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Posted: Friday 16 June, 2017 at 9:26 AM

Lack of safe house affecting Domestic Violence cases in Federation

By: Jermine Abel, SKNVibes.com

    BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE absence of a safe house in the Federation for victims of domestic violence is one of the concerns raised by the Department of Gender of Affairs that is hampering the efforts of that government agency.

     

    This disclosure was made by the Director of Gender Affairs, Celia Christopher, who, in a recent interview with SKNVibes, stated that in addition to reports of a significant increase in domestic violence, another serious issue that affects women is developing and the Department is keeping a close eye on it. 

    The developing issue, according to Christopher, is finding a temporary home for abused women. 

    “You have the situation where women are moving or are being thrown out of their homes, and we do not have a safe house; we don’t have any place to put them.

    “In years gone by, before communities became so violent, you could have gone by your neighbour or you could have gone by your family, or you could have gone by your friend. But people don’t want to take you in because the behaviour of the perpetrators now is very serious.”

    Though the Department has not seen any reported case of death resulting from domestic violence, officials are concerned that the possibility does exist.

    That comes as they have had cases of weapons being involved, especially guns. However, the Department had taken steps to assist victims in getting out of such relationships, but many of them would have eventually returned to live under abused conditions.

    “They are using guns and they are using knives, so nobody wants to get involved in couples’ arguments. And so we have that problem and we are faced with that particular problem,” Christopher noted.

    She categorically stated that they have been calling on the relevant authorities to provide a shelter for the victims, but that has fallen “on deaf ears”.

    “Whether it is a man or woman that you are attending to, there is nowhere to put them,” she added.

    Another issue Christopher highlighted is that victims are unable to receive copies of their statements after reporting matters of abuse to the police.

    According to the Director, before victims could acquire copies of their statements, they have to go through the bureaucratic process of submitting a written request to the Commissioner of Police.

    He pointed out that in many instances victims had found difficulties in gaining copy, because often times the police could not find the statements or matters were stuck in the Courts.
     
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