The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL 

Tribune Staff Reporter 

jrussell@tribunedmedia.net

A BUILDING for the government’s long-promised shelter for domestic violence victims is expected to be bought by the end of this budget year, which ends this month.

The Davis administration had allocated $500,000 to build the shelter. The delays in doing so and the lack of explanation for why raised some concerns. Women advocates and non-profit organisations questioned if the government would deliver on its promise.

During his contribution to the budget debate in the House of Assembly, Minister of Social Services Myles Laroda said in addition to buying a building by the end of this month, another shelter is on the way that will be operated with the Ministry of National Security through the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s domestic violence unit.

“These new shelters are a part of a promise delivered in 2012,” he said. “The government agreed that the Commonwealth of The Bahamas should participate in the United Nations entity on gender equality and the empowerment of women.”

Lisa Bostwick-Dean, the public relations director for Women United, told The Tribune in 2023 that while she was happy to see progress for the shelter, she did not want it operated solely by the government.
“We think that it is best for shelters to be run as public-private partnerships with the government,” she said. “But of course, if the choice is a government-run shelter or no shelter, we’ll take what we can get. But ideally, we feel that shelters are best run as public-private partnerships.”

Officials hope the domes- tic shelter brings safety to those who most need it.

In April, a Gender-Based Violence study found that one in four women in The Bahamas had suffered physical or sexual violence in their life, with survivors lamenting the challenges with accessing healthcare, law enforcement, and social services in the country.