End violence against women and girls
Persons holding up some of the posters to be on display at the Turkeyen Campus
Persons holding up some of the posters to be on display at the Turkeyen Campus

— suggestion boxes installed at UG

THE Women and Gender Equality Commission installed a suggestion box at the University of Guyana (UG), Turkeyen Campus, on Friday, as it continues its efforts to raise awareness and end violence against women and girls.
The orange-toned suggestion box was unveiled amid a small crowd comprising mostly executives and members of the commission and the University of Guyana, along with a few students and media operatives.

The suggestion box project was done under the theme, “Violence against Women and Girls! If you can’t say it; Write it” and offers opportunities also for cases to be reported.
Such boxes have been erected at the University of Guyana, Tain Campus, Berbice; the Women and Gender Equality Commission office at Human Rights building in Queenstown, Georgetown; the National Library; the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) on North Road (Bourda), and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Commission Diana Swan-Lawrence said the suggestion boxes are part of measures to end the sad social ill.
“The suggestion boxes are a means of persons reporting incidents of abuse, and also to make recommendations to end abuse against women and girls,” she said.
UG Deputy Vice-Chancellor for academic affairs, Dr Michael Scott, who addressed the small outdoor gathering at the Education Faculty, said the university welcomes the life-saving initiative.
“We are committed to ensuring that the University of Guyana be that zone for the ‘no-tolerance,’ ‘0 tolerance’ attitude” towards violence against women and girls, he said.
He is hoping that the contributions of the university are lasting, and “will not only go a far way in signalling the mere intent of the higher educational institution of learning … but every constituent here… will be putting their hands and hearts together” to end violence, Dr Scott said.

And to set an example, he read a poem he wrote entitled “Hands of violence.”
At the request of Chairperson of the Women and Gender Equality Commission Indra Chandarpal, he gave permission for the commission to use his poem in its campaign against violence against women.
Chandarpal said about two years ago, the commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Guyana to make the campus a “no tolerance” zone for violence against women and girls.
She said the commission is pleased to have collaborated with UG as it has allowed it the opportunity to install the suggestion boxes at Tain Campus in Berbice on Monday and at the main campus at Turkeyen on Friday.

She urged students to see the suggestion boxes and posters as constant reminders that no one should be allowed to sexually harass them.
Several posters were presented to Dr Scott to be displayed on campus, including those with messages speaking out against sexual harassment and family violence.
“Sexual harassment is any unwelcome act, comment, gesture or physical contact of a sexual nature”, “Family violence leads to despair, destruction and death” and “Sexual Harassment is unacceptable, unwanted, unfair, unlawful” read some of the posters displayed.
Chandarpal said the commission also aims to erect billboards in all regions and distribute posters at schools and other public places countrywide by the end of this year.

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