Latest update May 13th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 25, 2014 Letters
DEAR EDITOR,
Commemoration of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (VAW) is an opportunity to recall the categories and circumstances globally in which such violence occurs. Domestic violence, child and forced marriage, female infanticide, female genital mutilation, sexual trafficking and rape all contribute to a global health problem of epidemic proportions according to the World Health Organization. One contributory factor surfaces in virtually all forms of VAW, namely, the controlling behaviour of males over females, manifest in religious, cultural, professional, political and economic relations.
In Guyana, dominance of male figures in society is so pervasive as to place direct and personal responsibility on all males to take steps to dismantle the rules, habits and practices in their spheres of influence which control the behaviour of females. Those males in leadership and prominent roles have an even greater responsibility in this respect.
Resistance to modernizing both legislation and legal procedures with respect to sexual offences is a clear-cut example of where a culture of male leadership continues to sustain unacceptable gender control over the legal and judicial regime.
Last week, Chief Justice Chang again ruled in favour of a challenge to the Sexual Offences Act (SOA), effectively declaring paper committal procedures as embodied in the SOA to be in violation of the constitutional right of defendants to a fair trial. All sexual offences procedures in the Magistrates Courts now have to be postponed until this Judgement is considered by the Court of Appeal. Convictions in the High Court have reached rock bottom.
The reason given for the ruling is that the procedure does not allow the defendant the right to cross-examine witnesses for the prosecution. This judgement is only sustainable if paper committals are considered to be a trial, an interpretation few would find persuasive of the relevant constitutional text (Article 144). Paper committals replaced the gender-biased, grossly unfair and now discredited PIs precisely because PIs had been corrupted from an administrative procedure into mini-trials. Notwithstanding Justice Chang’s superior legal acumen, the same provisions in the SOA have replaced PIs in Caribbean jurisdictions and in the United Kingdom and have never provoked the kind of objections found in both the first and this most recent Judgement.
In recent months, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) has been involved in cases in which the police, mainly in rural locations, discouraged victims from reporting sexual offences, distorted statements to eliminate sexual offences or refused to take statements altogether. The unpredictable response of the police is possible because reporting takes place in police stations, an environment completely under control of the Guyana Police Force and isolated from modern thinking about sexual offences.
Moreover, willingness on the part of the police to improve their response is also hampered by isolation. The current situation, for example, sees victims of sexual assault who report to police stations in Georgetown being referred to the central station, Brickdam, where a medical examination is performed. While this is an improvement over untrained police officers in every station handling sexual assaults as they please, the problem is the focus and priority being entirely on the medical examination as a source of forensic evidence. While this best serves the needs of the police, priority health needs of victims are much broader.
Following this brief examination by the police doctor at Brickdam, in which rape kits are not used, victims are encouraged to go to the Public Hospital Georgetown for other medical needs to be addressed. This procedure undercuts the use of rape kits as a forensic tool to increase likelihood of conviction. It also has victims going to two police stations and two medicals.
The unpredictable response victims receive at stations across the country and the reduction of the medical response to forensically inefficient evidence-gathering, both prompt the question whether the reporting function should take place away from police stations.
The ‘stand-alone’ response isolates the police from the key feature of modern thinking about sexual offences, namely, the integrated provision of services in one place, preferably located close to a major hospital. Known as ‘Sexual Assault Referral Centres’ (SARCS), such centres manage and tailor responses in other societies to the particular needs of the victim. A police officer is present on duty to take statements when the victim is ready to provide them – which may take days or weeks.
Moreover, an integrated response also requires improved performance from the health services. The widespread absence of rape kits in hospitals, and almost equally widespread ignorance in the medical profession over how to conduct medical examinations of sexual assault victims, usually results in hesitant medical personnel relying on the police to direct what should be done.
Two recent cases, brought to the attention of the GHRA, had the doctors stating that they had not examined the victim for sexual assaults because they only complained of physical assaults. Police statements in those cases made the same claim. This is seriously unprofessional behaviour and needs to be addressed as a priority within the profession. An integrated response is essential, in which all providers (official and NGO) – health, police, probation, counseling, welfare and legal – are brought together to address the problems outlined.
However, initiatives such as SARCS require administrative and budgetary support. They also need to be promoted and understood. Several years ago, an initiative in which the GHRA brought together official and NGO responders to examine provision of integrated services received an overwhelmingly positive response. Had the Sexual Assault Task Force been active, called for by the Sexual Offences Act, this initiative could have evolved and become sustainable.
Executive Committee
Guyana Human Rights Association
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