by KEVIN EDMONDS
PHOTO/ Jennifer Yang/Toronto Star
When crime and the Caribbean is uttered in the same sentence, a reference to the drug trade is unfortunately not far behind. While the drug trade is a tragic epidemic in its own right, the fracturing of families and communities by economic restructuring has led to a dramatic increase in domestic violence throughout the region. What makes matters worse is that domestic violence is often trivialized and left out of context, therefore severely hindering efforts to implement meaningful and lasting reforms.
A case in point can be made with the comments by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Girlyn Miguel on January 12. Miguel chastised the island’s women by asking them “to dress themselves properly” so that they “do not give temptation to our men.” Miguel continued issuing more of an observation than a condemnation of domestic violence stating, “we need to educate our girls, give them a chance. . . . if they make any mistakes, if they do not do the things which are right, we do not have to kill them, we do not have to chop them, we need to have that love in our hearts.”
The fact that these comments were made by the island’s Minister of Education, who also happens to be the lone female cabinet member and parliamentary representative, is bad enough. However considering that St. Vincent is also the femicide capital of the Eastern Caribbean makes Miguel’s lack of sensitivity and insight all the more inexcusable. In the first three weeks of 2012 alone, St. Vincent—a country with a population of roughly 120,000—tragically lost three women to domestic violence.
This crisis is not new. In 2007 St. Vincent had the third-highest rate of reported rapes in the world, according to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report. Even the current Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has been accused of sexual assault, once by a policewoman and once by a Toronto lawyer. Both charges have since been withdrawn, but not without controversy. Recently released WikiLeaks reports have highlighted that Gonsalves offered $185,000 for the policewoman to drop the charges.