In a style now recognised as typical of him, President Bharrat Jagdeo convened a consultation on domestic violence at his office on Monday last. Perhaps, like every other sane Guyanese, the President has become heartsick and disgusted at the growing incidents of gender violence. Hence the convening of a ‘broad-based consultative session’, aimed at developing a strategic approach to address domestic violence, but which unfortunately excluded the media at both the representative and coverage levels; this newspaper was invited to take photographs before the session began.

A subsequent press release issued through the Government Information Agency (GINA) revealed that the President had, at the forum, announced the setting up of a $15 million fund, which various non-governmental organisations would have access to for domestic violence awareness campaigns. This is perhaps a good start, though a late one, considering how rampant domestic violence has become in this society. And by the same measure, $15 million is but a drop in the ocean when one contemplates the volume of work that needs to be done to curb incidents of violence and deter perpetrators from continuing along their destructive paths.

Religious organisations, trade unions, the private sector and the legal profession were involved in the session, and, according to GINA, the NGOs are expected to develop policies to deal with domestic violence at the level of their respective organisations and implement programmes to assist victims and promote access to relevant services. The press release said it was also expected that effective deterrents will be implemented to emphasise society’s condemnation of this scourge.

While most religions preach forgiveness, one would hope that such organisations, which are also supposed to be concerned with the sanctity of life, would already have a position, even if it’s not written down, on how to deal with violence and how to protect the abused. Trade unions and secular NGOs, including social clubs, one hopes, will now be moved to have caveats regarding domestic and other forms of violence written into their constitutions and rule books. One hopes, too, that these organisations will lead society’s condemnation of the scourge by sanctioning any of their members who are found to be perpetrators of domestic violence. It is a well-known fact that domestic violence exists at every level of society; it is suspected that cronyism and the so-called ‘old-boys network’ allow for it to be covered up at certain levels.

The GINA press release only mentioned two individual organisations by name – the Guyana Bar Association and the Guyana Women Lawyers Association – so it was not clear whether Help & Shelter was represented at the President’s consultation. If it were not then this would have been a major oversight on the part of the planners of the session. Help & Shelter has a proven track record on dealing with domestic violence. In fact it is the flagship on the issue in Guyana. It is also at present the only organisation which currently operates a shelter for abused women and their children. Help & Shelter already receives a government subvention, though this is woefully inadequate. As has been said before in this column, this organisation, run by a group of committed people can do so much more were it to be properly funded.

The government does have its role to play in stamping out domestic violence. It has demonstrated a certain level of competence through the current Human Services Minister. President Jagdeo’s public rejection of domestic violence on Monday is also to be applauded. What is needed now is for other sections of the government – including the Guyana Police Force and the justice system — to demonstrate their intolerance of gender violence by simply doing their jobs.

The actual in-the-trenches’ work – getting up close and personal with victim and perpetrator, offering counselling and sanctuary where necessary, ensuring that cases are prosecuted and justice is done and protecting children who are affected by domestic violence is best done by the NGO sector. There is tried and proven evidence in other countries that this is what works. There is, therefore, no need to reinvent the wheel. The resources must somehow be found to allow the non-profit bodies to accomplish what needs to be done. That the private sector was represented at the consultation is a good sign. One hopes the NGO sector will take advantage of the networking opportunities that would have presented themselves on Monday.