Is the DPP’s position becoming redundant?

Dear Editor,

Please permit me to express my disappointment in relation to the turn of events in the case of the Commissioner of Police and the woman who was allegedly raped. This has left a bad taste in my mouth as I feel that the women’s movement is being discredited. I speak now as a person wearing many caps, but through the eyes of a social worker, a women’s rights activist, an educator, etc. The DPP is a woman in her own right, legal minded as well as a person who sits on a constitutional commission and is advised by legal minds. How do you think she feels now? Is the DPP’s position becoming redundant? If persons can go straight to the court and bypass any recommendation by the DPP, then we have to examine the roles.

We have as women a lot of work to do. Persons still feel that they must go to the top person in an organization in order to seek redress/justice, and very often they end up being exploited. Some leaders in our region (Caricom) have been behaving out of character and feel women are fair game.

I don’t know the intricacies of the law, but I am going to seek guidance on behalf of the voiceless women in our society. We have to educate our women in their basic rights in keeping with the law, and the resources for this should be available to the organizations promoting women’s rights. The Women and Gender Equality Commission of which the DPP is a member and the Human Rights Commission must get involved; all the women’s organizations must now unite their efforts to save our women from future ploys. How can we tell our young girls not to have sex before a certain time as well as not to have unprotected sex when they are vulnerable in the police force and other agencies which see women as sex symbols?

Yours faithfully,
Hazel Halley-Burnett