RESPONDING to a surge in violent attacks on women and girls in recent weeks, University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) students led what they labelled a “peaceful community march” from the university’s Papine campus to Gordon Town on Monday, proclaiming gender-based violence a national emergency.

Dressed mostly in black, the students were joined by faculty members, residents from Papine and Gordon Town, and other concerned Jamaicans for the march sparked by the disappearance of UTech student Anisa Dilworth, who was reported missing on May 7.

During the march from the campus’ College of Health Sciences car park to Gordon Town, Dilworth’s home community, the group chanted slogans and displayed placards bearing an urgent plea to end violence against women.

Leading the charge was Percival Roberts, president of the UTech Students’ Union.

“The main message for this protest is to end the violence against women. So we understand that there is a lot of violence happening against women, for example the Anisa Dilworth case, and we see violence taking place against other women, for example the nurse the other day who was assaulted, and children like the nine-year-old girl who was recently brutally raped and murdered, so we are taking the stance against the violence against women,” he said.

Roberts argued that real changes are needed, not just sympathy from the public.

“We want to see more regulation of transportation. We want to see more surveillance across the island, and we also want the Government to be more stringent with the approach they take as it relates to violence against women. And for the perpetrators of these violent acts, we want to see more stringent measures being put in place for them,” he told the
Jamaica Observer.

Roberts also emphasised that more regulation is needed for ride-share apps in Jamaica.

“We need to see more in terms of the selection process and vetting process to ensure that persons operating [ride-share services] are actually people we can trust,” said Roberts.

Jinel Gordon, a member of the UTech Students’ Union agreed.

“These transportation services should not just be so easily accessible like that — it shouldn’t be so easy for a driver to sign up and be a part of this ride-sharing app. We need to ensure that these vehicles are properly regulated by the Government, [that] they have things such as trackers, and we also want to see a development of the apps,” she said.

Police have reported that an inDrive taxi operator has been detained and is being questioned in connection with the disappearance of Dilworth, a 20-year-old first-year pharmaceutical technology student at UTech.

At the weekend, skeletal remains believed to be those of the student were found at Fort Clarence Beach in Portmore, St. Catherine. While formal identification is oustanding, pending forensic analysis, investigators believe the remains belong to Dilworth based on evidence found at the scene.

On Monday Gordon also amplified the call for the Government to take further action against gender-based violence.

“We want the Government and we want Jamaica to stop or end violence against women… We want the Government to essentially recognise that this is a crisis, this is an emergency — and we are taking a stance against that,” she said.

Gordon further called for more severe penalties for perpetrators of gender-based violence, as well as greater urgency in how authorities respond to missing people, particularly children.

“We need to ensure that when a child goes missing, all of the resources are mobilised to bring those responsible to justice. We want to see greater funding for social intervention programmes [and] we also want to see increased surveillance around the island as well,” Gordon added.

She is suggesting that policymakers should not only focus on reactive measures but should implement lasting cultural change.

“We recognise that this problem starts within the home, and what we want to have is a roll-out of structured and sustained behaviour change campaigns to shift the culture in relation to gender inequality and gender-based violence, including the stigmatisation of gender-based violence,” she highlighted.

One female student, who asked to remain anonymous, admitted that she feels a surge of fear every time she steps outside her home.

“I don’t know who to trust. Every car I take and everywhere I go I am fearful because I do not know who is going to take me away — and that is a reality for many of us females out here today, and things need to change,” she said.