by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
“I…encourage you to continue your pastoral work, paying particular attention to the situation of women: promoting the role of women in society and fighting against abuse and violence toward women is also a way of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who chose to be born of a woman, the Virgin Mary.” (Pope Francis to Bishops in Mali, May 2015)
On Wednesday, November 25, the world will observe International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. “Everyone has a responsibility to prevent and end violence against women and girls, starting by challenging the culture of discrimination that allows it to continue.” (UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon)
We are all diminished/dehumanised by violence against women. Social media has been drawing our attention to video clips showing the extent of violence against our girls/women.
Who can forget the sight of the two year-old girl being battered, lifted by her hair, dashed to the ground and forced to drink milk – by a 32 year-old man whose 21year-old common law wife looked on and simply said: “Yuh look for dat!”? And she was placed in the care of this couple for the day!
Or of the 36 year-old man viciously assaulting the mother of his nine year-old child, kicking the woman in her head and body and striking her with a metal object? Or of the young girl who crouched and shielded her head as a group of boys pelted her with bags of excrement. One of the boys could be heard shouting: “Take her in the bushes!”?
Violence against woman is a global pandemic and extends to more than physical violence. The UN General Assembly defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. (1993)… 35% of women and girls globally experience some form of physical and or sexual violence in their lifetime with up to seven in ten women facing this abuse in some countries” (UN).
If we are to build a better T&T/world, we must raise awareness about violence against women and discuss solutions to address this plague in our societies. Kofi Annan rightly said: “Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation, and it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace.”
As the Trinidad Guardian Editorial (Nov 13) states, for years the authorities denied that human trafficking was taking place here, “even with volumes of empirical evidence that T&T has long been a country of transit or destination for hundreds of women and girls, who are being trafficked mainly for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. A crime where the victims are punished and the perpetrators go free. That is the reality of human trafficking in T&T”.
This is one of the many forms of modern-day slavery that plagues our world. How many persons have been charged/convicted under the 2011 Trafficking in Person Act. Chap 12:10, which criminalises trafficking and exploitation of persons? A person found guilty of the offence of trafficking in persons or anyone who directs another person to commit the offence is liable to a fine of no less than TT $500,000.00 and imprisonment of no less than 15 years.
Additionally, a person found guilty of trafficking in children or a person who assists another person to traffic children is liable to a fine of not less than TT $1,000,000.00 and imprisonment of not less than 20 years.
A person who transports another person into or within TT or across an international border for the purpose of exploiting that person is liable to a fine of TT$350,000.00 and imprisonment for 12 years.
T&T is too small a place for our police not to know where these brothels and clubs are. What action is being taken to combat trafficking in persons? If you live in a neighbourhood where there is something suspicious going on, ring a hotline and speak out. Hotline: 800-4CTU or 800 4288 (toll free service of the Counter Trafficking Unit of the Ministry of National Security of TT – no need to disclose your identity. Just ask yourself: “What would Jesus want me to do in this situation?” As Catholics, we cannot sit on the fence. Our faith requires us to stand on the side of the oppressed. As Martin Luther King Jr said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Each of us can, for example, offer solidarity and support in parishes to the victims of violence (form victim support groups); play our part in building a culture of life, love and mutual respect; mobilise the media in efforts to eliminate such violence; work with others to address issues relating to the socialisation of boys and girls, unequal power relations between men and women, the need that some men have to control women and the frustrations that both men and women experience because of poverty and social exclusion; promote values/conscience formation and citizenship programmes – at home, in our educational institutions, in our parishes, and in our workplaces.
Violence against women is not God’s will!
