THE number and regularity of violent crimes against women in Guyana in recent months is shocking even by our standards. Elderly women living alone are targeted in robberies and younger women and girls in crimes of passion, involving deaths, physical and verbal abuse and extreme brutality by men.  A concerted response to violence against women and girls by men must be prioritised over all other forms of criminality.

Multiple studies, surveys and reports over recent decades have not yet resulted in the joined-up institutional protections to provide the care, support, advice and protection needed by a high percentage of women in Guyana. For over two decades, the GHRA, Red Thread and other community-based groups have called for women-focused police stations, staffed by police-women trained in domestic violence and sexual offences, where women could be assured of a sensitive hearing by trained staff. While health and police services have separately improved their responses to women victims, they fall well-short of the joined-up response required.

Moreover, the improved responses are neither routine nor predictable – nor even available – outside of Georgetown.  The extent to which victims have to go to prove the validity of accusations of violence is a good indicator of the gulf between need and response.  If someone claims to be a victim of a robbery there is an instinctive belief that what they are saying is true. By contrast, women who end up murdered, stalked or badly beaten by males too often have failed to convince the police when making previous complaints about the individual who eventually killed them.   The importance of reporting and believing victims will increase should COVID-19 become more a routine feature of life than a passing pandemic.

On review, relying on Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation and the Guyana Police Force to develop a more thorough victim-oriented approach was misconceived. For many victims the initial response needed is more personal than legal – welcoming, safe and sympathetic guidance to women along with sensitive medical advice. The grim surroundings of police stations and the overwhelming melee of the A&E Department are not conducive to emotionally-stressed women.

In other words, the type of services pioneered by the NGO, Help and Shelter, needs to be massively expanded or multiplied across the country, providing official support services that individuals need in order to navigate the legal and medical challenges so daunting even to the average citizen. Such service centres, if properly resourced, can influence their legal and medical colleagues into best practices, progressively reducing the isolation and autonomy which sustains many outdated and even inhumane practices. In other words, creating a network of safe havens, staffed by professionals, would focus on the health, welfare and safety of women and girls as a priority.  Under current arrangements too much energy is required simply to resist generations of prejudicial attitudes and institutional inertia.

The scourge of fatal violence to women by men usually happens close to home, frequently known about and lamented by relatives, neighbours, friends and religious members. User-friendly facilities of the kind we are advocating could also provide an outlet for preventative community solidarity, channelling this information to the police in a manner that could produce effective action.

Piecemeal reform of legislation in Guyana has produced an impressive array of legislation and amendments relating to the welfare and rights of women and girls.  A termination of pregnancy law, Domestic Violence Act, equal rights legislation, sexual offences law, trafficking in persons and age of consent laws all reflect a willingness to recognize the problems. However, the energy required to produce relevant legislation has not been matched by a sustained effort to oversight and monitor its implementation. Too often implementation is left to the Police Force or the Ministry of Health (or indeed the victim) to figure out.

According to recent media reports a G$1 billion grant has been made available to the Guyana Government under the UNDP & EU Spotlight programme. This volume of resources should make the approach sketched out above a realistic goal. That grant could be most usefully dedicated to create a national network of services to address violence against women and girls (rather than ‘domestic violence’).  Apart from an integrated approach to services, this approach encourages integrated collaboration between official Agencies, NGOs and community-based groups. In addition, this grant is sufficient to build capacity in the medical police, and other services specifically geared to redress violence against women and girls. Forensic health and criminal services are particularly woeful in this area.

The Executive Committee,
Guyana Human Rights Association