Thea Garcia-Ramirez Calls on Belizeans to Fight Domestic Abuse
Belize has seen a concerning spike in domestic violence cases across the country, with several incidents resulting in the tragic death of its victims. While these cases have now come to light due to the heartbreaking loss of lives, every day, hundreds of women in Belize suffer in silence. Many are too afraid to speak up due to the possible negative impacts such as an increase in violence or public prosecution. Today, we spoke with Minister of Human Development, Thea Garcia-Ramirez about the issue. She told us that the issue extends beyond the victim and the abuser and is calling on the wider public to do their part ending the violence.
Thea Garcia-Ramirez, Minister of Human Development
“ For you to feel entitled to ownership of a person, you don’t really see them as a person. You see them as a thing. And so that dehumanization of a human being makes it easy for you to do whatever you feel like with them because you know you could beat them because they’re not like you. They’re less than you and you can beat them and abuse them and treat them however you like because they don’t hold the same value in society, in your eyes as you, and you can kill them. And it doesn’t really matter because it’s like, you know nothing happened. And when it’s met with impunity, when it’s met with no consequences, it happens over and over again. And so when I look at the comments nobody wants to take, nobody really wants to do the, in introspection needed just to really think about how they played a part in any of this as a society. Paul, how are you helping in your capacity as a, as a person in the media, how are you helping, what is the part that you’re playing in maybe that, that these issues persist or how are you helping to make it better for women in Belize and society? We don’t want to think about what we’re doing. It’s easy for you to shift the blame and say, oh, it’s the police, it’s a judiciary. It’s the ministry, it’s that ministry, it’s the government. But we don’t say. We’re not looking at where it starts in the homes. People, children learn what they see, what they experience, not what we tell them and what we teach.”
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