The number of client calls to the National Domestic Violence hotlines were 5,522 for the fiscal period October 2012 to September 2013, says Minister in the Ministry of Gender Youth and Child Development Stacy Roopnarine. She was speaking at the stakeholder consultation to develop a communication strategy for the prevention of violence against women and children in T&T. The event was held at the Radisson Hotel, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
She said the Police Service reported 689 cases of sexual offences for January to September in 2013. “This represented an increase of more than 200 compared with the whole of 2011,” Roopnarine said. She said the number of reported sexual offences involving female victims for the period 2012 was 573.
Additionally the number of charges for sexual assault with female victims totalled 260 for the same period, Roopnarine added. “For the period January to August 2013 the number of reported sexual offences with female victims amounted to 266 compared to the number of charges for sexual assault with female victims of 116 for the same period,” Roopnarine added.
She assured the Government was committed to continue addressing the issue of gender-based violence and as a member of the United Nations had signed and ratified various relevant international instruments, treaties and conventions without reservation. “These instruments have always emphasised that member nations put in place all the necessary mechanisms needed to eliminate gender discrimination, ensure equality and human dignity to all,” Roopnarine said.
However, she added that despite the number of efforts, gender-based violence continued to rise, which had proven enormously difficult in alleviating that social disease. “There is still the need to find conceptual vehicles and practical mechanisms through which the problem of violence against women and children can be addressed.
“One way to do specifically do so is through an effective communication strategy process,” Roopnarine recommended. Such a strategy, she added, formed a critical part of any initiative to address violence against women and children.
Also speaking was Dr Bernadette Theodore-Gandi, Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) representative, who said globally 35 per cent of women had experienced either physical and or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence.