Special programmes being introduced to tackle gender-based violence, says Grange

 

Gender Affairs Minister Olivia Grange has said a number of programmes are being introduced by her ministry to tackle gender-based violence. 

 

The minister highlighted three such programme while speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. 

 

The Refocus Perpetrators Programme will aim to provide alternative conflict resolution and rehabilitation techniques for men involved in intimate partner violence. 

 

Know Your Rights Information Sessions are meant to increase knowledge and awareness within communities on the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act and Domestic Violence Act. 

 

Additionally, the Stand Up, Talk Up Information Sessions will sensitise men and women about issues surrounding intimate partner violence, positive masculinity, sexual harassment at the workplace and child abuse.

 

Miss Grange also said the Bureau of Gender Affairs will also hire an attorney who will provide legal advice in relation to domestic issues.

 

The minister on Tuesday lamented the number of women and girls who have been killed in Jamaica. 

 

Along with Khanice Jackson, whose case has gripped Jamaica since last week, she remembered several other women and girls killed including Ananda Dean, an 11-year-old student who was abducted and killed in 2008; Jasmine Deen, who has been missing since February 2020; Sharon Cole, a 61-year-old woman murdered on February 15; and Imani Green, an eight-year-old killed in Duncans, Trelawny in January 2013. 

 

Miss Grange expressed sadness and called for various organisations, especially the church, to get involved in the fight against gender-based violence.