MP Karim condemns domestic violence

CHAGUANAS East MP, Fazal Karim, in contributing on the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill, 2020 in Parliament last week, referenced the teachings of Islam which speaks against oppression and violence against one’s family and instead calls for affection and mercy within the family. He called for the strengthening of the family structure and condemned acts of violence against families.

Karim stated that the Prophet Muhammed also said “The best of you is he who is the best towards his wife.” Karim called for an end to the scourge of domestic violence perpetrated against countless women, children and men.

Karim also praised UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar for her commitment in protecting and empowering the nation’s women and girls by expanding unprecedented educational opportunities, as well as providing training in skills such as entrepreneurship, during her tenure as prime minister.

He however cautioned that the year-on-year decline in domestic violence cases filed in the Magistrate’s Court from 11,627 in 2011-2012, to 7,519 in 2018-2019, though moving in the right direction, should not be celebrated in its entirety due to significant levels of under-reporting.

He sad that according to the National Women’s Health Survey in Trinidad and Tobago (2018) conducted by the Inter-American Development Bank, 69 per cent of women survivors who experienced physical or sexual violence partner violence did not seek help from any organisation or support agency.

“The bill does not address the systemic root causes of domestic violence,” Karim said as he quoted from the United Nation’s Women 2018 study on Gender-based Violence in Trinidad and Tobago which defines the causal risk factors for domestic violence at the individual, relationship and community or societal levels.

These include children witnessing intimate partner violence, childhood sexual abuse, substance abuse, male dominance, economic stress, and gender inequitable norms. He emphasised the need to focus on treating with the root causes of domestic violence and suggested that interventions at the early childhood level could also be beneficial in reversing the vicious cycle of violence in the family.

He stated, “Children who are exposed to domestic violence are taught that violence is a way of life instead of love, comfort, safety and protection.”

He said that in his years as a teacher he had found that domestic violence negatively impacted student academic performance, graduation rates, school drop-out rates, and ultimately students’ participation in the labour force. Karim indicated that the government’s cuts in education and training since 2015 would have negatively impacted domestic violence as young people would have been denied opportunities to learn and consequently endured social, economic and psychological upheaval.

The former tertiary education minister expressed concern with the ratio of school social workers to students who he viewed as crucial in advising and educating children on the effects of abuse and violence.

He said, “It may startle you to know that there is one school social worker to 600 students in the education system,” but that there should be at least one school social worker to 300 students. He welcomed elements of the bill which seek to increase protections for survivors of domestic violence but called for more attention to paid to the complex and multidimensional causal factors, and for which education, religion and civil society could assist in reversing.