NGOS TO T&T GOVERNMENT:

The Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (1976) neither contains a provision that specifically targets discrimination against women, nor does it provide a definition of discrimination. It merely states that discrimination on the basis of sex is forbidden (Section 4 of the Constitution).

A number of NGOs in Trinidad and Tobago noted this among their compilation of findings on the Initial, Second and Third periodic report presented by the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

The NGOs stated that the lack of a clear definition of “discrimination” has prompted individual Ministries to set their own standards through adopting their definitions of discrimination; this in turn may create legal loopholes which can be exploited by public authorities, to the detriment of those aggrieved individuals seeking redress.

Undeniably, the Domestic Violence Act No. 27 of 1999 is to be commended for its flexible approach and for providing for the acts of non-state or private bodies. However, local NGO have discovered that here are difficulties of application and enforcement which makes the Act marginally successful.

For example, the police may be unwilling to interfere in domestic matters, a summons may not be served due to inadequate financial resources, the victim may fear losing her job through taking time off to appear in court, or she may feel embarrassed about the openness of a court action. Moreover, the applicant may be aware that few applications result in the grant of a protection order. In 1994, only 39% of the applications had a positive outcome, and this could be for a variety of reasons: pressure may be exerted on the victim to drop the case; a case may be withdrawn due to impatience with regards to the number of adjournments, or because the victim has resolved the situation with the accused and returns to the family home through economic dependency, and for the benefit of her children.

Society’s tolerance of the subordinate treatment of women is a major hindrance. Moreover, the practice of blaming the victim, and making excuses for the accused, can even be witnessed in the statements of respected members of Parliament, and in prominent newspapers. In 1996, the ex Prime Minister, Mr. Basdeo Panday, had been quoted as saying that women provoke domestic violence through seeking restraining orders.

It is of great concern, however, that despite the provisions of the DVA 1999, there is anecdotal evidence that gender-based violence is still on the increase, and this problem needs to be effectively remedied.

Obtain data concerning the number of women who have brought domestic violence cases before the courts and concerning women who have benefited from protection orders, or the number of women who have been killed through domestic violence, is difficult since the Central Statistical Office does not classify data by way of gender.

In the case of rape generally, there are problems which surround the definition of consent. If a woman is ‘immoral’, that is, a prostitute, or a lesbian, she abrogates her right to give consent if she is raped. In addition to this, although the legislation provides that mentally subnormal women are not able to consent to sexual relations, a disturbing number of these women are mothers to as many as six or seven children, and are also subject to physical abuse.

Other concerns include the fact that the Sexual Offences Act does not directly protect women from sexual harassment at work, and also despite the harsh penalty relating to incest under section eight of the Act, the statistics show a disturbingly high level of reported cases.

On the topic of Maternity Leave, it has been found that The Maternity Protection Act No. 4 of 1998 is discriminatory in that it does not provide for a minimum level of maternity leave benefits for women who are Members of Parliament. And while various pieces of legislation protect women’s rights to maternity leave benefits and protection, that protection extends only to a woman’s first pregnancy. Paternity leave rights and benefits also remain unaddressed in the legislation and in the report.

Household Assistants can access Maternity leave under the Maternity Benefits Act. This category of workers is, however, still not considered a “worker” in many of the existing labour laws. The Gender Affairs Division should be advocating on their behalf. Instead a struggling union, the National Union of domestic Employees (NUDE) with very little resources, make representation for these workers, with little or no assistance from the Ministry.

The Gender Affairs Division of the Ministry of Culture and Gender Affairs, develops policies on gender and monitors the mainstreaming of gender perspectives, in order to change social attitudes towards women, and to improve the application of anti-discriminatory legislation. A Domestic Violence Unit has been established at the Ministry which operates a Domestic Violence Hotline, and 15 ‘safe-houses’ have been constructed (although only one of them is located in Tobago). In addition to this, 16 counseling centers have been set up by the Family Services Division of the Ministry of Social and Community Development, and gender-sensitive training for the public officials has been undertaken.

In 2000, the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) established a domestic violence training programme for Police officers and Social Workers, and the Rape Crisis Society raised public awareness about sexual violence, and lobbies for changes in legislation which discriminates against women. The Trinidad and Tobago Juvenile Bureau and Counseling Unit also handles cases of rape, abuse and incest sensitively.

Incidences of violence and the acceptance of such behaviour among young people is an especially serious issue. Young people, in groups such as Rapport, which deal with sexual health and family life as well as in other appropriate NGOs (for example the YMCA) and youth groups, should be trained to facilitate workshops in schools and communities by and for youth.

Recently, UNAids announced its recommendation that prostitution be made legal and be recognized as work in Trinidad as a way of protecting sex workers. The government has not recognized the existence of the sex trade between Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean islands as exotic dancers and others are sent to different countries. Sex tourism itself needs far greater recognition by government whose plans for tourism have not accounted for a sex trade that grows around demand by foreigners for prostitutes. The experience of Tobago and other countries pursuing a “hospitality” agenda all point to the urgent need for prostitution to be factored into tourism development plans.

Since “living on the earnings of prostitution is an indictable offence under the Sexual Offences Act”, this may prevent a prostitute from reporting sexual exploitation thereby perpetuating a cycle of exploitation.

Students are not supposed to be debarred from obtaining an education as a consequence of pregnancy. However, in some cases school principals deny girls re-entry into schools for fear of them “ influencing other female students “ and setting a bad precedent. Their male counterparts who father children can remain anonymous and are therefore allowed to remain in school.

In 2001 there have been some promising signs of a new governmental commitment to establish a national Cancer screening programme through collaboration with PAHO and key service providers such as Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago. Once this programme has been established and a reliable system has been implemented to ensure that information from all cancer screening service providers is collected, then an accurate national assessment of cancer prevalence rates can be made. National Budgets should accommodate for greater levels of expenditure on Public Health. Additionally, recent allegations of corruption within Regional Health Authorities must be taken seriously as misuse and misappropriation of finances allocated for health directly affect all members of the national community.

Section 23 of the Marriage Act, Chap 45:01 also needs to be reviewed as this section states that it is permissible for children who are minors to marry once the consent of both parents is given. In the event that the child is not in favor of the marriage in spite of consent given by both parents this section leaves room for coercion of children into marriage.