National Conference on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Children

I am really delighted that I have been given the honor of speaking at this very important conference on the elimination of violence against women and children.

I want to say right up front I am embarrassed as a man that we are such a major part of the problem. The solution is impossible without us. But we are not yet demonstrating any kind of commitment to being part of the solution. I believe we are abdicating our responsibility by not being more visible at this conference and at the other opportunities provided to us top be a part of the solution. There are too few of us here and I want to congratulate and express our gratitude to those men who have taken the challenge of being here.

I would like to congratulate Minister Priya Manichand and her Ministry for the excellent work they have been doing in highlighting the issue of violence against women and children, including sexual violence, particularly against children. I believe that the Stamp Out campaign stands out as truly a magnificent advocacy initiative. It made me feel proud as a Guyanese man.

Upfront too, let me state categorically that violence against women and children remains a neglected rights issue. There have been many meetings. There have been many reports. We have been bombarded by these reports. There has not been reciprocal action. I believe too much money is being spent on meetings and reports. Not enough resources have been allocated for action. This must be corrected.

Whiles we today and among us focus on violence against children and women in Guyana, this is a global issue and national resolution is also tied to global efforts. Therefore, I want to caution us that what affects women and children in any country must be firmly within our radius. Some forms of domestic violence which are not prevalent in Guyana must not escape our attention. These include genital mutilation of young girls and dowry-related violence. Sexual violence must not only be seen in the light of rape, sexual abuse and sexual harassment, it must also be seen in the light of forced prostitution.

The fact is that violence has become far too pervasive, has become a fact of life and touches us everywhere on this planet. Almost 2M persons globally lose their lives annually because of violence. More than 1500 persons die each day because of violence in the Americas. The estimates, as best as we could surmise is that between 10% in some countries and 69% of women in others suffer from violence. It is estimated that one in four women suffer an episode of sexual violence at least once in her lifetime.

Encouragingly, even if slowly, increasing attention and increasing action is being taken to address the problem of violence against women and children in Guyana, in the Caribbean and globally. There have not many achievements to celebrate, but we must build on those few achievements to stimulate serious thinking and implement those actions which can and must be done to focus national attention and global attention on this problem. In our region, I believe that in recent times, Guyana has been blazing a trail. I want to ask all Guyanese to embrace this advocacy and this determination to break the cycle, take control and eliminate violence of any kind against children and women.

After almost eight years, the Parliament of Guyana has made milestone agreements that make it possible for the establishment of the Rights Commissions on the Rights of the Child and the Women and Gender Equality. I would hope that the establishment of these commissions would be soon. We must add our voices, we must demand the establishment of these commissions must happen before the end of the year. We must demand that merry Christmas this year must be within the context that these commissions are gifts to our country, our children and our women. Their establishment would add powerful voices to the advocacy that is needed to eliminate violence against children and women.

As a man, I want to ask my brothers to stand in solidarity to be change agents and catalysts for a new beginning, a Guyana where no child or no woman becomes a victim of violence. It is a problem that diminishes us as human beings. It is a problem that is shameful and collectively we must accept guilt and responsibility. As a man I feel shamed every time violence, sexual and otherwise, is perpetrated on women and children.

As I plead with my brothers in Guyana, I plead with all of us, particularly the authorities, we must engage men and boys with greater intensity in order to change the horrendous status quo of violence against women and children. The social expectations of what men and boys should and should not do and be directly affect attitudes and behavior related to a range of health issues, such as HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence and men’s participation in child and newborn and maternal health. Studies have shown that we can change the behavior of men and boys.

The elimination of violence against women and children require a national solidarity, a coalition of individuals and organizations. Political interventions by political parties are integral for the paradigm shift we need. But changes in a democratic society, particularly those that involve entrenched behavior, come about often because there are credible civic society groupings which can engage people in debates and dialogue within an apolitical milieu. The reality in any country is that supporters of political parties fall in line. Thus, in the US, most supporters of the Republican Party favor the end of the war in Iraq, but most of them will fall in line with John McCain who wants to continue the occupation of Iraq indefinitely. One of the weaknesses in our democracy is that we do not have organizations which are comfortable being advocates in an apolitical sense. Good advocacy often fall victim to political agendas.

