Domestic violence has been on a rise in the BVI since 2016.
According to recent data shared by Gender Affairs Coordinator Tara Sue Morgan, the territory has consistently recorded over 100 reported cases annually, with a majority of victims being women.
“From 2016 there’s a constant increase… over the years you can see the trend and it always so happened that based on the reports from police that women [are] always double in reports. It’s always double or triple… There has never been a year, even in 2017 where we have had under 100 reports and it is trending up”, she said.
In the month of October, the BVI joins the international community in observance of “Domestic Violence Awareness Month”.
As explained by Morgan, this is a period of increased focus on understanding the issue of domestic violence and how it can be addressed.
“Domestic violence awareness month is the month in which we try to bring awareness to the issue of domestic violence. It is not the only month in which we talk about it but it’s a month in which we highlight it – we bring a special light to the issue of domestic violence… The mission is to get the word out to as many persons as we can around the territory and even if persons want to listen in from outside of the territory… for persons to know what it is, how is it you can deal with it and what is there for you – what can be there to help you”, she said.
Morgan explained that a key aspect of understanding the issue is knowing exactly what domestic violence is, stating as too often, persons tend to unknowingly limit the issue to only intimate partner violence.
“Domestic violence is any act of intimidation that’s brought against somebody or violent act that is brought against somebody which is normally related to somebody trying to achieve power over the other person. Specifically to the BVI when we speak about domestic violence we refer to persons who are intimate partners. So a lot of times, people will interchange domestic violence for intimate partner violence but it’s more than that”, she said.
Morgan went on to explain, “It could be violence against your grandmother, a child in the household or among parents in the household. They don’t have to be married, they don’t have to be in a relationship because it could be persons who are just cohabiting.”
Morgan also noted that the issue of domestic violence is also very broad in the manners of which it can manifest, ranging from physical and sexual abuse to emotional abuse, psychological abuse and economical abuse as well.