Home News Family Violence Bill 2024 relaces Domestic Violence Act following passage in National...
– Opposition calls for robust enforcement system, statistics
The 1996 Domestic Violence Act was replaced following the passage of the Family Violence Bill No. 11 of 2024 in the National Assembly on Wednesday evening.
According to Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, the bill offers comprehensive coverage for various types of abuse, including emotional and psychological.
The new piece of legislation builds upon the previously existing Act by introducing 58 new clauses and a schedule, to prevent and reduce incidences of family violence in Guyana, ensure the protection of victims of abuse within families, and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Further, it defines “family members” which also takes into consideration social practices of considering someone a relative though there may be no blood relations.
As it relates to family violence, it also includes intentionally damaging a family member’s property or threatening to do so, unlawfully depriving a family member of their liberty or threatening to do so, and causing or threatening to cause the death of/or injury to an animal.
In this regard, the bill proposes a new civil cause of action that allows a victim of family violence to claim damages and compensation against a perpetrator.
Dr. Persaud explained that the Bill’s primary objective is to ensure the safety and protection of family violence victims, including children, and to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.
“Now under the one Family Violence Bill perpetrators could be locked up, they could be kept in custody and not merely restrained from going into a home. And this is a very important thing because this new bill has the significant achievement of having both criminal and civil remedies and that is underscored by the practical measures to reduce the movement that could occur when one wants to blend this kind of approach under one piece of legislation between the magistrate court and the high court,” the Minister told the House.
Meanwhile, Opposition Member of Parliament Natasha Singh-Lewis issued a call to the government to implement a robust enforcement system to complement the new Bill.
According to Lewis, the opposition supports the legislation, however, contends that enforcing the Bill at the various levels continues to be a challenge since there is “no monitoring system in place to tackle the issue”.
“Despite the alarming prevalence and devastating impact of this violence our nation still lacks a comprehensive system to monitor, assess, and address this critical issue. This legislation is a legal framework that is going to strengthen the system that exists but if there is no monitoring, there is no assessment in this critical area then that is the problem.”
She also underscored the need for accurate data as it relates to family and domestic violence countrywide so that targeted programmes can be curated to address the prevalence.
“Do we know the statistics on the crime rate in Guyana, specifically for the purpose of this Bill? When last have we had a report from the Guyana Police Force or the Ministry of Home Affairs on statistics on the number of family violence reported to law enforcement including arrest and conviction? It is the absence of national indicators that hampers our ability to understand the true scope of the problem,” she questioned.
In response, Minister Persaud disclosed the Family Violence Bill was derived from studies including the Spotlight Initiative which is aimed at eradicating violence against women and girls, and analysis of the Domestic Violence Act 1966, Sexual Offences Act 2010, Protection of Children Act 2009, Childcare and Development Act 2011, Cybercrime Act, Violence Against Women Act 2019 – USA, Family Violence Act 2018 – New Zealand and the Domestic Violence (Amendment) Bill 2020 of Trinidad and Tobago.
She explained that consultations were also conducted for a year to ensure the Bill closes loopholes and addressed crimes of the modern world.
“If we look at the Domestic Violence Act, it spoke to violence that would occur between two people at an interpersonal level and intimate level and it did not take into count the violence that could occur within the family construct among persons who constitute the family. As such I think it is important to acknowledge that the Family Violence Bill is much more than a change in the nomenclature… Any bill comes with the need to have education and awareness so that people understand the level of protection that it offers and it also must have the supporting structure to be able to implement and complement the legislation,” Dr. Persaud disclosed.
