Martha Palma, Delvorine Duhaney, Lorna Wade, and this week Irene Gibson. Those are the names that this year put a public face on the hidden scourge of domestic violence. And over the past four years, police statistics show that 9 women in Belize were killed as a result of domestic violence and last year the reported cases of domestic abuse jumped to 1240 compared to the 779 in 2002. Today Belize joined the world in observing a day to eliminate violence against women. Also known as "purple ribbon day," Zero Tolerance Day was observed under the theme, "Silence is killing our women! Break the silence, stop the violence." This morning a new campaign against domestic violence was launched at the Radisson Hotel with that as the central message. Keith Swift reports.
Lorna Wade, Domestic Abuse Survivor
[June 8th 2004] "He hit me in my back and my foot and then continued hitting me in my head and I screamed and told my son to go and scream for help because he was going to kill me."
When a badly beaten Lorna Wade spoke to me from her hospital bed earlier this year her story of abuse was a shocking but sober reminder of the toll of domestic violence and gender based violence activists say Lorna's case is merely a symptom.
Diane Haylock, Haven House
"More and more women are being killed and maimed as a result of violence at the hands of men in our society and to a large extent the problem is escalating because enough is not being done. To a large extent the struggle has been one that has been led by women and we are saying is that the violence we are talking about involves both sexes: men and women and if we want the other sex to be able to stop it hen they have got to be a part of that process."
A process which started this morning when the Ministry of Health, Pan American Health Organization, the Haven House Shelter, and other related NGOs and government departments launched a campaign against domestic violence. And it will take all these agencies because domestic violence is no longer a just social issue; it is a public health concern.
Dr. Natalie Largaespada, Ministry of Health
"The problem with gender based violence is that it is not a cut that you can just stitch and it heals by itself. Domestic violence is a problem that can remain for life if the person don't seek help or don't speak out that they've been a victim of violence."
"Only 10% of the women that suffer from domestic violence seek help so we will have to multiply this 3300 by 7 and then that would give us a figure of 21,000 and if we are talking about the majority of the cases are women and the majority of the victims are women then we can roughly assume that one out of every three women based on the number of women in reproductive age in Belize, which is 60,000, we cans say is a victim of domestic violence."
Those are startling numbers which is why Diane Haylock who sits on the board of the Haven House shelter says they will be taking a new approach to fighting the problem.
Diane Haylock,
"We are in this particular campaign really inviting men and encouraging them to take stock with this issue and realize that they can help end the violence that's being meted out to our women. Secondly the violence is happening and we are not talking enough about it and this is why one part of the theme is break the silence and break it in the sense that not just the women who are the victims need to speak out but also people who see the violence being perpetrated they need to speak out. Everybody needs to speak out."
And it will probably take men like Pete Castillo who says he is as masculine as they come. But being macho hasn't stopped this unlikely advocate from speaking out against domestic violence.
Pete Castillo, Breaking his silence
"It doesn't mean that you are less of a man if you speak out against women being hurt or injured in her home. You are not less of a man. In fact I think you are more of a man if you can stand up and break that silence and speak out against violence against women. We need to change that traditional view of men which say we have to be macho."
"Its like a revolving door: we heard it from our parents and our parents taught us this and we continue teaching our children. So definitely it's hard for men to accept that 'I must give in to my woman or I must give in to my wife' but we need to learn there is nothing wrong with that. The whole masculine concept needs to be changed, we can still be macho, we can still be aggressive, we can still be assertive without the violent part of us."
Strong words from a strong man and it is men like that Pete that gender based violence activists are looking to this time to help them break the silence and the cycle of violence.
Zero Tolerance Day continued this afternoon with a candlelight vigil and march in downtown Belize City.