Cumuto MP wants more safe houses for domestic violence victims

Cumuto/Manzanilla MP Dr Rai Ragbir is advocating for Government to establish safe houses in every constituency to protect, treat and rehabilitate women who are victims of domestic violence.

In a release on Thursday, Ragbir said too many women were losing their lives in some of the most heinous incidents of violence and called on citizens to begin a societal revolution of caring, nurturing and appreciating the worth, value and contribution to the nation’s womenfolk.

As the world observes 16 days of activities commemorating International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25), Ragbir said both the public and private sector must join hands in combating this scourge against society.

Over 16 days there will be activities highlighting the need to stop violence against women ending on December 10, which is International Human Rights Day.

Ragbir said the Ministry of Gender Affairs and by extension the PNM Administration should be more precise in its handling of matters of violence against women.

He recalled the People’s Partnership administration undertook a major renovation and upgrade of the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital and had begun the roll-out of safe houses for people in domestic violence situations, in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development, NIPDEC and the Ministry of Health.

“There is no need to reinvent the wheel as there already exists a comprehensive strategy of solutions contained in a study entitled, “Gender-Based Violence in Trinidad and Tobago – A Qualitative Study.

“What is now needed is for the Government to lead the charge and muster up the political will to implement a cohesive plan of action that would bring about the necessary change.”

He called for an ‘operations manual’ which would detail immediate steps to be taken when an act of violence is reported, steps which could very well mean saving the life of the victim.

“Violence against women cannot be treated in isolation, and requires the intervention and close collaboration of several arms of the State in treating with this matter.”

Ragbir said he remains concerned about the long-lasting impact violence can have on women as victim are not only physically injured, but suffer long-term mental, emotional, and psychological scarring.

If left untreated, he said, this can bring about unbearable pain and suffering, only to result in the victim themselves retaliating and becoming perpetrators of violence, or harboring suicidal thoughts, as ways of escaping the violence.

He referred to certain trends observed by Dr Gabrielle Hosein, Head of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies, UWI, St Augustine in terms of the younger age at which women are being killed and the increase in such killings.

Hosein also expressed concerns about the State’s inadequate response in terms of having social welfare workers go to vulnerable homes in communities as they used to, appropriate psychosocial intervention for children at an age when it can still make a difference, and a serious national campaign against male predation as an accepted social norm.

Ragbir quoted statistics in 2018 from the TTPS's Crime and Problem Analysis Branch (CAPA) which indicated that an average of 25 women were murdered every year in domestic violence (DV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) cases.

The year 2017 recorded a total of 52 murders of women with 43 being DV/IPV related killings.

For the year 2020 Ragbir said some 19 women have lost their lives in heinous acts of violence.

During the month of November, Ragbir in collaboration with the TT Cancer Society provided free cancer screening for women and promised to undertake more medical outreach programmes in the coming months for vulnerable women.