8009 domestic violence calls recorded in 6 months

The 914 toll-free domestic violence (DV) hotline has received a large number of calls for the first half of 2023. This is according to the Human Services and Social Security Ministry statistics received by this publication.
Through the Ministry’s hotline and survivor advocate’s programme, a total of 8009 calls came in, with 1049 being prank calls while the remainder dealt with a wide range of issues centred around cases, questions, as well as referrals.
Of the calls received, 257 domestic violence cases and 36 sexual offence cases were reported, this is significantly less when compared to the 360 DV cases that were recorded for the same period last year. As a result, 38 women and children were provided with temporary shelters after fleeing abusive environments.
The 914 hotline is available to all persons, including migrants, and was created for victims of domestic and sexual violence, as well as other individuals to call for assistance or report incidences of abuse.
The Ministry trained and employed survivor advocates to provide victims with the support needed to overcome the trauma from their experiences. Temporary housing is also available for victims until they are able to provide housing and basic essentials for themselves.
Meanwhile, vouchers and legal pro-bono services are available to the victims of violence. During a Department of Public Information (DPI) interview in April, Human Services and Social Security Minister Vindhya Persaud unveiled that 60 persons would have already benefitted from legal pro-bono services.
“For the legal pro-bono services which would be free legal services to persons who would’ve experienced violence, 60 persons would’ve already benefitted from the beginning of the year,” Persaud noted.
Similarly, the Ministry’s spotlight programme is leading the charge in fighting domestic violence through the COPSQUAD 2000 initiative, equipping Police officers with the tools necessary to respond to reports in a professional manner.
In May some 1000 members of the Guyana Police Force graduated under this initiative. Done in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) under the Spotlight Initiative, this programme aims to train 2000 officers across the country on how to address domestic violence and gender-based violence reports in a manner that follows international best practices.
In February 2023, 500 officers had graduated, bringing the number of officers trained to effectively handle cases of gender-based violence to approximately 1500.