The Rights of Children (ROC) organisation on Monday launched a new “Combating Sexual Violence in Indigenous Communities” kit at the National Library.
The programme was hosted by ROC Coordinator Larry Carryl, in the presence of Education Ministry advisor Cheryl Sampson; senior social worker of the Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Ministry, Pauline Welch, and a group of teachers from the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).
According to Carryl, ROC is currently focused on the issue of sexual harassment, primarily in secondary schools. He relayed that since the organisation’s establishment in 1998, the “Everyday Ordeals” kit had been created to educate persons on the common misconceptions of rape, and other initiatives have been undertaken to combat racial stigma and violence against women in general.
Carryl highlighted that the current project, “Combating Sexual Violence in Indigenous Communities” was initiated in 2015, with the
The “Combating Sexual Violence in Indigenous Communities” training kit
assistance of the Australian Government through a programme titled, “The Direct Aid”.
In that programme, funding was provided for ROC to engage in a series of visits to hinterland indigenous communities that were negatively affected by mining. Carryl remarked that the sole objective of the project was to investigate and get a direct understanding of the impact miners had on the residents, specifically “school aged” females.
“What we found during the course of the project was that Lethem is not so heavily affected by mining, but there are areas such as Barmita, Port Kaituma, Mahdia and Bartica, which really had adverse effects. So what we did – we went into these communities and we engaged not only the schoolchildren, but also the residents in the community to get a sense of what was wrong. Interviews were held, workshop training programmes for children, all of that was geared to produce this kit,” the ROC Coordinator said.
It was pointed out that the purpose of the kit was to educate and develop responses towards the issue of sexual harassment in indigenous communities, since it contained numerous solutions which can be adopted by persons and shared by teachers in secondary schools.
“It creates a mechanism whereby conversations can be had on the issue of sexual harassment and sexual violence in indigenous communities,” the ROC said.
Speaking on behalf of the Education Minister, Cheryl Sampson expressed her appreciation for the launching of the training kit and the teachers who opted to participate in promoting the contents of the kit to students and members of the indigenous community. She also noted that alcohol played a major part in the sexual harassment of females.
“Congratulations on producing this kit that these young teachers, when they go back to their communities, can use to help younger children, because if we do it right at the beginning, I’m sure that they would become more mature adults and they would better understand,” she stated.
Adding to the discussion, Welch, on behalf of the Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Minister, voiced that sexual violence was not only a social issue but a public health problem that may have long and short-term consequences.
She pointed out that large-scale mining was one of the reasons the hinterland region was severely affected by sexual violence, domestic violence, alcohol abuse and suicide.
“With these activities, all of the employment, all of the skills that are needed to conduct these activities are not adequately supplied by persons living in the hinterlands and so you would have an influx of persons from the coastal region, seeking employment and with them comes a different culture and behaviours. And, of course, a lot of them are men who are away from their family and so this is where the whole issue of sexual violence comes in,” Welch noted.
Teachers of the Training College welcomed the introduction of the “Combating Sexual Violence in Indigenous Communities” training kit and expressed enthusiasm about sharing the knowledge therein.
