By Nelson A. King
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Opposition Leader, Dr.
Godwin Friday Sunday night
lamented what he describes
as “a rape and sexual violence
crisis” in the country.
“Sadly, we have in St. Vincent
and the Grenadines not
merely a rape culture but a
rape and sexual violence crisis,”
Dr. Friday, president of the
main opposition New Democratic
Party (NDP) told a town
hall meeting at the Friends
of Crown Heights Educational
Center in Brooklyn.
“This national crisis requires
all of us to work together to
combat the problem,” he added
at the meeting organized by
the Brooklyn-based St. Vincent
and the Grenadines Progressive
Organization of New York,
otherwise known as SPOONY.
“The permissiveness, the deafening
silence and the willingness
among many to sweep
complaints under the rug
must end.”
Friday, who is also a lawyer,
referred to a recent workshop
for educators, at which
Kimberley Cambridge, a psychologist
Caribbean L 16 ife, December 20-26, 2019
attached to the Milton
Cato Memorial Hospital
in Kingstown, the Vincentian
capital, made he characterized
as “a courageous and candid
statement.”
“’St. Vincent and the Grenadines
has a rape culture and,
to combat it, we must talk
about it,’” Friday quoted Cambridge
as saying. “’We cannot
pretend it does not exist.’”
“Rape is on the rise in St.
Vincent and the Grenadines,”
he further alluded to her as
saying.
For the period January 2018
and January 2019, 47 new cases
of rape were reported to Cambridge’s
department, 40 were
of girls under the age of 18,
according to Friday.
“In one case, the victim was
a boy under the age of 12,” he
said. “The victims came from
all over the country.”
The NDP leader said Cambridge’s
statement and the
supporting data “ignited a
broader public conversation on
the matter of rape and sexual
violence in St. Vincent and the
Grenadines.”
He said St. Vincent and the
Grenadines “ranks among the
worst countries in the world
for rape and sexual assault.”
Friday said recent reports in
the media of rape, with three
separate incidents reported
on at the same time, “have
shocked the conscience of the
nation.”
He said two of the incidents
involve police officers as the
alleged offenders and young
girls as the victims.
In one of the incidents, Friday
said it is alleged that several
young men/boys “gang-raped a
15-year-old schoolgirl.”
“The description in the
media is shocking!” Friday
declared. “It should shock all
of us.”
To provide support and show
commitment to addressing the
problem, the opposition leader
urged Prime Minister Dr.
Ralph E. Gonsalves, who is
also Minister of National Security,
to “regularly address the
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Opposition Leader, Dr. Godwin
Friday addresses town hall meeting in Brooklyn on Sunday,
Dec.8. Photo by Nelson A. King
nation on the issue of crime,
particularly the high murder
rate, and on rape and sexual
assault.”
The Northern Grenadines
representative in Parliament
also urged that the local constabulary
be “better trained to
investigate and prosecute rape
and sexual assault cases.”
“Include it as a major part
of the curriculum of the police
training course and provide
opportunity for mandatory
continuing education in the
area,” he advised.”
In addition, Friday said
court sentences must be “more
consistent and predictable, and
severe enough to deter potential
perpetrators.”
“Even if conviction is
achieved and appropriate punishment
meted out, victims
continue to suffer for life,” he
said. “So, put education and
social programs in place to
empower women and girls, and
community to combat and prevent
sexual violence.”
‘Rape and sexual violence crisis’
in SVG claims opposition leader
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