PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – President of Parliament Hon. Sarah Wescot-Williams, expresses her support to the Safe Haven Foundation in its initiative to create awareness for “Domestic Violence Awareness Month” for November.
Safe Haven, offers services and shelter for abused women and their children. It was started in 1998 followed by the opening of their shelter in 1999.
Domestic violence is the wilful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behaviour as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another.
It includes physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, and emotional abuse.
The international community has increasingly recognized violence against women as a public health problem, a violation of human rights, and a barrier to economic development.
In 1993, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly formally recognized women’s right to live free of violence in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, as did the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women in 1994.
Evidence indicates that the patterns, risk factors, and consequences of violence against women are different than those of violence against men, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
“I call on all in our community to support the activities that are planned throughout the month of November by Safe Haven to create awareness about domestic violence,” President of Parliament Hon. Sarah Wescot-Williams said on Sunday.
For those who would like information about Safe Haven’s activities planned for the month of November, they can email: safehaven@caribserve.net or call 9333.
