High rate of women killed, raped, a serious issue

KINGTOWN (CMC):

Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace has described as "very serious", statistics showing that more women have been killed, and reportedly raped, in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) than any other Organisa-tion of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) nation since 2000.

The information was disclosed at the Caribbean Regional Colloquium on Women Leaders as Agents of Change conference held here two weeks ago in Trinidad.

But Eustace said, Monday, that this is a "very serious issue that must be corrected", adding that the statistics "is also, to some extent, telling me how we perceive women and the role of women in our society".

Eustace said he was baffled by the extent of crime against women here in relation to Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.

Yasmin Solitahe Odlum, of the Inter-American Commission, cited official statistics from OECS governments that shows there were 802 cases of rape and 55 sex crimes and incest against minors in St Vincent and the Grenadines during the past 10 years.

Odlum further said that the 802 cases of rape here were in comparison to 569 cases in Antigua and Barbuda; 587 in St. Lucia; 317 in Grenada; 153 in Dominica, and 128 in St Kitts and Nevis.

In terms of rape and sexual assault, the Caribbean is higher than the global average of 15 cases per 1,000 population.

The figures show that since 2000, there were 43 cases of women being killed here, 17 of which resulted from domestic violence.

This compares to 17 in St Lucia, 11 in Dominica, including four minors, two case of which were mothers killing their daughters; and eight 'femicides' each in Antigua and Barbuda and St Kitts and Nevis.