Statement by Gem Sanford-Johnson to the Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women on the combined third, fourth, fifth and sixth reports from the Government of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

Madam chair, I feel privileged to address the Committee on the combined reports abovementioned submitted by the Government of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and I must thank you for affording me this opportunity.

My name is GEM SANFORD-JOHNSON, I am an Attorney-at-law in private practice and I speak on behalf of the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers, a non-governmental organization engaged in addressing issues of poor, powerless and underprivileged women who do not readily have access to justice because of economic constraints. Our country’s shadow report was written with the collaborative effort of ten (10) non-governmental organisations.

In this presentation my partner and I would be addressing six (6) issues. I will address the first three and my partner Hazel will address the remaining three. These issues, some of which are linked to existing legislation, are as follows:-

• Domestic Violence/Violence against women – applicable to out existing Domestic Violence Act #18 of 1996;
• Sexual Harassment – couched in a very small way in our Prevention of Discrimination Act #26 of 1997;
• Legal Aid – presently funded by NGO’s
• Health Care focusing on all forms of Cancers, HIV and Aids, Abortion and Maternity Benefits; which is not adequately addressed by our present Public Health Ordinance Cap 134 of 1953 and its Amendment #2 of 1989, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act #7 of 1995 and the National Insurance and Social Security Act respectively.
• Poverty – for which there is no legislation but only a Policy paper.
• Rights Commissions – provided for in our Constitution.

While our Government has enacted legislation in relation to some of the issues as referred to above and has made provision on our constitution in compliance with the CEDAW convention, some of the legislation suffer deficiencies and the systems and mechanisms to buttress such legislation are in some cases absent and therefore creates a barrier to its effective implementation. This, I humbly submit, is the key and critical issue.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LEGISLATION

This legislation fails to realize the desired effect it was intended to have and suffer several hurdles in its implementation. The lack of support systems to make it effective is the root cause in the failure to reduce incidents of Domestic Violence. Statistics provided by newspaper reports and an NGO operating in the capital city of Georgetown have shown that there is an alarming increase in Domestic Violence, especially those resulting in the death of women.

SPOUSAL ABUSE CASES PROCESSED (1995 – 2005) - 3,532 cases

DEATH BY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (2004) - 40 cases

By Mid June (2005) - 25 cases

Abused women have no safe place to seek refuge from their abusive spouses, besides at relatives where they may be easily found and whose lives they may indirectly put in danger. There is no support, financial or otherwise to assist these women if they choose to venture out of the abusive relationship on their own. Rural women suffer the most as there is an absence of immediate access to justice in the interior locations (Courts sit once every three months). The cost of travel from the interior to institute private or criminal proceedings, (as most women complain they are never assisted by the Police), is prohibitive. This is in violation of Article 2(f), 5, 10 and 14 of the CEDAW Convention and General Recommendation Nos. 19, specifically paragraph 24 (b), (k) and (o) and General Recommendation No. 25.

Our recommendation is that Government immediately put systems in place to address these deficiencies in the act and provide shelters, and other support systems (financial and otherwise) to protect victims and assist them in bringing their lives back to some normalcy.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT – PREVENTION OF DISCRIMINATION ACT

Sexual Harassment is inadequately addressed in the Prevention of Discrimination Act #26 of 1997 under which it is couched. The provisions are somewhat vague and unclear and therefore make implementation difficult. This situation promotes the violation of CEDAW Article 2(b), (c) and (f), General Recommendation 19 and specifically paragraph 24(j). This issue, even though a grace one in our society is only addressed in a small way in three lines under section (8) of the Act, and only addresses the woman in a working environment, Sexual Harassment falls within the ambit of the office of the Chief Labour Officer and it was most alarming to hear this officer say that between 1997 (the year the act came into force) and 2005, there has been no complaints to his department of sexual harassment despite the prevalence of this offence in our society.

It is recommended that the Government immediately enact separate legislation which deals specifically with Sexual Harassment with clear, unambiguous and adequate provisions to combat this crime.

LEGAL AID

There is no legislation enacted for Legal Aid. The present Legal Aid Clinic operating in the Capital City, is registered under the Companies Act (1991) and funded mainly by NGO’s. This clinic is limited in its jurisdiction as it only caters for matters within the Georgetown (Demerara) Jurisdiction. Essequibo, (region 2) is serviced by one lawyer sent by the Minister on a monthly basis to offer Legal Aid to a very large community. Most persons are unaware of his/her presence. Women in the Rural areas, particularly the Interior locations, who need such a service have no access to Legal Aid and therefore no access to justice. This creates undue hardship for these women who find traveling to Georgetown to get legal advice or institute legal proceedings at a private Attorney very prohibitive. This is in violation of Article 14 and General Recommendation 19 (specific recommendation 24 (o) of the CEDAW convention.

It is recommended that Government immediately enact legislation and establish Legal Aid clinics in the locations referred to, so as to bring much needed relief to these suffering rural women.

These and other issues are more elaborately addressed in the shadow report which is made available to you.

This page was last updated on May 10, 2005

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