As part of its campaign against sexual violence, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) released its third Report Getting Serious: Detecting & Protecting Against Crimes of Sexual Violence in Guyana. ‘Getting Serious’ sought to test whether it is possible to develop characteristics of potential victims and likely predators in sexual violence crimes in Guyana by analyzing information contained in police files. Through collaboration with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) the study was able to determine that with the appropriate computer software a national programme could be developed to systematically record such information. Although care must be taken to ensure this process does not deteriorate into stereo-typing or discrimination, applied appropriately, the information generated by these techniques will raise levels of detection in crimes of sexual violence. Moreover, the information also provides the foundation for developing effective protection programmes for girls and young women.

Some of the key characteristics discovered about victims and predators in Guyana are summarized as follows:

· 92% of Victims of Sexual Violence in cases examined were females.

· Girls between 12-16 years is the age group most vulnerable to sexual assaults (43%)

· Girls between 1-12 years are the second most vulnerable group (26%).

· 69% of victims of sexual violence cases were 16 years or below.

· 44% of sexual violence crimes reviewed were committed on persons of Afro-Guyanese descent, followed by Indo-Guyanese (27%) descent, Mixed and Amerindian races (13% each) and Portuguese (3%).

· Amerindian girls between the ages of 12-16 years living in Region 1 are the most vulnerable group of females in Guyana.

· Amerindian females in Region 1 are three times more vulnerable to sexual assaults than females in Georgetown.

· 26% of victims are to be found in Georgetown and a further 20% in Region 4.

· 37% of sexual violence crimes against women above the age of 25 yrs. occur in Region 6.

· Females in Region 10 are safer from sexual violence than anywhere else in Guyana with a prevalence rate of 3%.

· More than two-thirds of sexual violence crimes occur in the home of the victim or the accused.

· Perpetrators are known by victims in three out of four sexual violence crimes.

· 1 in 5 perpetrators of sexual violence is related to his victim.

· Fathers, step-fathers and father-figures are responsible for over 67% of family-related sexual violence.

· 53% of persons accused were of Afro-Guyanese descent, 20% of Indo-Guyanese, 11% of Amerindian and 15% Mixed.

· 54% of perpetrators were employed, 38% unemployed and 8% were students.

· 43% of victims report rapes within 24 hours.

· 41% of victims report to the police themselves.

· 66% of victims first confide the incident to relatives.

· 92% of victims were medically examined as a result of reporting to the police.

· 23% of rapes involved abduction, the majority by mini-bus.

· 53% of rapes occurred during the day, 40% by night and 8% both day & night.

· Correlation between sexual violence offences and public festivals, e.g. Mash, Christmas was not significant.

· Use of drugs or alcohol by either victim or perpetrator was not reported as significant.

· Use of condoms was reported in only 3% of the cases.

The GHRA campaign to stop sexual violence against women was launched with a study on low conviction rates Without Conviction: Sexual Violence Cases in the Guyana Justice Process in 2005, and followed in 2006 by Justice For Rape Victims: Reform of Laws and Procedures in Guyana. In addition to the Reports the following campaign materials were produced

· a Training Manual for use by police prosecutors Prosecuting Sexual Offences was produced in collaboration with the Office of the DPP and the GPF.

· a DVD “Care and Evidence”, produced by Kings College Hospital and the Metropolitan Police Force in London, reproduced with permission and utilized in a number of local schools and learning institutions.

· 2 Public Service Announcements on Sexual violence produced for television use by young people.

· A 15-minute documentary on sexual violence in adolescent relationships for use in schools produced by young people.

· 25,000 discussion leaflets on the problem distributed across Guyana.

· 5,000 discussion Summary sheets on Justice for Rape Victims.

A soon-to-be-released study explores the possibility of the integrated provision of services to avoid victims of sexual violence in Guyana having to find five or six unrelated service providers to attend to their legal, medical, welfare, and psychological needs.

The materials were used for education and awareness activities in schools, training institutions, youth groups, faith-based and other community organisations to lobby for reform of rape laws and judicial procedures relating to rape crimes; and to mobilize women in local communities to create support groups for victims of sexual violence and their families.

