Dark Clouds Loom Over Sixteens Days of Activism!

Orange filled the streets of Belize City this morning as activists, leaders, and community members marched from the Civic Center to the House of Culture as part of the launch of Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. This year’s many horrific cases of domestic violence and femicides underscore the need for action more than ever. Shane Williams has this report.

 

Shane Williams, Reporting

This year’s global theme for Sixteen Days of Activism is ‘UNiTE to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls’. It is more than a slogan. It’s a wake-up call to tackle one of the fastest-growing threats: technology-fueled abuse that follows women from their screens and into their lives. Digital violence is real and rising. From cyberbullying to AI-generated deepfakes and online stalking, women and girls are increasingly targeted in virtual spaces. These attacks don’t stay online. They spill into real life, leading to physical harm and even death. Fewer than forty percent of countries have laws against cyber harassment or stalking, leaving 1.8 billion women and girls without legal protection. While Belize has cyberbullying laws, Minister of Human Development Thea Garcia-Ramirez says the legislator must continue to strengthen laws to protect our women.

 

Thea Garcia-Ramirez, Minister of Human Development

“I think I have a duty to ensure, uh, that I do everything within my possibility to help prevent this. Whether it’s by stricter, um, uh, laws that close like loopholes, ensuring that we are able to protect more, that we’re able to advocate for stricter penalties against gender-based violence.”

 

Shared responsibility, that’s the message from local advocates this year. Belize’s theme for Sixteen Days of Activism is ‘Prevent to Protect: Ending Gender-Based Violence Begins with Us.’ The annual parade to launch the campaign faced wet and windy weather, maybe a fitting metaphor for an activism movement overshadowed by alarming levels of violence against women. The numbers are staggering, in just the first eight months of this year, there were one thousand, four hundred and fifty-four reported cases of gender-based violence. Over a thousand of those were committed by an intimate partner, and ninety percent of the victims were women. Minister Thea Garcia-Ramirez says these statistics are sobering, but ignoring them won’t bring change. Her call to action? We all have a role to play in preventing and ending gender-based violence.

 

Thea Garcia-Ramirez

“We need to keep it in the, on the front burner, so to speak. And then we are. Asking that as well as showing the cases, because there are many, and they are horrific that we also try to educate the public where they can get services, where they can call, who they can reach out to. And most importantly that we report, we must report to the relevant authorities. Okay, leaving a comment on Facebook is not reporting. So you need to reach out to the police. You need to reach out to the National Women’s Commission and especially reach out to the ministry to make reports wherever abuse, wherever There is violence report.”

 

Young girls remain the most frequent targets of gender-based violence. According to the Belize Crime Observatory, females under the age of twenty account for the largest percentage of victims. They live in constant fear of being attacked and face uninvited and unwelcomed sexual advances on an almost daily basis. It takes a psychological and emotional toll and young participants in today’s march say they need more protection.

 

Keara Perrera, Student, Edward P. Yorke

“I would say blunt, we have pedophiles and different things, but the shit like a while ago, which is crazy, it is. Somebody ask me, oh, you have a boyfriend? You know? And yes, it is scary. But as a young individual, I am not scared of things like that. I will stand my ground.”

 

Jasmin Navarro, Student, Sadie Vernon

“I am a bit scared most of the times ’cause I travel like directly I’m in the bus and then someone comes and you know, but we need more protection, we need more people that can, well see what. Going on and help others.”

 

While the theme focuses on how technology has added to the gender-based violence pandemic, high school student Keara Perrera believes the disease itself could hold the key to treatment.

 

Keara Perrera

“So to prevent something like this, you know, social media is very active and stuff. We can post things and flyers that basically list things that we should follow and things that we should look out for. Even if our peers are there and they seem fine, things can always be happening and we never know. So it’s okay to, um, to ask them, or you pay attention to the little signs”

 

Today’s march was just the beginning of activities. From now until December tenth, Belize joins the world in saying #NoExcuse for violence, online or offline. Ending gender-based violence begins with all of us. Shane Williams for News Five.