Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General Dr. Carla Barnett has encouraged Caribbean people to take a firm stand against gender-based violence.
She did so in a message marking the 16 Days Of Activism Campaign Against Gender-Based Violence, 25 November – 10 December 2022.
” I encourage the people of the Caribbean Community to take decisive action to end gender-based violence,” Barnett stated.
“This is a vital human rights imperative that needs our collective and concerted action,” the CARICOM official asserted.
According to Barnett, gender-based violence remains a public health crisis in the Caribbean.
She noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) asserts that globally, one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual violence at some point in her lifetime, usually from an intimate partner.
And regarding the Caribbean, Barnett recalled that prevalence surveys conducted between 2017-2019 in five Member States with a sample of women and girls 15-64 years indicated incidence rates as high as one in two women.
Barnett observed that rates of gender-based violence increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, and systemic inequalities have been exacerbated, with women disproportionately affected.
“Our advocacy must therefore be resolute and sustained,” she asserted.
When women are emotionally and mentally abused by other women does that constitutes gender base violence? I am really concern because of our experience as student nurses at SALCC under the administration of the department of nursing.