Remembrance for femicide victims in Trinidad & Tobago raises awareness of gender-based violence · Global Voices
Screenshot taken from a public Facebook video posted by Womantra, chronicling some of the events from ‘Orange Day: Remembrance for Victims of Gender-based Violence’, which took place in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on January 25, 2020.
In the heart of Port of Spain, opposite to Trinidad and Tobago's newly refurbished Red House, is a tree-shaded oasis that, thanks to its history of political oratory and protest, has long been known as “The University of Woodford Square” or “The People's Parliament.”
On January 25, 2020, gender activists converged on Woodford Square to lend their voices to an issue that has been plaguing the country for some time — gender-based violence (GBV).
The event, a remembrance for local victims of femicide, took place on Orange Day — a United Nations observance on the 25th of each month to raise awareness about GBV.
Infographic of the six demands that stakeholders are asking for; these are outlined in their petition to the government to respond to the plague of gender-based violence in Trinidad and Tobago. Image courtesy Womantra, used with permission.
Several civil society organisations and women's rights defenders, including CAISO (which fights for sex and gender justice), Womantra (a woman-centered non-profit), the country's Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Family Planning Association and the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at The University of the West Indies’ St. Augustine campus, came together to honour victims and call on the state to take action to protect the lives of women and girls.
Stakeholders, which number 20 civil society organisations, also circulated an online petition demanding, among other things, increased accountability and transparency in preventing and combating GBV, improved support for the national systems that provide services to survivors and victims, amendments to the Domestic Violence Act, and an investment in social reformation programmes to facilitate cultural change.
Women's right activists outside the Red House in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Screenshot taken from a public Facebook video, posted by Womantra, which shows different aspects of ‘Orange Day’, a remembrance for victims of gender-based violence, which took place on January 25, 2020.
According to statistics shared at the event, 20 women were killed in Trinidad and Tobago as a result of gender-based violence over the last year alone. However, in January 2020, three femicides occurred in rapid succession, prompting the ‘Orange Day’ action. 941
University lecturer and co-director of CAISO, Dr. <PERSON>, suggested some of these deaths could have been prevented, as “people knew” that the women had been threatened: “If the reporting mechanisms worked, those women would be alive.”
Infographic on the three femicides that took place in Trinidad and Tobago on January 5, 6 and 8, 2020. Image courtesy Womantra, used with permission.
In her own address, <PERSON>, general manager of the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, mourned the women “whose lives have been taken away from them by men whose notions of manhood are tied to the exercise of power and control over women.”
On January 21, just days before the remembrance, The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) launched a new Gender-Based Violence Unit, which will focus on cases of domestic violence and breaches of restraining orders. Noting that giving the police valuable information helps save lives, Commissioner of Police <PERSON> encouraged witnesses to make reports about GBV.
<PERSON>, head of the newly formed GBV unit of the TTPS, was present at the ‘Orange Day’ event.
Victim-blaming and the socialisation of young men
Sadly, a few days after the event, the country lost yet another woman to intimate partner violence — and the Newsday, which headlined the story “Relatives: Killer was pushed over the edge,” was roundly criticised for how it chose to frame the incident:
In a public Facebook post, <PERSON> said:
Don't you dare blame the victim.
Fed up of people making excuses for violence.
Fellow Facebook user <PERSON> added:
This is a deplorable headline and overall deplorable report. <PERSON>'s relatives believe that he is the real victim — not the person he murdered in cold blood.
One of the men who attended the ‘Orange Day’ remembrance for victims of gender-based violence in Trinidad and Tobago on January 25, 2020. Screenshot taken from a public Facebook video posted by Womantra.
Several male social media users weighed in as well. 957