Acting Director of the Bureau of Gender Affairs, John Hollingsworth????

A survey of the incidence of domestic violence in Barbados will shortly be made public.????

This news came yesterday from Acting Director of the Bureau of Gender Affairs, John Hollingsworth, as he addressed a presentation at the Bureau’s Belmont Road office, to Stedson "Red Plastic Bag" Wiltshire, for his song to raise awareness about domestic violence, No Man.??

Mr Hollingsworth said:?? "We want to be able to say where domestic violence is concentrated in Barbados – whether it is in the rural areas, or the urban areas. We also want to say what socio-economic groups are more afflicted by domestic violence… how many women are affected by domestic violence over a particular period, and how many cases are actually reported to the police."

In order to get more accurate statistics, Mr. Hollingsworth outlined that over the past year, his organisation had also instituted a protocol for agencies that intervene in cases of domestic violence, including the police, health care institutions and social service agencies. "They will compile some data for us that is specific to domestic violence and from that we can glean what is the nature and the extent of domestic violence, as well as what are some of the characteristics of perpetrators of domestic violence," Mr. Hollingsworth stated.

When asked whether he believed that progress had been made in addressing the issue, the Acting Director stated that although persons were more aware of the problem of domestic violence, in the absence of the survey findings, the Bureau was unable to outline what specific impact had been made.??

"We could use the information as a kind of base line data and some years down the road, we would be able to say whether or not our efforts, together with those of other organisations have done anything against domestic violence," Mr. Hollingsworth explained.??

The survey aims to indicate the demographic characteristics of domestic violence and was commissioned by the Bureau. It was carried out earlier this year by the Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES) group and took just over three months to complete.?? Once reviewed, the survey findings will be made public.??

lbayley@barbados.gov.bb

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