Violence is a crime which should be abhorred and rejected!

This exhortation has come from Director of the Bureau of Gender Affairs, Patricia Hackett-Codrington, as activities to commemorate this year’s Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25) and 16 days of activism against gender based violence come to a climax on December 10.

Mrs. Hackett-Codrington reminded the public that violence in any form "is an attack on an individual’s human rights" and a violation of the person’s body, mind and dignity.

She pointed out that violence remained a serious problem in our society, disclosing it "happens on a daily basis even though many of the incidents are not reported or captured in statistics, since the belief remains that it is just one of those things".

Noting that the primary place of socialisation was the home, she said children who encountered violence there were of the view that this was the way to assert power and resolve conflict. "This, in turn, can translate into bullying in school, intimate partner violence and further domestic violence, either as perpetrators or victims …," she stated.

Mrs. Hackett-Codrington stressed that she was happy with the public’s response to the activities and urged all to keep matters relating to violence on the front burner.

??"The 16 days of activism provided an opportunity to keep the issue of gender based violence in the public domain …?? and sought to make everyone take some responsibility for reducing this scourge.

"However, resolving the issue of violence cannot be left to small groups of advocates, but must engage the attention of each individual. This engagement will bring a clearer understanding of the issue and help persons to resolve not to condone or perpetuate the act of violence," she surmised.

The Director gave the assurance that the Bureau would continue to work with its strategic partners, including the NGO and faith-based communities, as well as governmental agencies to spread the message of zero tolerance to violence.

"We will work to facilitate the changes which need to be made to the domestic violence legislation and for the development of a policy to deal with the incidents of violence. In addition, further research will be carried out to collect more information on the issue in order to better inform interventions," Mrs. Hackett-Codrington promised.

sharon.austingill-moore@barbados.gov.bb

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