Domestic Violence In Barbados

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Once again, the self appointed guardians of our society are looking for   scapegoats, to blame for the dramatic increase in domestic violence. They are attempting to blame women for being murdered by jealous, possessive men, who believe that in many instances, economic dependence by these women ,is a pathway to maiming and killing them at their pleasure ! Misinformed groups such as MESA(Men's Educational Support Association) are doing a great disservice to our country by trivializing domestic violence. Any humane society should have a zero level tolerance policy on domestic violence and there should be a special court to bring these cannibals, who are liquidating our women folk, to justice with great speed.

The Mahogany Coconut Group has called for progressive legislation that will give state agencies and our police greater legal rights in dealing with instances of domestic violence. Our calls have fallen on deaf ears and blind eyes. We are not surprised. When we peruse the media and observe those who have been promoting themselves as the guardians of our abused women, we see the same faces: a combination of political aspirants and those who take up causes simply to get their names in the papers and faces on the lone television station. They have appointed themselves as an elite group, whose only qualifications are some connection, to the rambling political management class also known as the Barbados Labour Party/ Democratic Labour Party.

 It is nothing more than a crying shame that two political parties, that have dominated our country for its entire post independence era, almost fifty years, could not have formulated better policies and legislation to deal with domestic violence. The MCG remains steadfast in its position that there must be legislation giving our law enforcement officials (the police) the right to remove perpetrators from the homes where they are inflicting abuse on our women folk. In other words, from the time a woman reports abuse, that man should be automatically and legally removed from the home and an automatic restraining order should be enforced. In almost every case of domestic violence leading to the death of our women folk, there is a history of the woman being abused and the police turning up and leaving her in the same danger because their hands are tied by archaic legislation.

The MCG is therefore proposing that there be a special arm of the state agencies that will have a close and progressive working relationship with law enforcement, so that there is a rapid response to domestic violence in order to save lives. There is no reason why even in tough economic times, this cannot be done.

While the Attorneys General engage in empty rhetoric, we are discovering young beautiful usually black Barbadian women in bushes and bath tubs murdered by men who believe they have some right to take their partners lives. As long as the status quo remains, we are going to unapologetically declare that the state is by its inaction aiding and abetting such crimes. We are therefore now declaring that the murders of our woman folk by acts of domestic violence are state assisted! In our system of justice those who assist with crimes are usually charged as accessories to the said crimes. Our collective political management class (BLP/DLP) cannot escape this charge. They are as guilty as the real murderers by failing to radically reform the justice system in order to bring it up to date with more progressive jurisdictions.

Finally, we must state that in cases where the violence is executed by our women citizens against men folk, the same standards must apply. Such laws will be extended as well to acts of violence against children and our elderly.