Protecting women and children must start within homes and extend across communities, Human Services and Social Security Minister Dr Vindhya Persaud said on Wednesday.
Dr Persaud, who is also President of the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha, was addressing patrons at Deep Jale 2026 at the Palmyra Indian Monument Site in Berbice. She said Diwali's message of light overcoming darkness should encourage people to confront social ills, including the killing of children and the murder and abuse of women.

"We're seeing a number of cases where children are killed and brutalized, where women are murdered and hurt. We're seeing those cases in Guyana," she said.
Against that backdrop, she urged citizens to remember the victims and their families, but said protection required more than prayers and sympathy. As families light their diyas, she said, each person should also commit to identifying and reporting violence and abuse in their communities.
"Not only should you pray for their souls to find peace and for their families to have comfort through the grace and blessings of the Divine, but everyone should play a part in ensuring that they look out for the children and the women in their community and report the cases of violence and abuse," she said.

Dr Persaud stressed that responsibility must also begin at home, and that protection could not be left solely to authorities or those directly affected by abuse.
"More than that, ensure that their own homes are not spaces and places where violence and abuse continue to be perpetrated. No one should see themselves as separate from this," she said.
Linking the festival to the realities facing society, she said Diwali should inspire people to confront harmful practices that undermine the safety of families.
"Diwali speaks of light, and if we are truly to have the kind of life that we want to experience across our country, these are the real ills in our community that we have to eradicate. And we must talk about them," she said.

She added that the values of the Festival of Lights must extend beyond religious observance into everyday treatment of others, particularly women and children.
"While it's a festival of puja, prayer, and celebration, we must ensure that we do the things that our dharma prescribes, which includes bearing responsibility for having very stable homes where the environment in our homes do not at all encourage any sort of violence and abuse," she said.