The final week of Local Government Elections campaigning and a renewed focus on the decriminalisation of marijuana are the issues getting all the attention in recent days. But as important are they are, they should not be allowed to overshadow the important global observances that will be launched with tomorrow’s commemoration of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
The day itself ought not to go unnoticed given the prevalence of gender-based violence in this country. A recent study showed that one-third of T&T’s women experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime. To some degree, women and girls are subjected to emotional abuse, controlling behaviours, threats, stalking and sexual and physical violence.
Tomorrow and the 16 days that follow are opportunities for constructive conversations about gender-based violence and the critical need to raise awareness and develop systems and policies to eradicate this scourge
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence culminates on December 10, Human Rights Day—a period of time when civil society groups, activists and all citizens committed to creating a better world can add their voices to the call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.
Local groups should be fully aligned with UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women campaign which calls for global actions to increase awareness, galvanise advocacy efforts, and share knowledge and innovations.
An important starting point is a UN ECLAC initiative, to be officially launched tomorrow, which put the spotlight on street harassment.
This is a big problem in T&T where women and girls are frequently the targets of unwanted comments, gestures, and actions by strangers—mostly men—in public spaces.
Although this behaviour is often explained away as harmless, even treated as light-hearted humour in some cases, the truth is that it is disrespectful and dangerous. It can easily escalate into sexual assault, and rape.
In the coming days, there should be sustained efforts at public education about street harassment as a human rights issue. Men can also be the target of and sometimes women perpetuate this behaviour which we must begin to condemn as socially unacceptable.
Unfortunately, because it is frequently misconstrued as complimentary, a joke, or just a trivial annoyance, it is often the victim that ends up being condemned for complaining or objecting.
It is a form of harassment that is so deeply ingrained in T&T’s culture that people often feel powerless to fight against it.
The next few days present an opportunity to confront this problem and begin the work of changing attitudes. People should be able to walk the streets and be in public spaces without being subjected to whistles, catcalls and insults because of gender, sexual orientation or even physical appearance.
It is time to begin the work of upholding the basic human rights of all citizen of this unique and diverse nation.