JBA to offer legal-aid assistance to victims of domestic violence
Published:Monday | August 23, 2021 | 12:06 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
Victims of domestic violence who are unable to pay for legal services, including divorce or custody application, will soon be able to access help under a programme that is being spearheaded by The Jamaican Bar Association (JBA).
The programme, which is expected to be launched next week, will provide legal aid assistance to victims of domestic and intimate-partner violence.
Newly elected president of the JBA, Alexander Williams, from whom the idea originated, said the association is currently in talks with a “non-state actor” who has experience in that area and with whom arrangements are being made to offer the service to the public.
“What we’re going to be doing is to have a cadre of attorneys who will be available to the non-state actor, to provide legal aid for such women in the main,” he explained.
“We would, among our membership, assign an attorney to the victim, and this would entail going to court, getting protection orders, and so on,” Williams added.
Further, he noted that if an attorney is needed to watch proceedings on behalf of the victim in the criminal courts, that will also be facilitated.
Williams, who was installed as president of the JBA on July 3, said the need for the initiative arose out of concerns that he had about the increased incidents of domestic violence, and he felt it was a service that the association could provide.
“It is my response to what I’ve been seeing happening in the public sphere. A consultant who has been doing a lot of work in that area approached me about it, and to the extent that I see that there is a need, and there is the ability of the association to take it on, I’ve decided to make it a priority of the bar association’s endeavours this year.
“I know the council is on board and I have received, so far, support from all quarters,” he said.
Since the start of the year, several women have been murdered or severely injured by their partners in domestic disputes across the island, which have sparked calls from different segments of the society for the Government to speed up legislative reform to protect women and girls from abuse.
According to statistics, one in four Jamaican women has been a victim of gender-based violence, having been physically abused by a male partner, while an equal number of women have been sexually abused by men who are not their intimate partners.