The Victims and Witness Support Unit of the Police Service was blanked by a popular mall when it asked to distribute flyers and talk to customers on domestic violence.Head of the unit Margaret Sampson-Browne, who expressed disappointment over the ban, said it would not deter members from doing their job.
She was fielding questions from the media after speaking at the launch of a programme titled Integrating Gender-based Violence Services with Sexual and Reproductive Health Services for Young People, at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, on Wednesday.Sampson-Browne said the distribution was part of an initiative by the unit titled, "All Victims Everywhere (AVE)."
"We went to a particular mall and they said they would not be supporting us. They said that is not their protocol and they do not do that and they do not want us to be walking about in the mall with our project."But that is not going to daunt us. We will address victims anywhere. So if it is I have to stand outside the mall I would stand outside the mall, because our AVE initiative will go forward," Sampson-Browne said.She said the initiative, which was supposed to start last week was expected to begin this week.
In response to the mall's decline, Dr Gabrielle Hosein, lecturer at the Centre for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS ) of the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, said this showed corporate society needed to do much more."It is a deficit that highlights the importance of ideas such as corporate social responsibility, and that it must mean more than charity, whether in private companies or in large private spaces like malls.
"There must be a civic consideration and responsibility to the issues facing the lives of those who are there, whether they are there as shoppers, workers or any other category of citizens," Hosein added.She said it was also significant that given the pervasiveness of violence against women, whether domestic or otherwise, most workers in malls were women.
"The majority of people who work as shop clerks in malls are women. Malls wish to be seen by the public as family-centred spaces not only in terms of what they sell, but in terms of creating a safe environment, and there should be an understanding of the role that they can play in the larger society beyond accruing profits," Hosein added.She said her students, as part of their projects, have always been welcomed by the management of Trincity Mall to distribute flyers on domestic violence.