Dear Prime Minister,
Women’s organizations have come together to say enough is enough. We are demanding the delivery of what was promised, with additional courts and resources to urgently address the ongoing and increasing violence against women and Children. This call is being made in the aftermath of multiple grievous incidences of violence against women in recent months and the notably long delays in having these matters reach finality in the courts.
The most recent incidences over the past few months include:
- The much-publicized death and horrific acts of abuse against young Bella Walker.
- The viral social media video of the young woman who was dragged into the street and beaten while holding her infant, then stabbed and rolled over by a car allegedly driven by the infant’s father.
- The woman dragged out of her car, beaten and kicked in the head allegedly by an enforcement officer.
- The young woman who, while nursing her infant, was shot in her head by the infant’s father.
- The married mother of three who lost sight in her right eye due to domestic violence.
These savage acts, along with so many other reported cases of violence against women and children, have created an environment of great terror, distress and anxiety among women in The Bahamas. We fear for our safety and are concerned for the well-being of our children and families. Hurricane Dorian and the COVID pandemic presented us with unprecedented calls for help from our most vulnerable populations of women and children, who are subject to a higher degree of risk, especially those who live with disabilities, the elderly, migrants and numerous young women.
Women’s groups are calling for remediation efforts to address this alarming state of affairs as follows:
- Legislation to support a Gender-Based Violence Authority to ensure that gender-based violence (GBV) issues are inclusively and comprehensively addressed on a full-time basis.
- Shelters and safe houses to accommodate the growing number of abused women and children who need immediate change of environment in the face of life-threatening violence. These facilities must be accessible for persons with disabilities.
- Additional courts and resources to urgently address the ongoing and increasing violence against women and children. We demand what was promised, because denial of justice is the most egregious factor resulting in the most unacceptably slow movement to final judicial redress. All the inter-related systems, from arrest to trial, are tailored to the fantasy of a quaint fishing village of a long bygone age. Those systems’ procedures and processes, which can be inequitable, have not kept pace with the tools and creativity required to deal in a timely manner with the increased volume and cruelty of crimes now being experienced. This has resulted in too many citizens being excluded from protections that should be available in law, i.e. human rights. This reality has too often resulted in complaints and cases being abandoned, no justice received by the victims or the upholding of vital and civilized community standards.
- Enactment of the Gender-Based Violence Bill to remove discriminatory roadblocks and counterproductive archaic practices. Savagery is being embraced as an acceptable state of affairs due to the impotence of the system in delivering completed hearings in a reasonably and timely manner. Incremental changes, public relation sessions, insubstantial chats about insubstantial changes and power points will no longer do. As citizens, we are losing faith in the police, the judiciary and legislators, who are not moving aggressively enough to remove the roadblocks and archaic practices that result in the failure to prioritize the needs of women and our children.
- Enactment of a Victim’s Bill of Rights so that there is clarity in the rights, obligations and expectations of all relevant parties. We also wish to see the general requirement for mandatory reporting of all forms of GBV as a means of prioritizing the safety, security and protection of women and our children.
- Removal of reservations from The Bahamas’ commitments to the world: The Bahamas ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1993; the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women (MESCEVI) in 1995; UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991; and UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2015.
- National repository of GBV statistics, pursuant to these conventions. The state party, i.e. the government, the legislators and agents of the state, including law enforcement officers, social services officers and doctors, have a duty to document and report statistics relative to gender-based violence, which ultimately protect women and girls from such violence, whether it is in the home, place of employment, on the street or any public place. The state party, i.e. the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is also legally obligated to provide victims of gender-based violence with access to justice and effective remedies such as shelters and psychosocial services. Gender-based violence includes, but is not limited to, domestic violence, sexual violence and sexual harassment.
- Law reform and public awareness are critical as we call on all principal stakeholders responsible for the carriage of justice, from start to finish, to inform the public as to whether the recently held National Gender-Based Violence Discriminatory Law Review Forum (February 17-19, 2022) will result in the creation of:
- Laws, procedures and processes that will uphold the dignity and decency of our women and children.
- Effective and efficient systems that will serve the safety, protection and human rights of all Bahamians.
- National public awareness and educational consultative campaigns.
This present discriminatory system is assaulting and diminishing our collective body, mind and spirit as many of our women and children have died needlessly due to violence.
We applaud our prime minister, the Honorable Philip Brave Davis, for his recent public comments in relation to marital rape, when he stated that “rape is rape”. We are grateful for the support of his administration to put in place legislative changes to reflect this verbal support (Wednesday, February 23, 2022). We are encouraged that this assurance has also been made by the Honorable Michael C Pintard, leader of the opposition (Monday, February 7, 2022). We celebrate the advancements of the attorney general, Honorable Ryan Pinder, regarding the use of repossessed homes to be used as safe houses/women shelters (February 9, 2022). Additionally, we have been heartened by the comments of the chief justice, Sir Brian Moree, QC, as he informed the public about the search for suitable sites for the establishment of a Sexual Offences Court (December 6, 2021).
We urge the prime minister, the minister of national security, the minister of social services, chief justice, commissioner of police, attorney general and director of public prosecutions to work expeditiously to achieve these demands, as current statistics show the vulnerability of the rights and lives of women and girls in The Bahamas is now at the highest levels of risk in the region and around the world (“Crime and Violence in The Bahamas: IDB Series on Crime and Violence in the Caribbean”, Heather Sutton, 2016).
Endorsing organizations
Ali McIntosh Children’s Charities; Bahamas Chapter – Caribbean Institute Women in Leadership (CIWIL); Bahamas Crisis Center; Bahamas Debutante Foundation; Bahamas Lotus (BL); Bahamas Network of Rural Women Producers; Bahamas Urban Youth Development Center (BUYDC); Core of Hope; Dynamic Youth in Action Org (D.Y.A); Erin Brown Connects, Disability, Advocacy, and Inclusion Management; Everyone Counts Organization; Families Of All Murder Victims (F.O.A.M.); Grow in God Immensely; Human Rights Bahamas; It’s All Love; Josiah Institute for Leadership & Public Policy; Lady’s Chambers; Ladies of Tomorrow; National Organization of Women Associations in The Bahamas (N.O.W.A.B.); Princess Court Ministries GB/Fort Charlotte; Resilience; S Ali McIntosh & Associates Leadership Consultants; Save Our Children Alliance (SOCA); Saving Our Daughters; SMART Women; Solutions Counseling Services (SCS Network); S.T.R.A.W. Inc Center for Women; Marion Bethel, UN CEDAW Committee member; Women Investment Group; Women of Strength Association; Women United (WU); Women United Northern Bahamas; ZONTA Club of New Providence; and 242 Domestic Violence Support Network, Inc.
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