BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - FEDERAL MINISTER of Gender Affairs, Eugene Hamilton is lamenting the fact that Gender-Based Violence continues to raise its ugly head within the Federation.
In recent years, there have been a continuous rise in the number of cases related to domestic violence and the Minister attributes that to the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw lengthy periods of lockdowns.
In his presentation to the Parliament this morning (Dec. 20), Hamilton reminded that the Federation had recently staged its 16 days of activism to raise awareness of domestic violence and to bring an end to the act and, as such, place attention on the growing issue which had quintupled over the last three years.
Defining Gender-Based Violence as “violence directed against persons because of their gender, or that disproportionately affects individuals of a particular gender, with the consequence of which can result in physical, sexual, physcological or economic hardship and suffering,” the Minister pointed to the data from the World Health Organisation and the Pan American Health Organisation, which showed that it predominantly affects women within the Americas region
According to WHO, 33 percent of women in the Americas have experienced physical or sexual violence by a partner, while PAHO pointed to 30 percent.
In the Federation the data are alarming and point to a growing problem that needs to be addressed.
According to data presented, incidents of Domestic Violence reported in 2019 revealed that there were 87 cases, 92 percent of which were women.
Since the onset of the pandemic in March last year, that number saw a significant spike, with 358 of which 84 percent were women, which, according to the Minister is a troubling increase.
That figure spiked further this year, with available data for the first three quarters that showed 443 cases of which more than 70 percent are women.
“So, Gender-Based Violence is with us and it is important that we speak about it and try to root this out. I would only say that…it is necessary to eradicate it and combat it with the aid of a particularly energetic reaction which attaches to morale moves,” noted Hamilton.
He added that “as a society we cannot accept it as a social norm, we must be careful to eradicate it. We must make every energetic attempt to eradicate it using morale rules”.
