The Tribune

By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

Sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Pan American Development Foundation hosted the first of three seminars yesterday, aimed at developing a "step by step protocol" for Royal Bahamas Police Force Officers responding to domestic violence complaints.

In an interview with reporters at Police Headquarters, Tara Evans, the Bahamas' PADF representative, said the group is working with non-governmental organizations to fund awareness-raising campaigns, organize workshops and provide timely services to victims of gender-based violence.

She said PADF through its Women’s Initiative for Non-Violence and Development (WIND) is seeking to improve the capacity of law enforcement, the justice sector and communities to respond to and prevent gender-based violence in The Bahamas.

"In the Bahamas, domestic violence only comes to our minds when we have big stories about someone being killed or someone has to get hurt for this to come to the front of our minds. We are trying to start a dialogue and continue it. We have to continue to talk about it because when the headlines are gone, people are still suffering silently," she said.

"There are countless families in this country that have been affected, their homes have been destroyed by domestic violence there are countless women, men, boys and girls that are involved in relationships they should not be in. We need to continue to talk about this because it goes directly to the point of having a healthy nation, we have to keep our people safe. That is what we are trying to do."

Ms Evans expressed disappointment that only women officers were present at the first seminar, however she said "we will take what we get."

"There are only women here, I would have requested male officers but they sent 25 female officers but it doesn't really matter once we get the information out," she said.

"We are trying to have a standard protocol for police officers to follow in the event hat they show up to a domestic violence complaint. No matter if you are a girl, boy, no matter if the person that hurt you was a girl or a boy, no matter if you are in a same sex relationship, it should not matter. Once I come to you, you need to so all you can to ensure I have a case that can stand in court. We are trying to develop a step by step protocol to protect victims of domestic violence."

According to an Inter- American Development bank Study release in June, the Bahamas ranked high among countries in the Caribbean that have tolerance or understanding for hitting women or correcting children with physical punishment.

The data is detailed in the report “How safe are Caribbean Homes for Women and Children? - Attitudes toward Intimate Partner Violence and Corporal Punishment.”