PHASE 11 OF THE IPSV CAMPAIGN

INTIMATE PARTNER SEXUAL VIOLENCE- phase two of the awareness and prevention campaign.

The Association for Population and Development, in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender Equality, Family Welfare and Child Protection began Phase I of its campaign on IPSV and other forms of domestic violence from the dawn of 2017 to the dusk of 2020, reaching thousands of people from all walks of life in the region of Wooton, Barkly, Bambous, Abercombrie and several other strategic places on the island.

Funded by National Social Inclusion Foundation and assisted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare, the Association is now in the process of implementing Phase 11 of the campaign in:

1.   Chebel, Beau Bassin

2.   Karo Kalyptus, Briqueterie

3.   Coteau Raffin, Tamarin

4.   Batimarrais, Riviere des Anguilles

5.   Argy, La Source, Flacq

6.   Camp Lilas, Triolet

The Association is also benefitting from the input of the Sugar industry Labour Welfare Fund in terms of its facilities and human resources.

This project will adopt a Three-Pronged Strategic Methodological Approach to address the problem of IPSV in Mauritius.

1. Community Awareness among members of the community, the stakeholders and the decision making teams.
2. Media Support in a bid to maximize media usage and coverage, including digital media link for greater advocacy and information sharing
3. Social Marketing where community-friendly actors, often called “bystanders”, will be trained to uphold the objects of the campaign.

Phase 11 of the IPSV campaign was kicked off on 16.01.2020 at La Gaulette.

The workshop was animated by Dr. Sangeet Joosery, APD and Ravi Rawa, Coordinator. Some snapshots of the workshop at La Gaulette:

The proposed Half-Day Workshops for awareness on Gender Based Sexual Violence will be held at the centres of the SILWF as follows: 

SN	Day/Date	Time	Venue	Contact Person
1	12.12.19	10.00a.m	Batimarais	Mr. M. Persunnoo, PCDO  57697381
2	23.01.20	10.00a.m
3	20.02.20	10.00a.m
4	19.03.20	10.00a.m
5	3rd Thursday of the month   16.01.20	10.00a.m	Argy	Mr. F. Moossudee, Ag. PCDO   57637112
6	20.02.20	10.00a.m
7	19.03.20	10.00a.m
8	3rd Thursday	5.00p.m	La Gaulette	Mr. G. Bissessur, PCDO  57557930
9	Last Friday of the month   31.01.20	10.30a.m	Colonel Maingard
10	28.02.20	10.30a.m
11	27.03.20	10.30.am
12	2nd Monday as from January 2020   13.01.20	5.00p.m	Batterie Cassée	Mr. L. Biefun, PCDO  57627586
13	10.02.20
14	09.03.20

Un article de Inside News Qui fait état du travail qui est en train de se faire sur la violence domestique.

« Mo ministère pe travay d’arrache-pied pou diminuer la violence domestique »

January 17, 2020

Kalpana Koonjoo Shah, ministre de l’Égalité du genre et du Bien-être de la Famille, revient sur les dernières législatives tout en évoquant son baptême de feu sur le terrain. « Coup d’essai coup de maître… » Elle nous parle également de son « input » dans la réalisation du Children Bill.
Répondant à une question suite à une hausse enregistrée au niveau de la violence domestique, Kalpana Koonjoo-Shah nous avance : « Mo ministère pe travay d’arrache-pied pou diminuer la violence domestique… »

L'ENTREVUE EN IMAGE

WOMEN AS CARING PARTNERS-

Regardless of the UN statistics pointing to women being overwhelmingly victims of IPSV or of domestic violence at the hands of men (this phenomenon having been attributed to the aggressive dominance of men over women under the blanket term of traditional "patriarchal societies" and to toxic masculinities), fathers / men victims of IPSV or of domestic violence ( apparently / officially around 10% to 15% of the global population who are victims of IPSV or of domestic violence are men) are, on the other hand, making themselves more heard.

Men , including fathers, are getting to be more articulate, in spite of having been labelled as being emotionally illiterate and unexpressive.

