Spare a thought

On Thursday and Friday last week, two women were violently attacked in their homes by men wielding sharp instruments; one was killed and the other critically injured, adding to the evergrowing statistics of Guyanese women killed or affected by domestic violence.

In Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara on Thursday night, 44-year-old Somattie Keosoram, a mother of six, was stabbed to death, reportedly by her 56-year-old estranged husband Terrence Jackson, who was arrested after he attempted to take his own life. According to reports, Ms Keosoram had suffered years of domestic abuse and had taken a decision three years ago to end her marriage, but her husband persisted, and they had apparently been on-again, off-again until her bloody demise.

In Bush Lot, Corentyne on Friday night, 24year-old Nalicia Ragoonauth, a mother of one, was chopped about her body and left for dead by her husband, 27-year-old Ganesh Narine, who then hanged himself. Ms Ragoonauth was taken to the hospital in a critical condition.

This country is in the throes of election season and political rallies abound. But apparently the parties are too caught up in criticizing each other to spare a thought for one dead woman, another who has been badly chopped and the plight of women in general. The crimes committed against them are not even mentioned amid the vitriol being spewed, particularly by those considered the major parties, as they battle for power. Is it too trivial a topic for the hustings, this battering and killing of women, not to forget the emotional, mental, financial and other forms of abuse they face? Will this issue forever be relegated to speeches made on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women? And will that day ever really come? It has been nearly 40 years since the world began observing it.

It is pertinent to state here that Guyana’s Domestic Violence Act of 1996, a good piece of legislation for its time, was grossly mishandled from the get-go. It took years for its very necessary regulations to be put into place and currently, much of it could be considered archaic. This Act is in dire need of an overhaul and review so that it could actually benefit the population.

However, let us cease to pretend that any piece of legislation solves any issue. Unless that law is enforced and made to work, it is nothing but a piece of paper. Domestic violence has been a particularly sticky issue because it was not always a crime and it was criminalised in different countries at different times, in many places owing to international pressure.

That being said, we can agree that domestic violence is also a global public health, social and cultural issue that feeds on power, control, the ego and the misplaced notion by some that their partners are worthless or that they own them. It manifests in insults, intimidation, threats and ratchets all the way up, or down, depending on how you view it, to lethal violence. It is mostly perpetuated against women, although sometimes men are victims too and, unfortunately, it appears to be growing rather than slowing down.

According to a United Nations report, a third of all women and girls experience physical or sexual abuse in their lifetime and half of the femicides worldwide are committed by intimate partners or members of the family. Femicide is deemed to be the killing of a woman or girl, particularly by a man, because of her gender.

Last year, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and the United States were among the countries where increases in domestic violence attacks were evident, based on the data available online. These are all countries where millions of dollars are spent every year—government and private funds—on such things as staff, shelters, police training, lawyers, rehabilitation and counselling among others.

Further, in a 2018 study, “Gender-related killing of women and girls”, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that femicide perpetrated by intimate partners or family members accounts for the highest number of women and girls intentionally killed. Based on the available data, the study found that Africa was the region with the highest number of women killed by intimate partners in 2017 (1.7 per 100,000 female population). The Americas had the second-highest rate (1.2), Oceania the third (0.9), Europe the fourth (0.6) and Asia the fifth-highest rate (0.5 per 100,000 female population). Among country figures, Guyana had a rate of 2.1 per 100,000 female population, higher even than the continent of Africa.

Sadly, it seems obvious that domestic violence will not be eliminated soon, not in Guyana and not anywhere in the world. However, the worst thing we can do is become complacent or begin to consider it a norm. Rigorous steps, including debunking the culture that women are less than important, must be taken towards decreasing the incidence of this scourge. Men, and women, in positions of power have a duty to lead the charge.