And what about the churches, the pastors, moulvis and pandits? They must make this a strong message from the pulpits. We want to save souls, for what? So that our children and women could be sexually abused, could be injured and disabled and killed? The church must become a visible voice in the ending of violence against children and women.

When it comes to children, my vision is simple and clear – each child wanted, healthy, educated, safe and loved. When it comes to women, we must at least strive for equity with men. There must never be such a thing as a superior place for man. One could argue that a world where children are wanted, healthy, educated, safe and loved and where women are treated with dignity and have achieved equity with men, where violence against children and women has been eliminated, is the perfect world. It would be a world where there is no more sorrow or pain.

The Beach Boys in one of their big hits described it well: a place where no one dies, a land where no one cries and good vibrations await to meet you.

And the Beatles pleaded with us to imagine such a world: Imagine all the people living life in peace.

You may say, like the Beatles I am a dreamer. Join me to dream.

Some would say that’s the perfect world, a world that is not possible. I say why not? Today’s conference challenges us, indeed, to ask why not?

In my vision and in the vision of the PPP/C Government, of human development and justice, we see a country in which persons of all ages and all background are beneficiaries of the same hope and faith.

Indeed, the status of children and the status of women in our country, in any country, is a sensitive indicator of the state of our civilized society. And so we must ask, where is it we see Guyana standing on this measurement pole?

Some of you are aware that in my role as President of the World Health Assembly, I argued that violence against children and women is a public health problem. In making this argument it is not an attempt to expand public health’s responsibility, it is not an attempt to reduce the responsibility of other sectors, it is a plea that healthy, productive lives are not possible unless we address the issue of violence against children and women.

Public health has had remarkable achievements over the last 50 years. Infant and maternal mortalities have been dramatically reduced and life expectancies dramatically increased. Right here in Guyana, the maternal mortality rate in 2007 was just over 11 per 10,000 births. In 1990, it was over 34. In 2007 the infant mortality was 19.2 per 1,000. This used to be between 78 and 120 per 1,000 before 1990. Our life expectancy is increasing and is presently just under 68, and we expect to attain a life expectancy of 70 by 2012. But saving our children and our women from various diseases only to see them injured, disabled or dead because of violence, because of the savagery of wars and conflict or because of self-inflicted wounds or suicide would be a failure for public health.

Let me say something further about the health sector and how it relates to violence against women and children. It is not uncommon for the emergency services to be taken up by the sequelae of violence that there is neither time nor resources to deal with other problems. Have you ever asked yourself how this affects the morale of the staff as they attempt to correct the result of what must see to them to be senseless carnage? How do we explain the logic or sense of someone disfiguring the face of a young woman with sulfuric acid? Or how can we explain the death of a child because of a pair of sneakers?

As part of the vision for global health, I have proposed the elimination of all preventable child and maternal deaths by 2025. I have no apology in demanding that a child born in Guyana must have the same chance of becoming a healthy adult as a child born in New York or London or Paris. This cannot happen in a world where violence against children and their mothers is rampant, where violence robs us of mothers and children.

I am delighted that under my tenure as President of the WHA, firm agreements have been reached for the elimination of genital mutilation of young girls. This is not a problem in Guyana, but Guyanese must support any action that is designed to promote the dignity and the safety and protection of young girls everywhere.

I am also proud of the fact that the WHA has also targeted alcohol as a major area for intervention. Alcohol is a major determinant for violence in our society. No one can deny the significant role alcohol plays in domestic violence which affects both women and children. We will not succeed in our ambitious goal of the elimination of violence against children and women if our advocacy and our action plan do not include an all-out assault against the harmful use of alcohol. I believe that we must address the deficiencies in our laws pertaining to alcohol. Children should not be able to purchase alcohol. The operators of any business and the parents of children should be punished when this happens.

