Gender abuse report due

A special advisory committee on gender violence and domestic abuse will deliver its final report to the government next week.

The committee, set up in the wake of the killing of Estella Scott-Roberts last month, is due to give long-term and short-term recommendations to the government on how to combat violence against women and address gender issues in Cayman.

The committee’s report will coincide with the launch of a 16-day campaign against abuse of women, spearheaded by the Business and Professional Women’s Club.

Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts invited people to attend the opening ceremony of the 16-day campaign to show their opposition to domestic abuse and gender violence.

The opening ceremony will be held outside the Government Administration Building from 1pm to 1.30pm on Tuesday, 25 November.

Chairman of the Special Advisory Committee on Gender Violence, Len Layman, said while the full report would later be presented to Cabinet, at the campaign launch on Tuesday, he would outline the general recommendations drawn up by the committee.

‘The issues we have discussed have been quite far-reaching and broad,’ Mr. Layman said.

‘We have some very specific things we are going to ask the government to address. Some they are already addressing and some need to be moved up in importance.’

Mr. Layman added that among the recommendations would be suggestions on combating violence in the home as a means to eliminating violence in the community. ‘That’s the only way we are going to raise non-violent adults,’ he said.

As part of the campaign, the Women’s Resource Centre is producing a booklet, which will be available at outlets including Foster’s supermarkets, post offices and partner agencies.

The booklet will contain articles that examine abuse from a variety of perspectives, as well as helpline numbers and details of agencies that can help women and children in trouble.

The campaign also includes the annual Clothesline Project which encourages victims of abuse and violence to publicly express their feelings about violence by designing a T-shirt.

Miriam Foster, programme manager of the Women’s Resource Centre, explained that the 16-day campaign stretches from 25 November which is International Day against Violence against Women to 10 December, Human Rights Day.

‘This year’s theme is Gender Abuse: Zero Tolerance from Childhood to Adulthood. We thought this theme was very fitting for this year. We have, obviously, in recent events seen gender abuse in all forms,’ Ms. Foster said.

As well as the death of Mrs. Scott-Roberts, there have also been two high-profile cases of child sexual abuse reported on recently in Cayman.

Mr. Tibbetts, speaking at a weekly government press briefing, also urged members of the Cayman public to sign an online petition from the United Nations Development Fund for Women – known as UNIFEM. The ‘Say No to Violence Against Women’ petition aims to gather more than one million signatures. By Thursday morning, 934,668 people had signed it.

Quoting UNIFEM statistics, Mr. Tibbetts said: ‘At least one out of every three women in the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime.’

Health and Human Services minister Anthony Eden announced the setting up of the domestic violence and gender issues advisory committee at The Silent Witness march on 18 October, eight days after Mrs. Scott-Roberts was killed. The march drew more than 2,000 people onto the streets of George Town to give voice to victims of domestic abuse and violence.

Mrs. Scott-Roberts was a key figure in the fight against domestic abuse and violence and was instrumental in setting up the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre, a refuge for battered women and children.

The advisory committee comprised representatives from various agencies and government bodies, including the Women’s Resource Centre, the Crisis Centre, the Department of Children and Family Services, the Business and Professional Women’s Club, the Sexual Harassment and Stalking Task Force, Department of Community Rehabilitation’s, the police’s Family Support Unit and the Ministry of Health and Human Services.