UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Guyana, with the rest of the world is celebrating United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women today 25th November 2020.

Women activist have marked the 25th November as a day against Violence since 1981. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, by political activist in the Dominican Republic on orders of the ruler Rafael Trujillo.

The General Assembly of the United Nations made a declaration on the 20th December 1993 on the elimination of violence against women. Violence against women is a violation of Human Rights, and has no place in the world and we must pool our efforts to have it eliminated.

As the world retreated inside houses because of the lockdown measures introduced to curb the Covid-19 Pandemic, there are reports from around the world that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, has intensified. The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres is calling for a cease fire at home, as violence intensifies with less resources and tight spaces. The ‘lock down’ has surely trapped many victims with less avenues and means to ‘get out’.

This year the Secretary General is calling to UNiTE, a 16 days activism campaign under the theme:  “Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, and Collect!” These are all collective efforts to bring attention and demand responsive actions of each and every one of us, to the perpetrators that it is time to change.

As the Covid 19 infection rate continues to rise it poses a serious risks and burden to health care services and other essential services to the point where they have reached their capacity, more needs to be done to prioritize addressing violence against women and girls in Covid-19 responses and recovery efforts.

The Guyana Public Service Union Stands firm with the Global Movement which is devoted to ending gender based violence.  Everyone has a role to play, beyond that, it is imperative that we as a Union, and that we as communities undertake the challenging work of transforming the structures and cultures that allows and encourages sexual harassment and all other forms of gender based violence to occur.

The Guyana Public Service Union will continue to advocate for stronger institutional changes and thinking, to promote a culture of respect, care and protection among our people, and to foster cohesion in times of despair and troubles as we are experiencing in these unprecedented times.

The Union is pursuing the ratification of ILO Convention 190 with the Government of Guyana. This convention set standards and principles for the Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the world of work. C 190 features an aspect of domestic violence. Domestic violence, is prevalent and saturates our social structures in societies, especially here in Guyana. These are conditions that would drastically affect workers in the world of work and which constitute a human rights violation, that very fundamental protection of rights and dignity that all citizens of this world is entitled to.

We will continue to support and fight for this just cause, not until women and girls can live free of fear and from everyday insecurities then can we truly say we live in a fair and equal world.