Saint Lucia: Govt prepares for Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence

Saint Lucia: The Annual Preparatory Meeting for the Observance of 16 – Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, which was convened on Friday, October 21, 2022, has been deemed a significant success.

The Department of Gender Affairs is coordinating the annual observance of Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence (GBV), recognized worldwide during the period November 25 (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) to December 10 (Human Rights Day).

Director of Gender Agenda Affairs Janey Joseph pointed out that the observance is occurring in the midst of a surge in interpersonal violence generally and an unprecedented increase in family violence and violence against women and girls. She cited an environment of increased and continuous stakeholder engagement as one of the effective channels the Department of Gender Affairs and Home Affairs is seeking to harness, going forward, to ensure a united front is adopted in tackling the concerns related to Gender Violence.

“The stakeholder engagement strategy is being finalized so that we formalize the process of engagement. If everything goes as planned, there will be a monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning officer who would be responsible for ensuring that type of continuous engagement.”

In the spirit of continued collaboration and partnership to end gender-based violence, several governmental and non-governmental organizations attended the preliminary meeting at the Government of Saint Lucia Union Training Institute, including Girls of a feather, the Crisis Center, the Saint Lucia Planned Parenthood Association, the Ministry of Health and the Substance Abuse Advisory Council Secretariat among other partners.