The case is even being made that judicial systems, especially Family Courts, around the world are gender-biased in favour of mothers, and that fathers experience institutionalised violence.

One would have expected that under patriarchal societies men would have benefited from the brotherly protection of men against violence from women, but strangely enough this has not been generally the case traditionally. So ...it looks like that the current response from men is a delayed one, and may amplify. It may even be a reaction to the mainstream, current dominant feminist discourses or narratives. It may in the near future imply a rethink on the allocation of resources to address IPSV and domestic violence," TOUTE PROPORTION RESPECTEE ".

If silence is not an option for women , so it is it should equally not be for men.. Violence is violence , whoever be the perpetrator. The role of women in perpetrating or generating IPSV or domestic violence , or just violence , may be increasingly the subject of research. Is it a self-protective reaction against patriarchal dominance, a sort of defence mechanism to protect the integrity of the self? Is it a consequence of underlying existential or psycho-behavioural pathologies resulting from childhood trauma? Is violence inherited from intergenerational, dysfunctional family systems ? How do men and women learn to become violent ? Who sows the seeds of violence in the minds of both genders? And how and when are these seeds sown? Hypotheses are being formulated and tested.

When we speak of IPSV or of Domestic Violence we are speaking essentially of well-scoped and well-defined phenomena, and of a defined population of perpetrators and of victims, irrespective of the degree and severity of the violence. We are here essentially speaking of pathological states of being or of behaviour, admittedly to varying degrees of severity on a case-by-case basis. In this context , psychological trauma experienced in early childhood for multiple reasons, including the separation of the newly-born baby from the mother, have a lasting negative impact on brain development. Under such conditions, healthy interpersonal communication is impaired , listening skills and the ability to be rational , calm and empathetic are impaired. Learning abilities are impaired. Non-violent communication is impaired. Blindness takes over.

The huge challenge would to restore these positive abilities and qualities, restore positive power and sanity in the minds of perpetrators of violence and victims of violence, and restore / reinstate healthy communication lines. Change the mental softwares. This is a journey of unlearning and learning, a deprogramming and reprogramming of the mind. This was one of the themes hinted at during the recent intervention of the APD on Radio Cool FM.

Women as caring partners is as relevant to society as Men as caring partners.

The Fathers’ Rights Movement Undermines Victims of Domestic Violence

Kelly Behre is a visiting associate professor of law at West Virginia University and the incoming director of the Family Protection and Legal Assistance Clinic at the University of California, Davis.

Updated June 13, 2014, 3:33 PM

A social movement that promotes equal rights for men who want to parent their children is essentially feminist. But the current fathers’ rights movement is not.

I could simply point to the fathers’ rights fringe groups, with their misogynist rants and close ties to the men’s rights movement, to make the case that the movement is not only anti-feminist but anti-women.

The fathers' rights movement is characterized by thinly veiled misogyny.

But even the more moderate groups within the fathers’ rights movement engage in a backlash against feminism when they attempt to discredit the experiences of female victims of intimate partner violence and roll back legal protections for all victims of domestic and sexual violence.

Self-proclaimed fathers’ rights activists minimize the well-documented prevalence and severity of domestic violence against women, accusing domestic violence advocates of promoting false allegations that alienate children from their parents.

Many fathers’ rights activists argue that women perpetuate as much, if not more, violence against intimate partners and that most domestic violence is mutual, ignoring or discounting all research to the contrary. They accuse programs that serve battered women of discrimination on the basis of sex, even to the point of bringing (unsuccessful) lawsuits against them on equal protection claims.
They respond to the higher rates of homicide and serious injury committed against women by intimate partners by blaming victims, advocates and court systems, rather than the actual perpetrators of violence. Many even lobbied against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

The utilization of equality and civil rights language does not change the underlying call for the reinstatement of patriarchy in the fathers’ rights movement. Harkening back to a time when men had near absolute control over children as property, activists advocate for male property rights that trump both the best interests of children and the safety of battered mothers.

Source:The New York Times--Room for debate.