Violence against women and girls increasing despite advocacy, laws

– Red Shoe Project hears

Ninety percent of the children seeking assistance from the Child Advocacy Centre (CAC) are girls who have been sexually abused within their own families and communities and by people who are supposed to love and protect them, according to Managing Director of Child Link and Chairman of the Civil Society National Reference Group (CSNRG) Omatie Madray.

“None of this is new information. We know this but yet when we are developing and designing interventions, we are still struggling to do a lot more on the preventative side,” Madray told a gathering on Wednesday last at a Red Shoe Project to mark the start of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.

Among those present were three survivors of domestic violence who spoke briefly about their escapes, civil society representatives, members of the diplomatic community and visitors to the Kingston Seawall Esplanade.

A poignant one minute of silence was held as a mark of respect to those who lost their lives to gender-based violence.