As cases of sexual violence in Guyana increase, citizens are mounting protest actions,Cheap Jerseys Store, demanding justice for victims as well as the implementation of plausible mechanisms to end the scourge.The protest line outside the Brickdam Police Station, on Wednesday last.Concerned citizens, and representatives of Non-Governmental Organisations, (NGO),Wholesale Shoes Uk Cheap, held a picketing exercise outside the Brickdam Police Station last Wednesday, renewing calls for law enforcement agencies to up the ante in tackling such cases.Many on the protest line shared the view that most times cases of rape,Cheap Jerseys From China, sexual harassment, sexual molestation and other types of sexual violence are often unreported and under-reported because there is an overall public perception that such matters are not properly dealt with by the police and often end in a miscarriage of justice.The protestors, mostly women, called on the police to take the necessary steps to eliminate such a perception from the minds of members of the public.Joy Marcus of the Red Thread organization noted that people often view reporting the matter to the police as a waste of time.“A lot of persons opt not to report the matter or not to follow through with their reports. Most people don’t see the point. They would rather take actions into their own hands, which could only result in even more violence,” Marcus said.As such she said that police must work to ensure that those who are brave enough to go through a painful process of reporting such crimes receive justice.“Our main purpose out here today is to say to all the justice institutions …that you must do your work and don’t do a sloppy job,Hydro Flask Uk,” Marcus said noting that a lot of times cases are thrown out for lack of evidence.“To the police especially carrying out investigations…If you do your work properly then you can ensure that justice can be served. People who went through this horrible ordeal have to live with this for the rest of their lives and it’s harder to live with it knowing that the perpetrators are out here to do it to other people.”“We all have to stand together to ensure that justice is served. We could stop it from happening to others and even to ourselves,” she said.Danuta Radzick of Help and Shelter shared similar sentiments.She said that cases of sexual violence are not being reported because “people often feel like what’s the point. They don’t feel that they will get justice from the police or the court system.”Radzick called on the authorities to give the police the resources which are needed to adequately address cases of sexual violence. She said police need to be trained continuously to address sexual violence in a comprehensive manner.The Help and Shelter representative noted that police ranks should be able to adequately understand and interpret the laws and the contents of the Sexual Offences Act since they are the ones tasked with implementing it.“We live in a country where sexual violence is tolerated. There is tolerance for sexual violence so when it happens and of course the victims of sexual offences tend to be children and young people… These are categories of persons in Guyana that pass for grass,Discount Air Max 720,” the woman stressed,Dallas Cowboys Jersey White, adding that the police need to be aware of some of the best practices throughout the Caribbean and inculcate these when dealing with matters as sensitive and serious as these.Citizens against Rape representative (CAR), Nicole Cole referred to the issue as a silent epidemic. She noted that a lot of survivors of rape and other types of sexual violence suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, (PTSD) but have no method of dealing with it.Cole said that sexual violence in Guyana warrants a public health approach.This approach, the CAR representative says consists of “what you call Continuous Quality Improvement, (CQI) that means every six months health officials can review the plan to see what is working and what is not.”Noting that violence and sexual violence is being referred to by the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon as a public health crisis, Cole said there is a call to scale up the public health response in regards to the issue, “because survivors of rape need closure and need to see convictions under the criminal justice system. We have 14 year- olds and 10 year -olds giving birth.”Meanwhile, concerned citizen Vidyaratha Kissoon, who stood in solidarity with those involved in the picketing exercise noted that police need to be more consistent in their responses to these types of crimes.Kissoon pointed to the need for a Special Victims Unit, (SVU) at the various police districts,China College Jerseys, to deal specifically with crimes of sexual violence.“Some police do very well and some don’t and you can’t keep claiming it is training (they need)…As it stands there are no guarantee that when you walk into a police station you are going to get a professional response,” the man said.He called on the law enforcement officials to ensure the implementation of such a Unit.“Each division should have a Special Victims Unit set up with police who want to deal with these cases and who are trained to carry out an investigation efficiently,” Kissoon added. (Rehanna Ramsay)