UN Women MCO Caribbean and INL Launch Justice Program in The Bahamas

L-R Melvelyn Symonette, Assistant Director- Department of Gender and Family Affairs; ACP Janet Mckenzie, Royal Bahamas Police Force, Domestic Violence Unit; Tonni Brodber- Representative, UN Women Multi-Country Office – Caribbean; Honorable Wayne R. Munroe KC, MP. - Minister of National Security; June Collie, Senior Under Secretary, Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting; Todd Christiansen- Director, INL; and the Honorable Mme Senior Justice Cheryl-Grant Thompson, Supreme Court.

Nassau, Bahamas – A new program aimed at enhancing the response to victims and survivors of violence and youth crime in The Bahamas was launched yesterday (Thursday, 18 April) by UN Women Multi-Country Office (MCO) - Caribbean, and the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Section within the U.S. Embassy in Nassau.

The “Vulnerable Population Response for Bahamas Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Agencies Program” is a three-year initiative which will be implemented in collaboration with a wide range of justice stakeholders locally. The program is designed to prioritize access to justice for marginalized populations, enhance redress and support mechanisms for survivors and victims of violence, and provide long-term rehabilitation support for perpetrators. The program will also support the enhanced capacity of law enforcement and criminal justice agencies in the Bahamas and implement sustainable solutions for enhanced peace and security.

The three-part program seeks to address these issues through:

• An assessment of the current government and Civil Society Organizations’ (CSO) violence prevention and response systems and victim/survivor support mechanisms.
• The creation and implementation of harmonized judicial and law enforcement response protocols and training.
• Strategic Violence Prevention and Response Interventions, including working with perpetrators towards addressing GBV and youth crime, which are continued threats to security and safety.

Delivering remarks at the launch, Tonni Brodber, Representative, UN Women MCO – Caribbean said: “All of us need to hold each other accountable…to deliver on what we all agreed is necessary for a better world. For the United Nations, it is through the Sustainable Development Goals. This is an example of SDG Goal 17 in action, working in partnership with INL, working in partnership with IDB, and taking knowledge and putting action to it.”

Todd Christiansen, INL Director, U.S. Embassy Nassau recognized the leadership of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas “…embracing the GBV justice program and extending its reach to some of the Bahamas more vulnerable populations. Serving the totality of the Bahamian society including its marginalized populations demonstrates your strong commitment to an inclusive society.”

Key Bahamian stakeholders representing the government, civil society, and the justice sector attended the launch, including the Honorable Mme. Senior Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson, Justice of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas; Honorable Wayne R. Munroe KC, MP. - Minister of National Security; and June Collie, Senior Under Secretary, Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting.

The Honorable Wayne R. Munroe noted the importance of prevalence and administrative data stating that “On this class of offences, we really cannot rely on the statistics kept by the Royal Bahamas Police Force alone (sic), who only report offences reported to it, as opposed to offences committed. It is our hope that this program will help bring to the floor and help to shine a bright light on the true number of offences committed in this country.” The Honorable Minister also expressed that: “We are grateful for this assistance in the areas that relate to addressing the circumstances after an offence is committed. We look forward to partnering on efforts and then build towards the first pivot in our crime strategy, which is prevention and properly socialized young men and citizens that would not exercise violence against another citizen.”

L-R Tonni Brodber- Representative, UN Women Multi-Country Office – Caribbean; Dr. Sandra Dean-Patterson, Executive Director- The Bahamas Crisis Centre; June Collie, Senior Under Secretary, Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting; and Melvelyn Symonette, Assistant Director- Department of Gender and Family Affairs.

June Collie, Senior Under Secretary, Ministry of Social Services, Broadcasting, and Information called on the citizenry to, “pause for a moment to reflect on the many lives that are impacted daily by gender-based violence in our country. Think carefully about the victims, the perpetrators, and their family; all that are negatively impacted by violence. We must strategize with precision to address this public health problem. The Government is taking a strict stance on gender-based violence.”

The project places a strong emphasis on long-term, contextual, and collaborative approaches to programming. The project directly contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5 on Gender Equality and Goal 16 on Promoting Peaceful and Inclusive Societies. By directly addressing these targets, the initiative aims to end all forms of violence against women and girls while promoting access to justice and building strong institutions.

Participants from government, civil society, law enforcement, judicial officers, INL and UN partner agencies take a group photo to commemorate the launch.

About UN Women

UN Women is the United Nations (UN) organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programs and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girl. https://caribbean.unwomen.org.

UN Women is a Participating UN Organisation in the UN Joint Program “Integrated Population Data and Policy Solutions for SDGs Acceleration in Barbados and Montserrat”, supported by the UN SDG Fund in collaboration with the governments of the two participating countries. The SDG Joint Program aims to facilitate increased access, availability and completeness of quality, real-time disaggregated spatial and demographic data and gender analysis for evidence-based national sustainable development policies and programs in Barbados and Montserrat.

For further information, please contact:
U.S. Embassy Nassau Public Affairs Section: +1 (242) 322-1181 ext 4253
or
UN Women Multi Country Office - Caribbean: [ Click to reveal ]