– following President Jagdeo’s call
The first of a series of meetings involving the Government and faith- based organisations to form an alliance to tackle incidents of domestic violence and abuse in the Guyanese society has begun.
Yesterday, representatives from a cross section of faith-based organisations locally and overseas met at the Office of the President focusing on domestic violence and the role of the religious community.
The meeting sought to establish a basis on which the religious community in Guyana, in conjunction with the Overseas Faith-based Religious Leaders Council, may design a strategic approach to tackle domestic violence.

The initiative follows a call by President Bharrat Jagdeo for the religious community in Guyana to be more involved in addressing and bringing an end to the scourge.
Among those present were Rev. Kwame Gilbert, Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) Juan Edghill, Leader of the Overseas Faith Based Religious Leaders Council Dr Cecil Mercurious, representatives from the Muslim community in New York and their Guyanese counterparts, the Federation for Hindu Mandirs in the US, Rev George Clarke who works in the US Justice System, and a specialist on domestic violence, anti-social and other behaviours.
The involvement of the overseas faith based organizations stemmed from President Jagdeo’s visit to the US and subsequent meetings with the Guyanese Diaspora, on the development of a faith based religious leaders’ initiative which will see the Guyana Government and the religious community working together to address many social problems.
Joining the meeting were Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon and Presidential Adviser on Governance Gail Teixeira.
The stakeholders are hoping that an accord will follow the discussions, leading to the signing of a joint communiqué by representatives of all the religious groups, declaring a zero tolerance on domestic violence. Other hopeful outcomes include inputs from the head/ representatives of the various groups on the specific design, components or features of a training module; and identification of any particular roadblocks to the training programme.
Rev. Gilbert reiterated that the meeting should not be seen as a reaction to the problem, but rather the continuation of a process that has been ongoing for a long while.
“This a part of establishing the basis on which we build social cohesion in seeking to address not just domestic violence, but many of the other social problems that we have in our country,” Rev Gilbert said.
During the meeting, a review was done on Guyana’s Domestic Violence policy which includes clauses about the role of the religious organizations in domestic violence.