Raising awareness of and supporting victims of domestic abuse |20 January 2015

What does domestic abuse mean to you? How do you continuously raise awareness and support the victims of domestic abuse?
These are some of the questions being addressed during a four-day workshop (from January 19-22) funded by the British high commission and conducted by Jane Shackman of the Victim Support. It is also being facilitated by the department of social affairs.

Some 20 delegates from various government agencies and non-governmental organisations are taking part in this workshop being held at the Reflecs 3, Victoria.
The aim of the workshop is to increase awareness of the impact of domestic violence and abuse and the issues facing the victims and also to provide the delegates with more knowledge, skills and confidence to support victims of domestic violence and abuse.

The principal secretary for social affairs, Linda William-Melanie, noted in her opening remarks that although Seychelles is blessed in so many ways, in that there is no war or conflict, yet, this paradise of ours has not been spared from the global evil of gender-based violence.

“And sadly, it is our very homes, our most sacred and private space, that is the setting of this violence that is robbing so many individuals of their humanity and dignity,” she noted.

She said government’s position is clear: gender-based violence is a crime that must never be tolerated, and that is why we have joined the rest of the world in campaigns such as ‘UNITe for Peace to end Gender-Based Violence’ and ‘Orange day’ on the 25th of every month which both were launched by the United Nations.

Mrs William-Melanie also noted that over the years concrete policies and strategies have been developed. “We are also in the process of finalising the national gender policy and sectoral action plans which will be launched later this year as well as developing the appropriate legislation on domestic violence.

“It is encouraging to see that some of our hard work is bearing results. Figures from 2011 to 2014 show that there has been a decrease of 26% in persons who registered cases at the Probation Services. And for the same period, there was another decrease of 31% in persons who applied for Protection Orders. Let me reiterate however that while these figures are encouraging we still have work to do. We still have to remain vigilant and committed because there are still too many victims, the majority of whom are women. Last year 90% of all applications for Protection Orders were made by women,” Mrs William-Melanie remarked.

The deputy British high commissioner, Dave Jones, stated that 2015 is the target year for achieving the goals of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, a protocol to which Seychelles is, commendably, a signatory.

“I applaud the work done by Minister Meriton, the fantastically dedicated staff of the department of social affairs and all agencies which have together worked to meet these goals. But we are all aware that, despite the massive strides forwards already made, there remains much work to be done. At the end of last year the British high commission worked with local partners to deliver a series of events during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence intended to add momentum to this process. The headline activity was our Empowering Women in Business event, at which the British high commissioner, Lindsay Skoll, spoke about the need for a cultural shift away from self-limiting beliefs and age old social inequalities. But the cultural shift that we, and our society, must make to successfully dismantle the last vestiges of acceptance of gender-based violence, is far greater and of far greater importance,” Mr Jones said.

Mr Jones also noted that around the world 35% of women and girls experience some form of physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
“I read last week that in the last three years, here in Seychelles, five female sex workers have been murdered. Nobody has stood trial for any of these killings. Why were these women’s lives disposable? Why did we allow them to be victims? Why has our society not given them justice? ‘Find the strength’ is the motto of Victim Support. Let’s do that together today,” he concluded.