Confronting violence against women, children

The role of the justice system and health professionals in the fight against violence against women, was the theme for a recent panel discussion hosted by the Bureau of Women’s Affairs. The discussion, held at the Bureau’s offices on Ellismere Road, saw many women and a few men from a wide cross-section of society attending.

These included law students, clerks of court, household helpers, counsellors, social workers, basic school and Sunday school teachers, representatives from Women’s Media Watch, UWI Centre for Gender Studies, the Ministry of Health and the Jamaica Coalition on the Rights of the Child, among others.

It was a very interesting and animated discussion which bagan at 9:00am and lasted until way past 2:00 pm. Many issues were raised not only on the problem of the abuse of women but also of children.

Panelists were Lisa Palmer, Assistant Director of Public Prosecution, who spoke on the challenges faced by the Director of Public Prosecution in the prosecution of sexual offence cases. Palmer, who was the first presenter, started her presentation with the Bibles take on the issue of rape. “Sexual abuse is as old as the hills, and goes back to biblical days,” she said, “Tamar was the sister of Absolom who was the son of David. His brother Amnon was in love with Tamar.” According to Lisa, Amnon pretended to be sick and asked that Tamar come to his room to tend to him. When she came he ordered all his servants to leave. Now alone, he grabbed her and forced himself on her and raped her.

As the story goes, Tamar complained to Absolom about the trauma she had undergone as a result of Amnon. His reply, be quiet, it is your brother.

“These are the challenges faced by the crown counsels and clerk of courts,” she said, “as often there is a familial relationship between the complainant and the accused.” Some are told to keep quiet, so that disgrace is not brought down on the family, while some accept payment to keep quiet, and others are dissuaded by other persons in the community especially inner-city areas where people are threatened with violence against themselves and other family members. The victim, bowing under the pressure, will on attending court, make a request to drop the charges against the accused.

Then, if the case goes forward, there is the trauma of reliving the experience in the presence of about 12 strangers including the police, jury and courtroom staff.

It is especially traumatic for a child, she said, who defence counsels will say are unfit to face the witness stand. For these factors and many more, she said that the conviction rate for rape cases are very low.

Claudette Richardson-Pious executive director of Children First, presented from an NGO’s perspective, issues of child sexual abuse. She spoke about her experience working with Children at her organisation and mentioned a survery conducted of young boys on what their idea of a real man is.

The answers, she said, were all centred around penis size and the number of women a man can ‘control’. She says that part of the work at Children First, is to stop this kind of thinking and to raise awareness about their responsibility, sexuality, issues of self esteem and telling them “your body is a temple”.

She said she was horrified how many of them were having sex with their fathers, with area dons, and adult men in their immediate communities. One child she said was systematically abused by her father – a jockey who had taken horse pills. After raping the child, she related, that he poured salt into her vagina, “to help it heal”, he told the child.

One preacher (who she says has adamantly denied the charge), is said to have used sex to exorcise demons from victims. Anyone who is thought to be possessed is asked to have sex with one of his elders. And in one case another child who tried to tell her mother that she was being abused, was called wicked while being reminded how good her father was to her having bought her a computer, taken her to the United States, and buying her ‘anything’ she wanted. The child sought outside help, and the father was eventually arrested police/Children First sting operation, while other who worked as protitutes and massueses have been trained and placed in other areas some even providing counselling for other children, she said.

Other speakers were Osbourne Bailey, executive director of the Victim Support Unit, and Dr Sonia Henry – Consultant Paediatrician Bustamante Hospital for Children. Bailey spoke on the role of his organisation which provides counselling for victims of violence including rape, murder and trauma, while Dr Henry explored issues faced in treating children who have suffered for sexual abuse. Dr Herb Eliott, senior medical officer Kingston and St Andrew Health Department who also made a presentation, spoke on the issues and challenges with regards to medical attention given to victims of sexual abuse at the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (formerly the Rape Unit). Issues raised were recorded by the Bureau so that it could help other people. The discussion was in recognition of International Day Against Violence Against Women which was recognised on November 25.