Draft policy tackles gay rights

GOVERNMENT HAS broken its silence on the politically sensitive issues of abortion and gay rights in the Draft National Gender Policy and Action Plan which has just been put out for public comment by the Ministry of Community Develop-ment, Culture and Gender Affairs. The 140-page document, which was prepared by the Centre for Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine, is a response to more than a decade of lobbying by local activists for Govern-ment to “put gender on the agenda.”

Major national issues are addressed in the draft document, compiled following extensive research and several months of community consultations, as well as interest group consultations with the disabled, youth groups, religious organisations, the elderly, the media, the protective services, trade unions, the private sector and women’s and men’s groups. The draft gender policy describes unsafe abortion as a leading cause of maternal deaths in Trinidad and Tobago but notes that data on the matter is incomplete because abortions are only legal in this country under certain conditions.

The document states: “Official data suggest a figure of 25.29 per 100,000 maternities, but this cannot be seen as a total figure.” Under the heading of Reproductive Rights, it is stated that abortion is legally available in TT “only to preserve the physical and/or mental health of the mother and requires corroboration by two medical practitioners. The procurement of a miscarriage is prohibited under the Offences Against the Person Act. However, illegal abortions are widespread, sometimes with a fatal effect. Women are often  hospitalised for abortion related problems whether induced or otherwise.

“In one hospital, the dilation and cutterage procedure for the evacuation of the retained products of conception was performed 1,177 times in 1999 and 615 times between June and September 2000. “The Public Health system has a major responsibility in dealing with the after effects of illegally induced abortions.” Later on in the document it is reported that TT’s public hospitals treat more than 5,000 women annually for complications related to incomplete or poorly performed abortions and that estimates suggest that more than 10,000 illegal abortions are performed in this country annually. The draft gender policy recommends a review of all issues — legal, medical, religious and/or cultural — relating to the termination of a pregnancy.

Reference to gay rights comes in the section of the draft policy that deals with the Equal Opportunity Act 2000, which was drafted to prohibit “certain kinds of discrimination, to promote equality of opportunity between persons of different status, to establish an Equal Opportunity Commission and an Equal Opportunity Tribunal.” Zeroing in on one example of discrimination not covered in the Act, the draft policy states: “Sex as a ground of discrimination is expressly stated to exclude sexual preference. As such, the Act discriminates against the gay and lesbian community and persons with alternative sexualities. “The Act is still in abeyance as the Commission, which is required to receive, investigate and conciliate complaints of discrimination has not been established. While there were claims made in the consultations of discriminatory practices, in the absence of the Commission and Tribunal, redress is some way off.”

The draft policy recommends: “In keeping with its international legal obligations, the state should facilitate public debate on the promotion and protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms of all persons, irrespective of sexual preference or orientation.” The other reference to gay rights comes under the heading of Rape and other Sexual Offences where the recommendation is for review and evaluation of the working of the legislation and for rape and sexual offences in same-sex unions to be brought within the ambit of the Act. The draft policy also offers a gender perspective on a range of national issues, including education, employment and economics, health and medicine, the disabled population and the elderly.

In dealing with gender in the context of TT’s disabled population, the draft policy calls for the treatment of the disabled as “whole productive, social and sexual individuals.” It reports: “The consultation on the disabled population held in Port-of-Spain revealed that disabled women were more susceptible to open sexual abuse as it was felt that they did not have the power to respond to such abuse. “Disabled men were immediately perceived as unable to perform roles of provider or to have full sexual and reproductive lives. One of the main problems which the disabled experienced in society was the difficulty in transportation to occupations or for social purposes. This dependency on assistance for transportation of the disabled population, young and old, continuously places them at risk of sexual and physical abuse and violence.”

The gender policy recommends administration of a gender disaggregated National Census of persons with disabilities, as well as enhancement of public facilities to make education or work more accessible through mandatory building of ramps in all public spaces, lifts and wheelchair friendly pavements. The draft policy also calls for the promotion of programmes to educate the population and make them more sensitive to the needs and rights of the disabled population and for the training of teachers and educators at all levels to deal with the disabled.