Act against killing of women
THE EDITOR, Sir: This is an open letter to Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
FOR SOME time now, the issue of violence against women has been of concern to us and many other Jamaicans.
We are particularly concerned at what appears to be a new phenomenon of the wanton killing of women of all ages. These killings have not been confined to women only, but unfortunately to pregnant women and to children, oftentimes in the presence of their mothers and other siblings.
Jamaican women have written, they have marched, they have held vigils, they have prayed, yet the killings continue unabated.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
The PNP Women’s Movement believes that the time has come for a serious signal to be sent by the Government to persons who have taken on animalistic behaviour that ‘enough is enough’. We recommend that a campaign be mounted by the Government utilising all communication media available to it to assure our women that the Government has heard, has seen, and is responding to their calls. The police should immediately be given a mandate to seek out, find, arrest and present before the courts, persons responsible for these heinous crimes.
We are aware that the security forces face many challenges, but we do not believe it is beyond the capacity of the Government and the security forces to develop a mechanism in which the citizens have trust and confidence, to receive and process information from the public and act on it in a manner that does not expose and put the lives of informants at risk.
Even if one person is brought to justice, it would be better than what is currently perceived to be hopelessness and helplessness. A generation and more of children have grown up without fathers who were lost to guns. As a country, we cannot afford for children to also lose their mothers via the same means. This is a recipe for the emergence of a very hostile and vengeful generation.
Mr Prime Minister, please take steps to stop the violence against the women of Jamaica. Please save the replenishers and nurturers of the country. JENNIFER EDWARDS President, PNP Women’s Movement