THA MUST HELP WOMEN

KINNESHA GEORGE-HARRY

Secretary of Health, Wellness and Family Development, Dr. Agatha Carrington has received the approval of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) for the formation of a committee geared towards the elimination of gender-based violence.

At the 34th sitting of the Assembly on Thursday, Carrington moved a motion at the Assembly Legislature in Scarborough noting that the safety of women and girls against the threat of domestic violence and other forms of abuse continues to be a concern. She called on the House to urge all Tobagonians to reject and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, while also mandating the House to form a committee of the key stakeholders, led by the Division of Health Wellness and Family Development, to formulate a strategy to tackle the problem.

Carrington said, “Last year we recorded 41 women coming in for assistance. They came in for assistance, they were seeking refuge. There were issues with respect to domestic violence occurring in their homes. They came to the division for support, for refuge, for advice, for counselling. This issue is too widespread for us to sweep under the carpet. Apart from being widespread, it is impacting the stability of the health of families and communities.”

She said the safety of women and girls in Tobago is a major concern, adding that to that extent, the girls continue to be housed at the community residents for children at risk. Making mention of the several at-risk groups available on the island, Carrington said these groups must be considered to help them provide aid.

“We recognise the negative consequences associated. In the case of children, we recognise that this would affect their school performance; we recognise that those at work will be so affected and therefore the issues with respect to managing these situations at school, at work and in communities require attention.

"This, we know is no easy task… We look forward to key stakeholders working with us to leverage these areas such that we can eliminate all forms of violence,” she said.

Assistant Secretary in the Office of the Chief Secretary, Assemblyman Marisha Osmond in her contribution said almost every day, she scrolls through social media websites or listens to the news and there is a plea for help and in most cases, the gender is female.

“These are sad and painful news; news that no parent, family member or even law-abiding citizens wants to hear. Despite innovative legislations, policies and programmes, violence against women and girls remains a serious reality that is been perpetuated by deeply rooted uncontrolled male attitudes which seem to be tolerated by society.

"Change in mindset is necessary…There is no reinvention of the wheel, just a continuation of the work that has already started, building and improving on what has been done,” she said.

Assemblyman Sheldon Cunningham described the motion as “one of the most comforting” that he has ever participated in.

“This administration of the Tobago House of Assembly stands in support of the Government of TT as they continue to move aggressively to put additional systems and structures in place aimed towards the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, in the public and private sphere.

“This THA administration will continue to put our people first and do all that it can to nurture and protect our greatest assets,” Cunningham added.

However, the Minority Council was not too keen with the idea of the establishment of yet another committee.

“What has happened in this House over the past three years, we have resolved for quite a lot to set up committees to investigate quite a lot and to do quite a lot, and we seldom get a sense of what happens after the resolution is passed,” Assemblyman Farley Augustine said the Minority agrees with the part of the motion calling for all of Tobago to reject and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.

Augustine said the issue of substance abuse is not unrelated to the issue of gender violence.

“We also need to look at substance abuse because that too is another factor that we must pay attention to and treat with. We can’t want to treat with violence against women and girls and we don’t have sufficient services to treat with substance abuse, and we’re closing down the little that we have. We have to have sufficient resources to treat with substance abuse, many of these men or these perpetrators are substance abusers and so that too must be looked into," he said,

“Tobago is an island of small villages, it is very easy for the matter of gender-based violence to get out of hand, but it also should be easier that for most societies – for us – to treat with it because physically our numbers are smaller. And so we have to work post-haste on this matter, we have to,” Augustine added.

Augustine said the committee should only be set-up to gather statistics in relation to violence against women and girls but recommendations must then be made and action taken.

Minority Councillor Dr Faith BYisrael said she was hoping that much clearer steps would have been identified, adding that it is sad that the airwaves have been filled with several reports of intimate partner violence resulting in death.