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Media operatives/sports personnel targeted to assist in raising awareness on domestic violence

October 5, 2008

Geetangeli Gheer, Head of the Domestic Violence Policy Unit targets hosts of entertainment themed shows and sports personnel in an effort to help spread awareness on domestic violence.

Georgetown, GINA, October 4, 2008

Government has recognised that domestic violence is the most pervasive form of interpersonal violence in Guyana and has committed to ensuring that it is eliminated from society through its National Policy on Domestic Violence.

As such the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security through its Domestic Violence Policy Unit today held an awareness session which targeted persons who are hosts of entertainment themed shows and sports personnel.

Head of the Domestic Violence Policy Unit, Geetangeli Gheer, said that, “We thought it might be important to target these persons because we recognise that each of these persons has a loyal fan-base.”

She added that they recognise that young people see some of these persons as role models. “If we get them on board to support our Domestic Violence Policy, know about what the policy envisions, then hopefully they can help us to talk about domestic violence.”

Gheer hoped that the participants would incorporate what they have learnt into their programmes to help in raising awareness on this topic.

The Unit will also be targeting students in schools and nursing schools to see how they can include information on domestic violence. Nurses will be targeted because they come in direct contact with victims and in some cases they may also be affected.


“It is essential for us to raise awareness about domestic violence…it is essential for us to address domestic violence as an issue, to work on changing attitude, changing the way people look at domestic violence and identifying ways in which they can help or point persons in direction where they go to receive help,” Gheer declared.

Participants were encouraged to air their views on the issue and indicate what more can be done to eradicate domestic and sexual violence.

Gheer posited that the main focus is to raise awareness and hopefully help “to have attitudinal change which we know will have to come from the respondents themselves.”

Another area that she noted needs to be addressed is the issue of stereo-typing of women. “We would like persons to talk about this and hopefully through discussions we can understand how we can address these stereo-types that may contribute to domestic violence as well as sexual violence.”
The Unit plans to conduct more awareness sessions with different target groups throughout the country while the Ministry will launch a website dealing with this issue specifically where persons can access information on domestic violence and be able to report cases of abuse.

The Unit plans to explore other avenues of increasing awareness. At the ‘Guyana Fashion Week’ planned for this weekend, Gheer says that this forum will be used also to raise awareness of this sensitive topic.

The event was well attended as persons were eager to play their part in eliminating domestic violence from society.

“I was very enthused that so many persons wanted to learn about domestic violence and I was very happy that some persons like the gym enthusiasts signalled their willingness to attend,” Gheer said.
The National Policy on Domestic Violence was launched on June 11, under the theme “Break the cycle, take control.” Source

Annand

Written by Annand · Filed Under All, Guyana    

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