[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 55 (Tuesday, April 8, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E531]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, A SCOURGE IN THE CARIBBEAN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 8, 2008

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker. I would like to bring to your attention an 
article written on domestic violence featured in the New York CaribNews 
for the week ending March 25, 2008 on ``Domestic Violence, A Scourge in 
the Caribbean--Women Suffer at Men's Hands in Almost Every Country.''
  Domestic violence is an ill that plagues many communities but is 
especially prevalent in immigrant communities as highlighted by a 
recent State Department human rights report. Domestic violence 
primarily affects women and children and mostly girls. The violence is 
often at the hands of fathers or male authority figures in the family 
or community.
  Despite tougher laws and penalties, domestic violence continues as a 
``significant social problem.'' Often victims of domestic violence are 
reluctant to report incidents of abuse due to the stigmatism that it 
carries and fear of reprisal from their abusers. Even more troubling 
are the cases that go unreported because the perception that law 
enforcement officers and magistrates can be bribed to make cases 
disappear. Clearly there is much work to be done in educating both 
victims and law enforcement personnel on the serious effects of 
domestic violence.
  Articles such as this are instrumental in raising public awareness of 
this critical problem; and serves as a reminder that domestic violence 
is problematic in both immigrant and nonimmigrant communities. As a 
society, we have a moral obligation to educate and protect our most 
vulnerable members.

U.S. State Department: Domestic Violence, a Scourge in Caribbean--Women 
             Suffer at Men's Hands in Almost Every Country

                             (By Tony Best)

       It's like a recurring decimal. In almost every country, 
     from Barbados, the Bahamas, St. Vincent and Jamaica to 
     Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize and Haiti the 
     story was the same: physical abuse of women at the hands of 
     their lovers is rampant throughout the Caribbean.
       Admittedly, though, the problem is far more serious in some 
     places than in others. Take the case of Barbados, where the 
     U.S. State Department human rights report described violence 
     and abuse against women as significant social problems.
       And they exist despite the presence of tough laws which 
     impost stiff sentences on men, depending on the severity of 
     the charges.
       For instance, penalties can range from fines for a first 
     time offenders (unless the injury is serious) up to death 
     penalty for a killing.
       In between are prison terms for those who breach court-
     imposed restraining orders. But apart from physical abuse, 
     there are the sexual offences, including spousal rate, for 
     which the maximum penalty is life behind bars. In 2007, about 
     63 rape cases, seven assaults with intent to rape and 30 
     cases of sex with a minor were reported to the police.
       But women were not the only victims of violence in the 
     home. Children in Barbados too suffered, complained the State 
     Department. The abuse of women and children by lovers and 
     fathers was a serious issue in Belize. Domestic violence, 
     discrimination against women, sexual abuse of children, 
     trafficking in persons for sexual and labor exploitation, and 
     child labor were also problems, as was the way the report 
     described the situation in Caricom's lone member-state in 
     Central America. The numbers tell much of the story: in the 
     first six months of last year, the Ministry of Health 
     recorded 455 cases of domestic violence, of which 385 
     involved physical abuse of women and 67 were for sexual 
     abuse.
       The picture of violence against women was worst in the 
     Bahamas. For not only did the report term it ``serious'' and 
     ``widespread'' but warned it often ended in murder.
       Last year, 14 of the 79 homicides in the Bahamas ``were 
     related to domestic violence.'' To add to the tragedy, 
     Washington cited complaints from women's rights groups that 
     law enforcement authorities were generally reluctant ``to 
     intervene in domestic disputes.'' However, the State 
     Department softened the blow by insisting that the ``police 
     recognized domestic violence as a high priority, provided 
     specialized training for all incoming officers and 
     offered continuing training in domestic violence.'' The 
     sketch of Guyana didn't include homicides but at the core 
     was a triple whammy: violence, rape, including spousal 
     rape, and the trafficking of women.
       In addition. Guyanese women face the added burden of a 
     perception that some police officers and magistrates could be 
     bribed to make cases of domestic violence go away.
       That's not all. Despite the existence of laws designed to 
     deal with the problem, the report charged that the real 
     headache was a failure to implement programs designed to curb 
     domestic violence.
       Small wonder, then, that a leading NGO, Help and Shelter, 
     which handled 739 abuse cases of which 538 involved spousal 
     abuse against women in 2007 demanded sensitivity training for 
     magistrates and court staff to improve the handling of 
     domestic violence.
       St. Vincent is another country where abuse of women is a 
     hard and continuing fact of life. A human rights organization 
     there charged that in far too many cases domestic violence 
     went unpunished due to the culture in which victims choose 
     not to seek assistance from the police or the prosecution.
       As for Jamaica, the situation there too could best be 
     described as dismal, although not as deadly as the Bahamas. 
     Social and cultural traditions perpetuated violence against 
     women, including spousal abuse the report charged. Violence 
     against women was widespread, but many women were reluctant 
     to acknowledge or report abusive behavior, leading to wide 
     variations in estimates of its extent.
       Just as serious and complex was the report on Trinidad and 
     Tobago where abuse of women was a matter of grave concern. 
     Like Jamaica, tough laws and programs to aid battered women 
     are in existence in the twin-island republic but there was a 
     common problem: cops are lax in enforcing the law. If figures 
     compiled by women's groups are accurate between 20 to 25 
     percent of women in Trinidad and Tobago were victims of 
     abuse.
       While no figures existed in Haiti that would give a 
     indication of the depth of problem, what was clear was that 
     it was a nightmare. For instance, a man who kills his wife or 
     her lover found in act of adultery in the home wouldn't be 
     charged under the country's criminal code. But a woman who 
     murders her spouse under similar circumstances would be 
     hauled before the court, the State Department reported.
       Although laws against domestic violence were enacted, human 
     rights activists described domestic violence as both 
     ``commonplace and underreported,'' so much so that Women's 
     Solidarity, a human rights body for women, estimated that 
     eight of every 10 Haitian women were victims of domestic 
     violence.
       Meanwhile, the problem of domestic violence has seemingly 
     spread from the West Indies to Caribbean immigrant groups in 
     New York City. Both physical and verbal abuse is said to be 
     high in Brooklyn where Charles Hynes, Brooklyn District 
     Attorney, has an aggressive program to combat spousal abuse. 
     ``We see it quite a lot among Caribbean immigrants,'' said an 
     official of the DA's office. ``But people from the Caribbean 
     aren't alone. Spousal abuse is prevalent in almost every 
     immigrant community, whether they are from Europe, Latin 
     America or the Caribbean.''

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