(Antigua Sun) – The Lower House of Parliament met Tuesday evening to debate a motion in an effort to find answers to the recent increase of rape and other violent crimes against women and to come up with solutions.
Mover of the motion, Antigua Labour Party (ALP) Member of Parliament Molwyn Joseph said that the nation of Antigua and Barbuda should be called to attention as this matter is a very serious one which needs immediate attention.
According to Joseph, the most critical area of concern in Antigua is that most of the homes in the country are headed by women who are more at risk and this has a negative impact on the children.
He cited one example in which a woman in the Cashew Hill area was raped and her children were made to witness the horrific ordeal.
“Madame Speaker, rape can create permanent scars and it changes the personality of the victim. She becomes anti-social and loses her self-esteem. When a woman is raped her soul is lost and we still do not have the kind of social support system to go into these homes to deal with these matters,” Joseph said.
The member of Parliament says he is willing to put aside politics and work together with the ruling government to stamp out this horrendous crime against the country’s women.
“Let’s all send a message, even if we have to camp out to protect our women. It is that serious; this is a complex issue with so many facets. The rapes that are happening show that this is a sick society.
“We now have to look at why this is happening and why we are failing to apprehend the culprits,” Joseph added.
He is, however, optimistic that coming out of the debate there will an effective solution which can be helpful to our women.
Also adding his voice to the debate was MP for the St John’s Rural South constituency Eustace Lake, who said the issue was a very personal one to him as his sister is also a rape victim.
“A few weeks after I came back to Antigua my sister was raped. She came home from work and found someone in her home and who took advantage of the situation and raped her. That was the only rape that was reported in Johnston village”.
Lake said that after he entered the political arena he made a vow to do whatever he could in his constituency to reduce the number of rapes in the area.
He continued that he conducts nightly patrols in his area in the wee hours of the morning.
“I might not have all the figures but in the area we also have a community watch group which continues to function on a day-to-day basis.”
