ON Monday the Ministry of Home Affairs launched the National Conference for Prevention of Interpersonal Violence, which went on until yesterday. The opening day of the conference was well attended by stakeholders such as the police, Ministry of Home Affairs officials and NGOs. It was also attended by ordinary citizens, who are tired of the cycle of violence.

Speaking at the conference, President Ramotar spoke of the cost of the violence, which is economic but is also human. Unfortunately, this is a cost we cannot put in monetary terms, because no amount of money can bring back a life that has been lost, or can erase the suffering that the victims and their surviving family members have to go through.
So, the cost of interpersonal violence is huge. And as President Ramotar recognised, it is not just a Guyanese problem. It is something that the whole Region is grappling with, but hasn’t yet found an answer to.
So what is interpersonal violence and what are the causes?
Interpersonal violence is an “intentional act directed towards another person with the aim to cause injury or death.” The violence that occurs in Guyana can be put into two categories. The first one is violence that is committed by a male towards a female. This category of violence is mostly referred to as “domestic violence,” because the people involved are usually in an intimate relationship and know each other. The second category of violence is committed by one person against another person. The people involved usually don’t know each other well.
The causes of each of these categories of violence is a feeling by the perpetrator that they have been wronged by the victim, and the only way they feel they can get justice is by causing an injury or death to the “offending party.”
Perpetrators of violence feel an intense anger towards the other person… an anger which only subsides when they have either gravely injured or killed the other person.
In life it is inevitable that one will at one time or another be hurt or offended by someone; or be the one who commits the wrong to another. However, no amount of hurt or offence by another person can ever justify maiming or killing that person. Can we assume that the countries where there are high levels of violence are the only countries where people offend or hurt each other? No, not all! People constantly hurt and offend each other all over the world, in every country.
The difference is that most of the people in developed countries, have found ways to deal with the anger they feel, without resorting to violence. Countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Norway teach their children at a young age how to deal with their anger in a non-violent way. In other words, they have learned how to manage their anger. That is one aspect of how to reduce violence.
The second aspect of reducing violence is the availability of weapons to commit violence. If we look at countries where violence is high, including the United States and the Caribbean countries, we see that guns are easily available. In the United States one can go and buy a gun, even a high-powered assault weapon with little or no background checks. In the Caribbean, it is much harder to legally buy a weapon, but there are dozens of illegal ways to get hold of a weapon, for anyone who really wants to get hold of one.
Not only is it easy to get hold of an illegal weapon, but you can also easily get someone to do the killing for you. It is a well-known fact that many of the killings that occur in Guyana, especially in Georgetown, are “for-hire killings,” also known as a “hit” or “executions.”
During yesterday’s opening session of the National Conference for the Prevention of Interpersonal Violence, Honourable Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, talked about the possibility of reviewing the licensing procedures for guns. This has been a hot topic lately because of the killings that have recently been committed with legally acquired weapons. This includes the Middle Street killings as well as last weekend’s murder-suicide in Campbellville.
However, the cold, hard reality is that the vast majority of violence is committed with illegal weapons. So, even if the government puts a total freeze on new gun licences and confiscates all the legal guns from their owners, it will not significantly reduce gun violence. And the reason, as stated before, is because most of the violence is committed with illegal weapons.
It will also not reduce domestic violence, because most incidents of domestic violence are not committed with a firearm. It is committed with a knife or some other blunt object, which the perpetrators will easily find, if they’re looking for it.
So, how do we reduce violence? It will take not just one strategy. It will take several strategies, which involve educating the citizenry on how to resolve their anger peacefully, without resorting to violence. It involves putting systems, institutions, and people in place to help those who need help. It involves a well equipped police force that can stop the gun smuggling and infiltrate and eliminate the criminal networks that smuggle weapons and provide for-hire murder services. If we can do all those things simultaneously, then we can stem the tide of interpersonal violence that is exacting such a huge toll on our lives and our economy.