As Guyana continues to grapple with high rates of domestic violence in various forms, a United Nations (UN) women-supported research found one in every five women in the country, or 20 per cent, have been sexually abused in their lifetime.
The Guyana Women’s Health and Life Experiences Survey Report 2018 highlighted that of the 20 per cent of Guyanese women who have experienced non-partner sexual abuse in their lifetime, 13 per cent of them reported experiencing this abuse before the age of 18.
It was noted that the most significant risk factor for non-partner sexual violence (NPSV), including rape, attempted rape, unwanted sexual touching and sexual harassment, is being young. The 15 to 24 age group reported statistically higher rates of NPSV of every type with the 55-64 age group reported the least. This, according to the study, suggests an increasing entitlement of men to violate women’s bodily autonomy.
This report was handed over to the Guyana Government last week ahead of Monday’s observance of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The UN Secretary General’s UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women Campaign is focusing on rape as a specific form of harm committed against women and girls, in times of peace or war.
As such, the UN System’s 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women and Girls activities began Monday under the 2019 global theme: “Orange the world: generation equality stands against rape!”. The campaign will conclude on December 10, when International Human Rights Day will be observed.
The research, which was conducted in the Caribbean in the past two years, reinforced that violence against women and girls (VAWG) including rape, is so entrenched and normalised that both men and women have a high tolerance for its manifestations.
“These persistent, endemic sociocultural norms and enduring inequalities have given rise to an aberrantly high prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Guyana. Guyanese women experience IPV at significantly higher rates than the global average of 1 in 3 women.”
In fact, it noted that 55 per cent of survey respondents who had ever had a male partner have experienced some form of IPV during their lifetime with 38 per cent of them having experienced physical and/or sexual violence and more than one in 10 having experienced physical and/or sexual violence from a male partner in the past 12 months.
It was noted that of the women reporting sexual IPV, eight per cent of them were forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to and seven per cent of them had sexual intercourse with their partner because they were afraid to refuse.
The Guyana Police Force two weeks ago disclosed that between January and October 2019, there have been 229 reports of rape made, compared to 315 cases recorded during the same period last year.
However, the report highlighted that half of all women who experienced IPV in Guyana never reported it or sought help, especially those suffering from IPV. It was outlined that victims, community members and stakeholders attributed women’s reluctance to seek help from institutional actors to issues such as a lack of knowledge of available help, perceptions of being blamed or stigmatised by their situation becoming known throughout the community and inadequate support structures to ensure victim safety after reporting violence to the police.
Focus group participants identified other deterrents to seeking help, such as inconsistent or harmful institutional responses and a lack of coordination between sectors.
As in the case of IPV, only 12 per cent of women reported NPSV to the police and nine per cent to a health care provider. Among those who did, their experiences were inconsistent with less than half saying that a case was opened in response to their police report; nearly one in five left without a report being taken. One-third of women who sought help through a health care provider received HIV and pregnancy prevention information with fewer than one in ten received counselling.
One measures taken by the Guyana Government to encourage persons to report sexual abuses is the establishment of Sexual Offences Courts in Georgetown, Berbice and Essequibo. The aim of the specialised Court is to ensure that the environment is conducive to victims and support services are offered.
While recommendations were made in efforts to eliminate VAWG at all levels, the UN Women Representative for the Multi-Country Office (MCO) – Caribbean, Alison McLean, pointed out that without reliable and relevant data, it is not possible to adequately treat, reduce and prevent violence against women and girls.
“UN Women has invested significantly in supporting member states in strengthening capacities to fill the data gaps on violence against women and girls. Working with regional partners, the Caribbean Development Bank and Caricom, we developed the Caricom Prevalence Survey Model. The Caricom Model is based on the long-tested global World Health Organisation (WHO) model which is considered internationally to be the best practice for national, population-based studies on prevalence data on GBV.
This Caricom model also allows us to capture information on the consequences of GBV for women, their children and families, women’s help-seeking behaviours and risk and protective factors for violence. It allows in a real way for the voices of women and girls to be heard,” she noted in a statement on Sunday.
According to McLean, national-level efforts should seek to destigmatise the experience of intimate partner violence and to shift gender norms and roles in order to create a society in which violence against women is openly rejected and firmly addressed. She noted that information on where women seek help and where they do not should inform how services to support victims should be designed and located. Data on women and girls’ vulnerabilities, partner characteristics and other socio-demographic factors should guide how to prevent and respond to this violence, she added.
“UN Women, along with other UN agencies will be using the data gathered from these surveys to support national efforts to prevent intimate partner violence through school-based and community-based initiatives; including working with men and boys through Batterer Intervention and Prevention programmes; and Private Sector initiatives that prevent work-related spillovers of family violence to create safe spaces at work,” the MCO Caribbean Representative stressed.
Meanwhile, as Guyana joins the rest of the world in the campaign to end violence against women and girls, the Social Protection Ministry via the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Policy Unit has partnered with the Local Authorities, non-Government partners and civil society of the Upper Demerara-Berbice Region in launching the “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” campaign today at the Egbert Benjamin Exhibition and Conference Centre.
Additionally, a series of sensitisation and awareness sessions within schools, workplaces, community and religious organisations are scheduled during the period, and a “Men against Violence” forum is scheduled for November 29, at the Linden Mayor and Town Councillors’ office.
