Domestic abuse emergency hotline launched

THE Ministry of Human Services and Social Security has partnered with UNICEF, Digicel Guyana, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) and the Telecommunications Agency to create a toll-free hotline as part of measures to promote the reporting, prevention and response services to cases of violence. The hotline, 914, was launched at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre after the Ministry, in accordance with the United Nations General Assembly, observed 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. The 16-day initiative, which was initiated in 1991 by the Women’s Global Leadership Institute, is an annual occurrence which begins on November 25 and ends on December 10, and is globally recognised as Human Rights Day.

The hotline comes at a time when the reports of domestic violence have increased drastically, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As COVID-19 protocols were being observed, more women and children were forced to remain within the proximity of their abusers, which, in turn, saw a high number of reports recorded throughout the year. “We think that violence is apparent,” Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, explained, in response to survivors’ stories, “but no,” she said. “We heard today, violence can be hidden. Excuses are made by many women, not because they don’t want you to know, but because they live in fear of more violence being carried out. From my own medical background, we hear they’ve ‘fallen down the stairs’, they ‘walked into a door’; you hear all kinds of things to explain the bruises and the marks they have, but we know differently.

So I want to appeal to anyone who’s experiencing violence. 914 is a 24-hour service that is toll-free, for you.”  The objective of the easily remembered number is to integrate the services available at both the Domestic Violence Unit and the Childcare and Protection Agency. It is the hope of all involved in the execution of the service that it will attract an increased number of reports, as the Ministry and UNICEF expand the services for reporting and response. Also present at the launch were representatives of Digicel and GTT, survivors of domestic violence, Patricia Smithet and Bibi Ahmad, representatives of UNICEF and UNFPA, as well as Permanent Secretary, Shannielle Hoosein-Outar.