A woman is killed every week, on average, with 39 domestic violence killings occurring in the first 39 weeks this year in Guyana. The record of violence – cultural, domestic, emotional, gang, school, sexual and verbal – indicates that violence is endemic in society and women and girl
children have become the most visible and vulnerable victims. Former President David Granger, speaking on his weekly programme – The Public Interest – expressed the view that violence against women and girl children had assumed epidemic proportions. In this regard, he echoed the words of UN Secretary General António Guterres who declared that “Violence against women and girls may be the world’s longest and deadliest pandemic”. This, sadly, is also true for Guyana.
Granger said that evidence suggested that domestic violence affects women of every race, region, religion and rank in society. Reports of domestic violence have been increasing annually – from 1,672, in 2020; 1,896, in 2021; 2,017, in 2022; and 2,231 up to mid-September 2023. Killings in the first half of 2023 surged to nearly three times the amount for the same period in 2022.
Reports indicate that domestic violence occurs at a relatively high rate, with about one out of every two women in the 15-60-years age cohort having been abused by their partners or spouses at some time. About 55 per cent of Guyanese women have been exposed to violence – a rate higher than the world average of about one out of three women in that age cohort having been treated violently.
The Former President referred to research which has often been framed around the power imbalance within couples or groups – whether at home, school, street or workplace – but admitted that underlying factors could increase the incidence of violence. Exposure to violence as a child, experiences of childhood trauma and embracing beliefs, conventions and cultural customs about superiority can be contributory causes. Violent abusers almost always aim at exerting control. He added that research would show, also, that the ferocity of civil violence during the ‘Disturbances’ of the mid-1960s and the ‘Troubles’ of the early 2000s had initial and secondary impacts on society. Victims and witnesses saw violence as the path to political power and social control.
Granger, in recommending solutions to the epidemic, expressed confidence that domestic violence can be curbed by introducing a comprehensive National Action Plan on Domestic Violence that employs scientifically-sound approaches to real, local social relations. Such an ‘Action Plan’ should be built on four pillars – promotion of social cohesion by mainstreaming policies to meet the special needs of women and girls; protection of the rights of women and girls; prevention of violence against women and girls and participation with women, equally with men, in decision-making processes at all levels.
The former President felt that efforts to eliminate domestic violence should involve the endorsement of social cohesion policies at all levels; education, as a means of engendering equality; enforcement of domestic violence laws and enhancing public trust in the police. There are no easy answers to the question of violence, only intelligent choices by policy-makers.
