By Vanessa Cort
THE recent announcement of an investigation into the alleged sexual abuse at the country’s Police Academy, once more serves to highlight this practice within our society.
It is alleged that senior officers, responsible for the tutoring of young female trainees, have been using their positions of power to coerce these young women into sexual acts.
There is, allegedly, a video circulating which actually shows a trainee involved in a sexual act with an officer. While the video itself may not prove coercion, repeated complaints by trainees would indicate that sexual abuse had become commonplace at the institution.
Those in authority seemed to consider themselves immune from censure or prosecution for such behaviour, based on the fact that prior complaints by trainees had yielded few results and no noticeable change. Current complaints too had been largely ignored and little action taken to address the issue until now, when they could no longer be ignored.
This is likely a result of the circulation of the video, the revelation of meetings between senior officers and trainees in clandestine locations in sex-for-favours arrangements and the general cloud of sexual abuse hanging over the institution.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has now launched a criminal probe into the ‘goings-on’ at the academy and promises that all those found guilty, regardless of rank or position, will be held accountable under the law
For almost a decade now women all over the world have become increasingly vocal about the sexual harassment they have encountered in their places of work.
Some of the most explosive cases were in the entertainments industry, but others have come to light in various spheres of society where women have been suffering in silence for fear of reprisals
As revelations became more widespread the #ME TOO Movement, founded by African-American, Tarana Burke, in 2006 went global in 2017.
The movement initially sought to support, particularly, women of colour who had been victims of gender-based violence. But as more and more women began to come forward with allegations of sexual harassment, some incidents decades old, the movement gathered momentum. Women all over the world began to say, “Me too- the same thing has been happening to me.”
They were no longer ignored but had a voice and a platform. The #METOO Movement became a powerful agency campaigning against sexual abuse, harassment and rape.
What is most disturbing about this current scandal of sexual abuse at the Police Academy lies in its very nature. For those entrusted with schooling our young women and setting an example for them to follow have instead betrayed this trust in a despicable way.
They have sexually exploited the vulnerability of these trainees and turned an institution of learning into a place of fear and dishonour.
It is to the credit of the young women who have spoken out, despite the fear they undoubtedly harboured of being targeted, that the matter has been exposed.
And in its press release on January 20, the Ministry of Home Affairs has expressed its “zero-tolerance policy for abuse, exploitation or misconduct within any agency under its oversight.”
This should be the stance of every organisation, whether private or public and one taken by our wider society, sending a clear message that sexual abuse, harassment or misconduct of any kind will not be tolerated.
It is my hope too, that this current investigation will embolden other women, who may be enduring sexual abuse at their workplaces, to step forward and say, “Me Too.”
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.
