppie noted that statistics from the year 2017 revealed that there were 2080 reports of domestic violence reports made to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and as a result of those reports, there were 1,171 cases made by law enforcement authorities.
For the year 2018, there were 1,491 reports, which led to 837 cases made by the Police.
“The 2018 to 2017 statistics in reports reveal there that it was 28.2 per cent decrease when the comparison was made. While the cases made it was 28.5 per cent (decrease),” the Police Commissioner (ag) stated on Thursday at the closing ceremony of a Domestic Violence Scenario Training event.
However, a decrease in reports does not necessarily mean that the occurrence of domestic violence is on the low in Guyana, but that victims could still be reluctant in making reports of such incidents at the Police stations.
“We are all aware that domestic violence continues to be a serious social threat and it is everybody’s business because it does not only affect victims at their homes, it affects individuals at the workplace, and it affects every other family, it can also affect us at schools. Turning a blind eye to these occurrences can further threaten among other things, our culture…we can still hear insistent clammer by family members of victims for legal intervention”.
Public Management Sector Specialist of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Dr Jason Wilks stated that the United Nations pointed out that in 2017, Guyana recorded 34 deaths attributed to intimate partner “femicide”. He explained that the issue of domestic violence and its after effects in Guyana as well as other parts of the world is a major concern.
“In Latin American and the Caribbean, somewhere, nine women are killed every day due to domestic violence. That is a very stark statistic; we often refer to it as the silent epidemic because people do not really understand the gravity and the volume of the issue…solutions are not easy to find”.
As a result, he urged that all stakeholders get on board and work towards helping communities to become more aware and prepared to battle instances of domestic violence in their environments.
Additionally, Project Manager of the Citizens’ Security Strengthening Programme, Dr Clement Henry elaborated on the impacts that domestic violence have on the progress of a country like Guyana, and the many negative effects it has on communities and families.
According to Dr Henry, each year, a lot of money is spent on various initiatives and projects targeting the elimination of domestic violence in Guyana, and in 2017, when numerous deaths were recorded in this regard, a large sum was expended.
“Information coming from the Policy Research Unit and Crime Observatory for 2017—when we looked at reports and we did a rough calculation of the cost of domestic violence in Guyana for that year it came up to over $1B. This cost included direct medical care and rehabilitation, loss of income, legal cost and damage to property among others…we have taken an approach and are focusing on eliminating risk factors in the home, community and societal level”. (Kristen Macklingam)