Change vital to help the young

Perhaps he should not have placed his comments in the context of the bedroom and therefore, unfortunately, it took some of the women’s group off the true message the PM was trying to convey.

Interestingly, members of the Police Service are often lambasted for not being sensitive enough in dealing with abuse complaints from women. However, the same officers, having intervened, are faced with situations where the very victims return to abusive situations and even defend the abusers and blame the very police for pursing matters before the court.

Unfortunately, for many of these victims, these cases end tragically — and sometimes the abuser as well.

Diana Mahabir-Wyatt, who has championed the cause of women in TT , has pleaded for the education system to include in the school curriculum topics that would speak to, inter alia, the building of self-esteem and selfworth so that young people leaving school will not only graduate with the five GCE passes but the required life skills that would help them to make healthy decisions as they navigate through the many challenges they will have to face in this life.

No one should ever blame a victim for being the cause of his or her own death, but anyone, whether politician, church leader, civic group official, educator or parent, who has a responsibility and the opportunity to make a difference and does not do what is required of him/her, must ask, “What could I have done so that victims would not feel so powerless that they cannot recognise danger and have the confidence and strength in themselves to move away” Or that perpetrators of violence should feel so trapped that they cannot see any other options for dealing with difficult situations other than killing someone, especially the person they profess to love.

It is time we rethink how we prepare our young people to face a changing and stressful world.

Joan Gower de Chabert Justice of the Peac