Copies of the Report Getting Serious: Detecting & Protecting Against Crimes of Sexual Violence in Guyana are available from the GHRA at G$400. per copy.
email ghra_guy at networksgy dot com

The purpose of this report is to review existing documents and reports in order to provide a basis for the development of a national strategy on domestic violence for Guyana. The process of developing a national strategy could be an effective vehicle for promoting dialogue and consensus on an approach for moving forward that makes the most efficient use of limited resources and addresses critical gaps in the current response. To this end, the report attempts to identify areas where progress has been made in responding to domestic violence in Guyana, where the situation remains the same, and where there is need for action. There are three sections to the report. The first outlines the international obligations which provide framework for the national response; the second considers the main aspects of the national level response, with a view to identifying gaps and making recommendations for addressing these; and the third looks at international best practice to identify basic components of a national strategy.

This report was commissioned by the Women's Affairs Bureau, and authored by Sarah Insanally - November 2006

Published by the Guyana Human Rights Association - June 2006
This report focusses on reform of rape laws and related legal processes. It identifies several key actions and recommendations so as to reverse the epidemic of sexual violence in Guyana.
This report was written by Laura Gyte for the GHRA as part of a larger campaign against sexual violence, being conducted by the GHRA in conjunction with the Age of Consent Coalition, with some assistance from the CIDA Gender Equity Fund in Guyana.
The report can be obtained from the GHRA Office at 56 B Hadfield Street, Georgetown, Guyana Tel 226-1789 , email ghra_guy at networksgy.com
See also Without Conviction: Sexual Violence in the Guyana Justice Process

Background

The mandate for gender mainstreaming underpins the comprehensive provisions of the Beijing Platform for Action which itself finds continuity with the concern for the development of institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women contained in the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies.

Governments in the Caribbean have attempted in various ways to advance gender equity not only through substantive policy but also through administrative reform. In these attempts, governments have both made progress and confronted conceptual and operational difficulties. The United Nations mid-term review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action provides an opportunity to reflect on and assess governmental action in the mainstreaming of the responsibility for gender equity throughout the State sector.
In facilitating this review process, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean conducted a study on gender mainstreaming among 10 Caribbean countries, namely, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. The study was funded and supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Gender Equity Fund.

Click here to download the file from the database of ECLAC

This study was done by Karen Hall as part of her BA in Disability Studies 2005 - Ryerson University, Toronto Canada in April 2005

ABSTRACT
Women with disabilities who are able to find employment in Guyana have had to struggle with a number of barriers related to the work environment and those pursuing self-enterprise with little support systems relating to entrepreneurial activities. Although over the past decade more data have been available regarding employment it’s rather indefinable in describing the employment experiences of disabled women because these data lack the statistical component. The major stakeholders (people with disabilities, funding agencies, and support agencies, organisations and employers etcetera) need this evidence to plan holistic programmes geared towards creating employment supports for women with disabilities. My research goal therefore is to listen and document the findings from the stories of twenty women with disabilities and will compare the findings to the National Development Strategy and the community work carried out by local women organisations. I use the social theory section on community economic development programmes to carve a format of intervention that the women could find acceptable.
Karen Hall can be contacted at kwea9gy@gmail.com

When mothers survive and thrive, their children also survive, and the societies in which they live prosper.
The promotion of healthy mothers and children involves the synergistic effect of combined well-known and effective interventions, including policies that raise women’s and children’s social and economic status; involvement from families and communities; education for all; universal access to basic health and care, improvement of health status; improvement of nutritional status; access to family planning services; ensuring skilled attendance during childbirth for normal care and the management of complications; and adequate neonatal and child health care.

The UNICEF page has some statistical values for the status of infant and maternal mortality, nutrition, health, HIV AIDS, education and child protection in Guyana.

The Gender Assessment for USAID/Guyana was completed in May 2003, as part of the
preparation of the new Country Strategic Plan for 2004-2008. USAID requires both the assessment and the integration of gender considerations in the strategy design. The identification of gender issues in the strategy is the first step in the process of mainstreaming gender in Mission programs and activities, focusing on the effects of gender differences on program results and of the program on the status of women.
Gender integration involves an understanding of the relationship between men and women, in terms of the roles they play, which are interdependent, and of the relationships of power between them and their differential access to resources.
The report includes an overview of factors affecting the status of women in Guyana, key gender issues in the country, and government, NGO, and donor resources directed to these issues. It then focuses directly on USAID/Guyana strategic program areas, identifying gender issues specific to these programs and making recommendations for the process of gender mainstreaming in the strategy and subsequent activities. The report is intended as a working document for the Mission, serving as a starting point and a reference in the mainstreaming process. The more important task for program results is to move forward on the recommendations, incorporating gender considerations into activity design, contract award, and program implementation, and then using the monitoring data to adjust and refine these activities.