Solutions sought for stemming sexual violence

By NADINE WILSON All Woman writer wilsonn@jamaicaobserver.com

Monday, February 20, 2012

WITH the most recent statistics showing an increase in rape cases, Woman Incorporated on Wednesday sought to engage some of the nation's youths in a discussion meant to find solutions to stemming the perpetual problem of sexual violence within the Jamaican society.

The group partnered with the Ministry of National Security, Jamaica Partners for Peace and the Planning Institute of Jamaica, to host a youth forum at the University of West Indies, Mona campus. The forum was the highlight of celebrations to mark Woman Inc's 27 years in operation, which began last Sunday with a church service at Christ Church in Vineyard Town, and ended on Saturday.

Despite a decline in murders and shootings last year, there was an increase in rape cases from 704 in 2010 to 748 incidents in 2011. It was against this backdrop that president of Woman Inc Dundeen Ferguson noted that the forum was important in assessing the way forward in stemming sexual violence.

"This is very timely for us to do... we want to get out there and we want to hear the voices of others in the community. We want to hear what you have to say about the issue," she said.

Resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme, Dr Arun Kashyap, pointed out that there were social and economic reasons for the perpetuation of violence in the Caribbean. He said the elimination of this form of violence against women was crucial to the promotion of healthy families.

"In the Caribbean region and especially in Jamaica, only a fraction of women and girls are identified or report it; and even then the trend are very disturbing," he said.

"Data from the police indicates that in 2010, 18 per cent of the victims of selected major crimes were age 19 years and under. Almost three-quarters -- that is nearly 74 per cent of these -- nearly 2,000 young victims, were girls. Of the girls almost two-thirds, 62 per cent, were the victims of carnal abuse or rape in 2010," noted the UN representative.

Attorney-at-law, Margarette Macaulay, pointed to the fact that a woman's figure has often been blamed for the sexual violence meted out to her. But she said given the fact that men are now being abused, there needed to be even more significant research on the matter to determine the cause of this vicious crime.

She pointed to the fact that everyone had a role to play in stemming the violence and providing support for victims.

"The state must also provide for those who have been battered and abused, by giving to them the kind of economic, social, medical and psychological support which they need to become free from abusive relationships and circumstances," she said.

She noted too that, "in partnership with the state, civil society organisations must continue to be the fuel which ignites the forward movement of the state or of the state organs in order to achieve protective and remedial measures which any civilised, developed and democratic country would have in place to ensure the safety of its life bearers — its citizens of the female sex."

Meanwhile, social worker Marcia Higgins pointed to some of the myths that continue to be perpetuated that allow the vicious cycle of sexual abuse and incest to continue. Some of these myths, she said, included the fact that some felt it was okay to have sex with a stepbrother or stepsister; that it was possible to cure HIV/AIDS by having sex with a virgin or a baby; and that sexual behaviours in the family is nobody's business.

"It is a generational issue, and it is difficult to break," she said.

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Solutions sought for stemming sexual violence