00:00 The United Nations outlines that gender-based violence can take many forms such as intimate
00:05 partner violence, sexual violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation and what is referred
00:12 to as honor crimes.
00:14 Outreach and research officer at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at the
00:19 University of the West Indies, Dr. Deborah McPhee, has a concern that children, especially
00:25 those in vulnerable spaces, are not being protected.
00:28 I had the opportunity to be doing some research and one of the things that struck me was the
00:37 way in which in some of our vulnerable communities, young girls are being forced into early sexual
00:44 unions and that has a lot to do with the gun violence and the gang violence that we are
00:51 experiencing.
00:52 While Dr. McPhee calls for institutional deliberations on this issue, she hasn't explained the correlation,
00:59 but she says young people need to be able to understand sex and sexuality in a way to
01:05 better protect themselves as perpetrators sometimes prey on a lack of knowledge.
01:11 Director of Public Relations at the Network of NGOs for the Advancement of Women, Tricia
01:16 McIntosh states that gender-based violence can either be treated indifferently or seriously,
01:23 usually stemming from cultural attitudes.
01:26 Where you think, well, that's normal.
01:29 You have a little tit with your husband, you have a little tit with your wife, it's normal.
01:34 It's normal, right?
01:35 Where there are others that are saying, no, it's not.
01:39 And we cannot allow it to be thought of as the norm.
01:44 So there are those who are saying, no, we need to stop it.
01:47 It's not right.
01:48 And let's do something about it.
01:51 However, according to Dr. McPhee, intimate partner violence in particular is treated
01:57 in this country in a knee-jerk manner, especially on an individual level.
02:02 Is man and woman business.
02:05 And that is something that we need to be mindful of, to pay attention to.
02:12 That is because we do not think through the ways in which that intimate partner violence
02:18 works itself out in the lives of family members.
02:24 And the ways in which ultimately by the time you are in a relationship and the violence
02:30 has become physical, you have already been subjected to multiple forms of violence.
02:37 She says that can include verbal, psychological, financial, etc. and she underscores a need
02:43 to eliminate the victim-blaming culture.
02:45 Dr. McPhee also believes there is a silencing of men who are facing gender-based violence.
02:52 Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
02:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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