President Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday approved a $15M fund for the campaign to eliminate domestic violence.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release Jagdeo made this disclosure during a consultation on the issue, hosted at Office of the President. About 25 organisations across several segments of society, including religious, trade unions, the private sector, the Guyana Bar Association, Guyana Association of Women Lawyers attended the session which aimed to develop a strategic approach to address domestic violence.
This session came closely on the heels of a consultation the Ministry of Human Services recently held targeting selected groups to raise awareness of the problem. NGOs that participated are expected to develop policies to deal with domestic violence at the level of their respective organisation and implement programmes to assist victims and promote access to relevant services. It is also expected that effective deterrents will be implemented to emphasise society’s condemnation of domestic violence.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand told GINA that some very useful suggestions were forthcoming at the meeting and organisations must collaborate. “What came out that was very useful was that we have to work with men and fathers more and you are going to see very visible work being done…,” she said. The minister said the meeting gave much hope since it was clear that everyone was on board to ensure that steps will be taken to stop domestic violence.
According to the release, the ministry will be working with both individual and collective organisations such as the labour movement and churches to chart the way forward.
Manickchand said if an organisation wanted to set a policy for its members or a particular target group government can support in crafting an appropriate policy that reflects the national policy on domestic violence but which contains a more useful and practicable approach to dealing with the persons from the said group.
The ministry will also be sensitising leaders of the various associations about its plans and about the various services that are available. Manickchand said “some organisations did not even know that we had legal aid services so we need to share some more information.” She said too that the most immediate move is to draw a plan of all the points that were made since “we don’t want to miss anybody’s input.” The minister said too her ministry has always been very diligent in implementing recommendations and suggestions. According to her the most immediate plan is to prioritise things that can be done in the short-term.
Meanwhile, President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana Carvil Duncan told GINA that the meeting was timely as domestic violence is affecting too many people. He also lauded the President’s approach to this issue particularly since though the problem cannot be eradicated, there are practical things that can be done in collaboration with other groups that can impact the frequency of such occurrences.
