With April being designated Sexual Awareness Month, the Asking For It sexual awareness exhibition which is currently being held at the Umana Yana is playing a vital role in appealing to all sections of society.
The exhibition, which features depictions of real stories of survivors of sexual abuse and depictions of clothing they wore during the horrific ordeals will be on display until April 7.
Students in particular are taking the opportunity to be educated and informed about this issue as the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security in close collaboration with Imperial House continue to host informative sessions at the venue.
The ministry noted that the aim is for students to know their rights and take a stand against this sexual violence.
“We cannot live in a country or exist in a state where all we do is cast blame: Who should have done, what they should have done and when it should have been done. We should be much more than that. We need to start with education and awareness, where it needs to happen first, at home, in families and schools, in communities, in religious settings…,” Human Services and Social Security Minister, Dr Vindhya Persaud said during the launch of the exhibition on April 1.
The Sexual Offences Act of 2010 is currently being reviewed, with one of the key introductions being the Sexual Offenders Database.
“We will only add to it to make it stronger, more forceful. But for all of this to take effect, for any legislation to be effective, the steps before that are important. Report it to 914, making a report at the police station, and in the case of children, making a report at the Child Protection Agency. Child abuse is a reportable offence. In addition to that we need to have the continued collaboration, the strengthened collaboration of every stakeholder. Everyone has their role to play. While we have the role of education, awareness, protection, safety, security, and also intervention in cases of child matters or child protection or child abuse, we want to ensure that law enforcement also does their bit. We want to ensure every aspect that needs to step in happens in a matter a short time so that justice can be meted out and perpetrators held accountable,” she emphasised.
