CAFRA’s Work on Violence Against Women

• CAFRA collaborates with the Inter-American Legal Services Association (ILSA) on a regional research project on Women’s Rights and the Law.

• Women and the Law Project implemented in Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago, with some activities in the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica and Puerto Rico

• CAFRA, in collaboration with the ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean and the Rape Crisis Society of Trinidad and Tobago, convenes a Regional Meeting on Women, Violence and the Law.

• CAFRA is also at the forefront of the lobby against amendments, which would weaken proposed domestic violence legislation in Trinidad and Tobago

• Eighty-five women’s rights activists in Antigua Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago are exposed to paralegal training covering such subjects as the Constitution, Family Law, Labour Law, criminal Law, Property Rights and Elements of Contract and Tort.

• Counselling service for victims of domestic violence launched as part of Women’s Rights Campaign. (CAFRA Guyana)

• Domestic Violence and the Law, an educational booklet on the Trinidad and Tobago Domestic Violence Act 1991 is published and distributed to governemtn agencies and NGOs

• Legal education workshops on Violence against Women are held in Antigua, Grenada, Dominica and St. Lucia.

• Public Forum on Domestic Violence held in February. Draft Domestic Violence legislation prepared and submitted to the Government, in September. (CAFRA Guyana)

• Exploratory study on Violence against Women in Conjugal Unions in Paramaribo. (CAFRA Suriname)

• Published a booklet on Child Support - a Need, a Must: Getting Child Maintenance in the Magistrates Court. (CAFRA Dominica)

• CAFRA Consultant, Roberta Clarke prepared a policy study on Violence against Women in the Caribbean: State and Non-state Responses for UNIFEM.

• Regional Workshop on Domestic Violence in Paramaribo, Suriname

• CAFRA collaborates with the UNIFEM Caribbean Office in implementing the UN Inter-Agency Campaign on Women’s Human Rights, under the theme "A Life Free of Violence: it’s Our Right."

• Domestic Violence Training Programme for Police Officers and Social Workers. (CAFRA Suriname)

• Pilor Survey on the Incidence of Domestic Violence in Trinidad. Supports a similar study conducted by the Belize Organisation for Women and Development, for Belize City.
  
  
  
  

CAFRA national groups have organised various events to commemorate November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, long before its 1999 official designation by the United Nations.