Glenda Simms
Glenda Simms
IN THE March 11, 2004 edition of the New York Times, writer Rachel Swarns informed her readers that John Ashcroft, Attorney-General of the United States, has been given a 43-page legal brief. The brief will prepare him to make the decision on whether or not to grant political asylum to dozens of battered women who are now seeking refuge in the U.S.
The majority of these victims of domestic violence and spousal abuse claim that the authorities in their countries "repeatedly ignored them when they tried to report and escape their abusive partners."
If the Attorney-General approves the rules that are in the brief presented to him the U.S. will allow political asylum to women from many cultures and open "the door to women fleeing countries that condone severe domestic abuse, genital mutilation and other forms of acute violence against women."
The woman whose case has become a cause celebre is Rodi Aluarado Pea of Guatemala. According to Rachel Swarns, a wide cross-section of "unlikely bedfellows" (Conservatives, Evangelicals and Democrats) have thrown their support behind Ms. Pea and are urging government officials to rule in favour of women who are obviously victims of horror in their private lives.
It is reported that Ms. Pea was forced to leave her country because her abusive husband 'dislocated her jawbone and used her head to break windows and mirrors.' The Guatemalan police have the records of the numerous occasions on which Ms. Pea was forced to seek the aid of the State apparatus to take action against her husband who 'routinely raped and sodomised her.' The police declined to investigate these charges. They said it was 'a
domestic matter'.
It is the inability or the refusal of the many nation states to ensure that the victims of gender based violence are given justice and protection that has resulted in countries such as Britain and Australia giving asylum to women who bring their desperate situations to these governments.
VIOLENCE
The fact that a Guatemalan woman's life experiences has touched the consciences of such a wide cross-section of activists and policy makers in the U.S. should not be a surprise to the citizens of Latin America and the Caribbean.
In 1999, Mayra Buvinic, attached to the Inter-American Bank, along with her colleagues Andrew Morrison and Michael Shifter, produced a technical study entitled Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Framework for Action. In this study, the writers cited a PAHO report that identified Guatemala followed by El Salvador, Colombia and Jamaica as the states with the highest levels of homicide rates in the region. The Buvinic et al study makes a distinction between domestic and social violence. Domestic violence is defined by them as violence that occurs between people related to each other through blood or through marriage or common-law. Social violence, on the other hand, is that which occurs between individuals not so related.
Domestic violence is evidenced on the physical, psychological and sexual levels. However, physical violence is the form that is most easily identified and attracts the greatest force of public response.
By the same token, it is the physical aspect of the social violence that has the greatest impact on the societies that have high levels of violence. For instance, it is the murder statistics of Latin America and the Caribbean in general and the disturbing homicide rates of Jamaica, in particular, that is most often reflected in the headlines of the print and electronic media.
The statistics on spousal abuse are usually hidden within the broad categories of either domestic or social violence. Because of this, in Jamaica, for instance, we are not very clear on the magnitude of the violence that textures the lives of all classes of women in the society.
In 2003, the Women's Crisis Centre, which is a non-govern-mental operation, and is the only agency that gives shelter to the limited number of women who are victims of domestic violence, reported that 698 cases of domestic violence; 177 cases of rape; 110 cases of incest; and 548 cases of 'domestic crisis' were dealt with by the staff and volunteers who give the services that they are capable of giving within their limited financial and human resources.
JAMAICANS COULD SEEK ASYLUM
Given this state of affairs, as a society, we should anticipate that some Jamaican women who are victims of gender-based violence will seek political asylum in the U.S. if and when Attorney-General Ashcroft makes his anticipated positive ruling on the issue.
On a number of occasions I have been asked by immigration lawyers in both Britain and the U.S. to give 'expert opinion' on whether or not Jamaican women who have applied should be considered for political asylum on the basis of the gender-based violence that they claimed forced them to leave Jamaica. In all good conscience, I could not argue that the Jamaican state condones such violence. In fact, pieces of legislation such as the Domestic Violence Act and the establishment of Sexual Abuse Units in many police stations and the training of the rank and file in an understanding of the issues that are related to gender-based violence, are all indicators that the State is making great efforts to deal with the violence that is challenging the social stability of the society.
Having said that, at this point I am forced to reflect on the tragic life of Patsy Parkinson. We are told that Ms. Parkinson, a 37-year-old, was brutalised by her husband for nine hours. When her ordeal was over she 'was found dead on her bloodied bed. Near her was a hammer, a pair of scissors and a piece of television cable.' Patsy Parkinson's life as a battered woman was well-known by her community, her family members and in all likelihood by the police and the clergy who serve the community of Little London, Westmoreland.
No one intervened. They all claimed that 'she just got caught in a bad relationship' with a man who had 'mental problems'. Others say 'he was jealous,
possessive and watched Patsy constantly, barely allowing her breathing room.'
Now that Patsy is dead, her neighbours and family will no doubt kill the ram goat, cook the curry, drink some white rum and 'get in the spirit in the local church' as they lay her to rest.
Let us face the issues squarely. If women such as Patsy Parkinson seek political asylum in the U.S., Britain or Australia, they should be supported in their bid because the Jamaican state is not able to provide the full range of services such as shelters, counselling, relocation and therapies that are needed to protect women who are victims of gender-based violence.
Dr. Glenda P. Simms is the executive director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs.