Before I leave the issue of alcohol, too may of our people are disabled and die because of road accidents, because people drink and drive. This must stop too. We need new laws and we need to establish blood levels for alcohol for drivers. The level we are proposing is no more than 0.05%. These are concrete actions that can be taken.

Too many children globally are being used by adults for criminal activities. We must stand in solidarity to stamp this practice out. Here in Guyana, we see this happening as bandits and criminals use children as child bandits. Whatever our political affiliation, our race, our religion, our wealth status, we must be equally appalled against this emerging practice in Guyana. The violent rampage of bandits in Guyana must come to a halt and we in Guyana must find this a compelling reason to unite.

If we do not address the issue of children being used for criminal activities and being turned into bandits, savage bandits, we would have no moral standing to join in the global denunciation of children being made into renegade soldiers for fighting illegitimate wars.

Let me now direct further attention to the well-being of women. Violence against women ranks as one of the most pernicious manifestations of gender inequity that has ever evolved. Women too often, far too often, are regarded as defenseless properties. The most shameful part of this manifestation is that violence against women and children is directed against them mostly by people they know, not by strangers.

Our concern and the vision of women living dignified, safe and healthy lives are not the result of some recent epiphany. Almost 140 years ago John Stuart Mills wrote: The principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes – the legal subordination of one sex to another – is wrong in itself and now one of the chief hindrances to human development.

Cheddi Jagan called for a new global human order. This is now a resolution of the UN, a commitment of all nations. The new global human order is not an economic paradigm. It is a call for a new kind of justice. Guyana must place firmly within this global initiative our commitment to eliminate all violence against children and women.

Our world needs to identify areas of common concerns and shared destiny. The call for a new global human order was Cheddi’s recognition that the improvement of the human condition can only come about through galvanizing people everywhere and nations to find solutions to address our common concerns and to attain the goals of equity and justice, a better life for all, a world in which there is no pain and sorrow. How can this be when our country, our world fail to stop violence against our children, against their mothers?

Violence against women cannot be seen only from the prism of the criminal justice system. It is also a social security problem and ultimately it is health issue. We recognize this is a major public health problem in our country and globally. This is where I must pause and address the issue of data collection. In every country, we do a dismal job in documenting the cases of violence against women. In particular, while we have developed some capacity to document physical abuse, we have only a marginal capacity to document sexual abuse and we have not even touched the surface when it comes to mental abuse.

Violence against women and children is a major component of a culture of violence that is becoming part of the global society. Indeed, as we prepare to end the first decade of the 21st century, we are confronted with violence as a social pandemic. There is mass destruction, deliberate and natural, the level of violence is unimaginable in too many hot spots in the world. Whiles we are aware of what is happening in Iraq, in the Sudan, in various parts of the world, we often ignore the silent spread of violence in our own midst, in our families. Children are abused, mentally and physically by too many persons who they know and who should be protecting them. Too many women are being humiliated, injured and killed by their partners. Far too many of our elderly are mistreated and physically and mentally abused by their carers, youths are bullied by other youths. Our world inflict too may pains on ourselves.

No country and no community is immune. It is my position that violence, particularly violence against children and women thwarts economic and social development. The most damning part of this pandemic is that we are not helpless. We are not powerless. We can do something about it.

I make these remarks fully conscious of the words from Beijing: Violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

We owe our children. We owe our sisters, our women a life free of violence. Some of you wonder why such violence? It would be good to know. But I ask for us to change the violent nature of our societies. And I ask you why not? The 20th century was the most violent in our global history. Are we so determined to make the 21st century even more violent?

The answer must be a resounding no and we can do our part to ensure this. As a man I stand up proud with my head held aloft and I ask all my Guyanese brothers and my global brothers for us to say no more violence against our children, against our women, no more, end it now!

If we can stop violence against women and children, the world would begin to look like the world my favorite philosopher described.

I see trees of green, red roses too. They bloom for you and for me. What a wonderful world.

It’s up to us to create this wonderful world.

Thank you.

Dr. Leslie Ramsammy
June 24, 2008