THE developer of it, Mr. Alex Graham said Monday that an aggressive and wide ranging public education campaign has been embarked upon in support of the Sexual Offences Act.
He made the disclosure in an overview of the public awareness drive before President Bharrat Jagdeo publicly assented to the historic law at the Police Officers’ Mess, Eve Leary, Georgetown.
Graham said the aim is to make the general population aware of the new offences and penalties created by the legislation, which,  itself, strengthens the justice system’s response to sexual violence.
He said the focus will be on public education, early intervention and prevention strategies to help reduce sexual violence and interventions to strengthen communities towards supporting victims better and protecting the vulnerable.
Graham said it is a broad based action plan, involving traditional and new media and social networking tools, as well as interventions in communities, faith-based organisations, clubs, local and central government agencies, in order to build a broad national coalition.
He said the goals are to put an end to sexual and related domestic violence; change the attitudes of men and boys towards sex and violence; empower women and transform communities into safe places, especially, for women and children.
Graham said the programme will start with an education focused on changing attitudes and behaviour from childhood and to enable early detection of sexual offences, including supportive actions that empower women and children, provide community-based support, access to resources and alternative shelter and care where necessary.
He said the actions would also place particular focus on men and boys and seek to establish that, “despite our culture, sex is not a right or an obligation; it should be the result of a successful negotiation between two competent, qualified and consenting adults.”
According to Graham, the delivery will be in two parallel tracks with overlapping goals and objectives, with track one themed ‘Stamp It Out’  and track two themed ‘No More Tears’.
He said the ‘Stamp it Out’ is to build on the initial work done during the drafting of the bill and the national consultations and will be directed as enforcement activities.
Graham said its communication tools will concentrate on understanding the law and its effective implementation through what is called a 360 degrees media campaign.
That will be supported by a series of focused interventions at the institutional and structural level, to include local government organs, communities and professional and service providers.
He said the ‘No More Tears’ aspect will surround education and interventions aimed at social transformation and behaviour change at all levels of society. The related interventions will be directed at the development of safe homes and communities, empowered women and more work with men and boys.

TWO ASPECTS

Two aspects of the  ‘No More Tears’ strategy will be unveiled in white zones and the ‘TELL’ scheme for primary schools. The former will be places and spaces where women and children who feel threatened can go to find help or gather with a sense of safety and security, Graham explained.
“There are well-known institutions and non-governmental organisations that already provide support for women and children. The white zones will, considerably, scale up these efforts and increase their regional distribution, ensuring that, eventually, there is one in every community in Guyana,” he elaborated.
Graham said, through a process of qualification and compliance with a system of monitoring and reporting, a variety of institutions and buildings, like Police stations and other Government buildings, such as health centres, as well as religious places, community centres, among others, will be designated as white zones.
He said the list of designated white zones will be published and clearly identified by a flag and the TELL scheme is designed to encourage changing attitudes towards disclosure amongst children.
“Abused children are often threatened and warned not to tell, The Tell Scheme aims to empower children to tell. Children who are sure about what has happened to them and are secure and confident in the adult to whom they will turn, often decide that they will tell. Our efforts will seek to encourage this disclosure while providing a responsive and supportive framework for those children who do decide to tell,” Graham outlined.
He said that thrust will utilise three approaches for changing attitudes towards disclosure, posters, teachers’ introduction/discussion and children’s art.
Graham said each primary school will be provided with a set of five specifically sequenced posters to be mounted in the classrooms at intervals during the school year.
“The posters will depict situations that serve to reinforce the integrity of the person and the inappropriateness of violations,” he said, assuring that no poster will be explicit, vulgar, or otherwise inappropriate for primary school age children.
Graham said the children will also be encouraged to develop their own art to depict their circumstances and, at every stage of the process, the roll-out will be regionally and culturally relevant, ensuring that the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nature of the society is recognised and respected in the delivery of content and interventions.
He said new media and music will be significant features of the thrust that is crafted to deliver real results over and above activity. As a consequence, there will be rigorous and constant monitoring and evaluation to make sure that the objectives are being achieved and that the goals remain within reach.
“So we ask everyone present here today to do your part to support the efforts as they will be rolled-out in your community in the coming weeks and months,” Graham urged.
He invited feedback on the efforts through websites and e-mails when the interventions begin.
“I want to encourage us to stand together to stamp out sexual violence and bring an end to the tears of parents and children,” Graham exhorted.