THE time has come once again to commemorate International Women’s Day, and the theme is “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women”.

When I first heard the theme, I sent an e-mail to an expert colleague asking, “who made a promise and when was this promise made?” “What an odd choice of theme!” I thought.

As I reminded myself of issues relevant to violence against women in the Caribbean, however, a lightbulb went off and I sent another email to my colleague: “Is it that governments all over the world have ratified many conventions and protocols and we still have broad failings in national frameworks to combat violence against women? Please let me know if I’ve properly understood the point being made.”

Apparently I was close. The reference was to the promises/commitments made by governments in 1994 when they signed on to the Programme of Action for the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Jamaica signed up with 179 other countries at the time, pledging to eradicate poverty through focussing on population and developmental issues. More particularly, it was agreed that empowering women and meeting needs for education and health, including sexual and reproductive health, are necessary for individual and national advancement.

In addition to the ICPD Programme of Action, Jamaica, like many other countries, has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); the Convention of Belem do Para; and the Beijing Platform for Action. We have committed to the Millennium Development Goals, which include Goal No 3 — the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. We have even stated as Goals 1 and 2 of our Vision 2030 National Development Plan, that “Jamaicans are empowered to achieve their fullest potential” and “The Jamaican Society is secure, cohesive and just”. Noting that women comprise 51 per cent of the population, these goals must therefore mean that as part of our development plan, women must be empowered to achieve their fullest potential and we must experience society as just secure and cohesive.

Jamaica approved and launched its National Policy on Gender Equality on March 8, 2011, and within months thereafter, recognised as a fundamental human right in the new Charter of Rights, freedom from discrimination on the basis of gender. “The Way Out” project, sponsored by UNWOMEN and administered by the Dispute Resolution Foundation and Bureau of Women’s Affairs, was also launched in that year to empower women in leadership at the community level.

In 2008, the Sexual and Reproductive Health Survey started to disaggregate its data in ways to make it more useful in gender analyses and in 2010, the Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica also included new categories of gender disaggregated data to help in planning and policy development. Those actions represent the keeping of some promises made under international treaties and conventions. Non-government organisations (NGOs) also extend themselves daily to protect our women and girls.

On a daily basis however, this country exposes the undeniable truth and reality of the violence women continue to experience. A glance through the daily newspapers exposes murder-suicides by intimate partners, shootings, stabbings, and beatings — and that’s what makes it to the papers.

A quick look at the Accidents and Emergency visits captured in the Economic and Social Survey for 2011 continues to tell the true story: 974 women and girls were the victims of sexual assault, as compared to 46 men: 652 were between ages 10-19, 73 girls were five to nine years old and 48 girls under five years old. 137 women and girls attempted suicide as opposed to 48 men — more than half of the women were in the 10-19 age group. In addition, the last SRH Survey found that 12 per cent of women surveyed had been forced to have sex at some point in their life, while almost one-half of women (47 per cent) surveyed had their first forced sexual experience before they were 20 years old. Further still, the Office of the Children’s Registry reported that in 2011, 2,551 girls under 18 years old were sexually abused compared to 119 boys.

Apart from the clear personal struggle against brutality lived as a daily experience, the broad inequity imposed by violence continues to subsist. If we are truly to honour the memories of young girls like Shariefa Saddler, cut down in her youth leaving family and friends behind to remember her as ‘a brains’ who wanted to become a teacher; if we are to honour the memories of the babies and young children killed by enraged fathers, stepfathers or boyfriends meting out their ultimate punishment of the mothers; if we are to seek to empower women battered every day for having said the wrong word, cooked the wrong meal or looked in the direction of the wrong man; promises must be kept to take deliberate action.

Resources are tight, which means thoughtful and creative allocation for the most benefit is more important than ever. I believe additional support must be given to NGOs and to frameworks which magnify and expand on their works. An increased number of crisis centres and safe houses, access to safe child care and safe reproductive health facilities are needed to deal with existing issues; At the preventative end of the spectrum, realistic and corrective interventions and appropriate home and family life curriculum modules at the adolescent and pre-adolescent stages of the school curriculum can help to break cycles of abuse and prevent the perpetuation of our current reality. Increased use of male spokespersons in spreading a non-violent understanding of masculinity to other men and boys must be considered absolutely key. Perhaps “less likely candidates” should now be considered.

Women experiencing or in fear of violence cannot fulfil their potential and cannot be truly empowered. Our society cannot be considered cohesive, secure and just until our women and girls are protected from gender-based violence and fear of gender based violence. Promises have been made in this regard from as early as 1994 — if they weren’t kept before, we must ensure that they are kept now. The 20th anniversary of the ICPD Programme of Action arrives in 2014. If a sense of urgency is built around the goals of the programme, we can still achieve them. Let us remind our leaders that a promise is a promise.

Kamina Johnson Smith is an Opposition senator.