Kingston, December 4– The Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport has implemented an online platform developed in partnership with the UNFPA Caribbean Sub-Regional Office.

According to Minister Grange, the Bureau of Gender Affairs, a division of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport will host, manage and maintain the platform which is designed to raise awareness on the issue of gender-based violence.

The platform was launched today at a Public Forum titled ‘Big Ooman and Big Man Chat: Addressing Intimate Partner Violence’ hosted by the Bureau of Gender Affairs at the Courtleigh Auditorium.

Minister Grange said that the online platform will among other things “provide a safe and secure space that allows victims and survivors to share their experiences and find support.”

It will also provide basic information on clinical and health services providers.

Minister Grange thanked the UNFPA for partnering with the Ministry saying, “We could not have done it alone. This is a fantastic tool and we will make use of it.”

The Minister also officially launched the first public education campaign – No Excuse for Abuse – being implemented as part of the National Strategic Action Plan to Eliminate Gender-based Violence.

“This is not another campaign to sensitise people about the horrific effects of violence against women. This campaign is about behaviour change and destroying the conditions that enable, condone, ignore and treat violence against women as a normal part of life,” Minister Grange said.

The No Excuse for Abuse Campaign will target both women and men, perpetrators of violence, survivors, and people experiencing violence as well as those witnessing it.

-END-

KINGSTON, November 26, 2018 (JIS):

State Minister in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Hon. Alando Terrelonge is appealing for Jamaicans to join the Government in ending violence against women and girls.

He noted that the Administration is working to address the scourge through legislative, policy and programmatic actions that protect victims of violence, punish perpetrators and ensure that the victims get redress.

He urged citizens “not to turn a blind eye” to such acts, noting that reports of “brutal attacks against women over the last year should concern each of us to do something about it…I am extending an invitation to you to join us.”

Mr. Terrelonge was representing Portfolio Minister, Hon. Olivia Grange, at a service, to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW), held at the Pentecostal Sanctuary, Upper Waterloo Road, St. Andrew, on Sunday (November 25).

Citing findings from the 2016 Women’s Health Survey, done by United Nations (UN) Women, he said that one in every four women in Jamaica has been either slapped, beaten with fists, pushed, kicked, attacked or threatened with a weapon by her male partner.

He said the survey also revealed that a quarter of women in Jamaica have been sexually abused by men, who are not their intimate partner and that the majority of the abusers were friends or acquaintances. 

“One out of every five women reported being sexually abused before reaching 18 years old and the person who did it was a family member or friend,” he pointed out.

State Minister Terrelonge said it is not the intent of God that “women should be inferior to men and that women should be subjugated to men and that men must be at the right and liberty to punish their women”.

“Men and women must be treated as equals and as partners within the home,” he argued.

Describing perpetrators of violence against women as “cowards,” he said that abuse is not an expression of love.

“Violence against women does not show that you are a man, in fact, it proves that you are not a man,” Mr. Terrelonge added.

In his message, Pastor of the Pentecostal Sanctuary, Bishop Robert Ellis, said that Jamaicans need to get back to “good wholesome family life if the country is going to get back to good wholesome values.”

He noted that the family is “critically important” for social change to take place.

“It is the smallest unit of the society and when that unit of the family becomes disintegrated and disruptive, you’re going to have chaos in the society,” he said, adding that the family influences the lives of individuals and “is the wheel that forms our character.”

The observance of IDEVAW raises public awareness of violence against women. It has been observed on November 25 each year since 2000.

END

MESSAGE BY THE HONOURABLE OLIVIA GRANGE, CD, MP

MINISTER OF CULTURE, GENDER, ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORT

FOR INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

25 November 2018

Each year on this date we recommit as individuals and as a country to take steps to eliminate violence against women.  It is a serious problem that affects many women in our country and can affect any woman wherever she is — at home, at school, on the street, in public transport, in the club and in her place of worship.

We now know from the results of the Women’s Health Survey: 

• That one in every four women in Jamaica has been either slapped, beaten with fists, pushed, kicked, attacked with a weapon or threatened with a weapon by her male partner. 
• That a quarter of women in Jamaica have been sexually abused by men who are not their intimate partners. 
• That the majority of men who sexually abuse women were ‘friends’ or acquaintances. 
• That one out of every five women reported being sexually abused before reaching 18 years old and the person who did it was a family member or friend. 

Those findings and the numerous reports of heartless, callous, horrific and brutal attacks against women over the last year should concern each of us to do something about it.  There is no excuse for inaction.

My government has been working to bring an end to violence through legislative, policy and programmatic actions that protect victims of violence, see to it that perpetrators are punished, ensure that the victims get redress, and very importantly build a culture in which there is no gender-based violence.

Despite progress, violence against women is still widespread.  Despite an increase in reports to the authorities about gender-based violence, and an increase in interventions by neighbours, friends and family to end abuse, too many people are still looking the other way.

Today we launch the No Excuse For Abuse public education campaign as part of our effort to end the violence.  This is not another campaign to sensitise people about the horrific effects of violence against women.  This campaign is about behaviour change and destroying the conditions that enable, condone, ignore and treat violence against women as a normal part of life.

Violence against women is not inevitable.  Violence against women is not an expression of love.  Violence against women does not show that you are a man, in fact it proves that you are not a man.

On this commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, I urge all of us to make a commitment to do something about the violence.  We can end the violence.  It requires all of us to end the violence.  There is No Excuse for Abuse.

Olivia Grange, CD, MP

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport