In 2023, a programme to help rehabilitate perpetrators of abuse will be enacted. This is according to Minister of Human Services Dr. Vindyha Persaud.
The amendment to the 1996 Domestic Violence Act will see a plethora of changes, including stringent measures to deal with acts of violence, but also the rehabilitation of perpetrators who commit acts of violence against their spouses.
The United Nations last year, in a report, illustrated that more than one in every two women between the ages of 16 and 64 had experienced domestic violence at least once in their lifetime.
This accounts for some 55 percent of all Guyanese women.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security Dr. Vindyha Persaud explained that the new legislation also seeks to address what causes a perpetrator to become violent in the first place.
“This is not a piece of legislation that will stand on its own. It will have to be in accordance with other legislations like the bail act, so that we can have punitive measures. And a big component of this is rehab of the perpetrators. It is very much a part of what people must do.” Persaud stated.
She noted that while the act might be renamed, it seeks to address the issue from a holistic approach in an effort to curb the number of domestic violence reports, which sometimes result in death.
“I’ve always believed that sometimes people become violent because of what they’re exposed to as young people, and while they may try, they can’t always and it’s because they’re so much acceptance of it. So we will have to have these programs so no one will say we do not know how to” the Minister stated.
According to a Latin American Public Opinion Project, almost 62 percent of Guyanese normalise intimate partner violence and agree that physical violence between couples is a private matter, which should be handled by the couple themselves or their families.
