I don’t live on Mars. I know that there is domestic violence in St Vincent and the Grenadines, and it is a matter that all of us have to work on, not just government. – Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
THE?DOMESTIC?VIOLENCE CRY could have come from any other prime minister of the Eastern Caribbean – except that the circumstances might have been markedly different from those in which Dr Ralph Gonsalves finds himself.
Common across the Caribbean Community has been the unhealthy practice of domestic violence, born out of ignorance at worst; out of naivety at best, which specialist corrective groups and pressure lobbies have been doing their utmost to reverse. And not without some measurable success with men who have been since convinced it is better to think with their heads than their fists, and with couples who have to come to learn conflict resolution has far more lasting benefits.
The mantra of Live Up. Respect has not been in vain, and the media are not to go unheralded in their contribution to the growing communal lifestyle change.
Were that that was all to the issue of domestic violence and other forms of abuse!
Prime Minister Gonsalves has reported, with much regret, that fellow citizens of his have been making bogus claims of abuse by violence and other means.
It would be merely mischievous if it was being done for the fun of it.
But the intention of the perpetrators has far more serious implications.
It is done for personal gain and under a perceived or misconceived notion of escape to betterment, at the expense of the good name of one’s place of birth and possible disadvantage of family, friends and fellow citizens as a whole left behind.
What about refugee status in Canada would drive a Caribbean man or woman to declare, without good ground, to a foreign state that he or she is unsafe in his or her own country, when it is not true?
Why would an island people so indict their own that the Toronto Star could headline their false cry with the damning words Is This Caribbean Idyll The Worst Place In The World To Be A Woman? Bad publicity is hardly ever better than no publicity at all.
Not very far back Barbados had its own challenge with members of the gay community claiming refugee status from Canada on the grounds they couldn’t walk the street in peace and suffered violence and other abuse continually. We recall not many succeeded. Their charges were found to be groundless.
Dr Gonsalves admits the scourge of domestic violence has not escaped his country, and that it requires the efforts of government and citizens to expunge it. Exploitation of the challenge should not be – especially not to the benefit of the selfish and unnationalistic.
