Trinidad and Tobago: State protection for victims of domestic abuse (since September 1998)

Please consult Country Reports 1998 for detailed information on domestic violence and state protection.

Parliament passed the Caribbean's first law on domestic violence in 1991 called the Domestic Violence Act (Los Angeles Times 27 Jan. 1999), which was reportedly under revision in January 1999 in order to offer women more protection (WIN Magazine Jan. 1999). According to activists, however, "little has been done to institutionalize the progressive 1991 law and change traditional attitudes (ibid.; Emerge 31 Mar. 1999).

In 1996, a Community Police Unit was created to "specialize in domestic-abuse cases," reportedly winning "high praise" from women's groups and victims of domestic violence (Los Angeles Times 27 Jan. 1999; IPS 2 Nov. 1998). Despite the positive impact of this scheme, however, it is not enough for activists who stated in late 1998 that the Community Police do not work on weekends when the majority of domestic abuse occurs, and who insist that the police be available 24 hours a day and have over-night shelters at every police station (ibid.).

Official statistics indicate that approximately 20 women and children die every year as a result of domestic violence, and Diana Mahabir-Wyatt, Trinidadian senator and founder of the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition Against Domestic Violence, has stated that there "is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide" (Los Angeles Times 27 Jan. 1999). In 1998 27 women were killed as a result of domestic violence, and 2,282 reports of domestic violence were made, although real figures are presumed even higher (WIN Magazine Jan. 1999). Win Magazine reported in January 1999 that according to the Ministry of Social Development, battered women call the police for help every 20 minutes (ibid.), although authorities acknowledge that only 10-15 per cent of domestic abuse cases are ever reported to the police (IPS 2 Nov. 1998). Senator and activist Diane Mahabir-Wyatt states that many women do not even realize that wife-beating is a crime nor that they have a right to file a police report (ibid.).

In the 1990s, private organizations established six shelters for abused women (Los Angeles Times 27 Jan. 1999).). For a listing of shelters for victims of domestic and spousal abuse, please consult the attachments to TTO17861.E of 28 June 1994.

Activists also assert that a "judicial double standard" exists, although a systematic analysis to document this accusation has not yet been carried out (Los Angeles Times 27 Jan. 1999). According to women's rights activists, men who kill their wives "routinely get minimal prison terms while wives who retaliate against abuses often are prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law (ibid.; WIN Magazine Jan. 1999).

Pamela (Indrawani) Ramjattan is a high-profile example of this "judicial double standard" in a case which is still on-going: she was accused, convicted and sentenced to death for murdering in 1991 her husband who had physically abused her for years, although two other men had actually killed him (ibid.; Los Angeles Times 27 Jan. 1999; Emerge 31 Mar. 1999). According to the Los Angeles Times, a succession of judges reportedly acknowledged the abuse she suffered but did not accept it as a "justification for murder" (Los Angeles Times 27 Jan. 1999), yet in March 1999, Emerge reported that the Ramjattan's public defender did not mention domestic abuse and the jury was only given the option of acquittal or murder conviction (31 Mar. 1999). Her appeal is being heard by the Privy Council in London, which remains the country's supreme court (Los Angeles Times 27 Jan. 1999; WIN Magazine Jan. 1999).

TTO23158.E of 7 March 1996 and TTO23091.E of 7 February 1996 provide dated and background information on state protection

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Emerge. 31 March 1999. Lori S. Robinson. "Appeals in Trinidad." (The Ethnic NewsWatch/NEXIS)

Inter Press Service (IPS). 2 November 1998. Peter Richards. "Trinidad and Tobago: Domestic Violence Charges Reach High Places." (NEXIS)

Los Angeles Times. 27 January 1999. Mark Fineman. "The Case of the Death Row Widow; A Woman in Trinidad is to Hang for Murdering the Husband She Says Savagely Beat Her. Her Appeal Could Set a Regional Precedent." (NEXIS)

WIN Magazine. January 1999. Ira Mathur. "A Matter of Self-Defense: The Case of Indrawani Ramjattan." (NEXIS)

Additional Sources Consulted

Amnesty International Website.

Caribbean and Central America Report [London]. Ten times a year. September 1998-May 1999.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998. 26 February 1999. United States Department of State. (Electronic version)

CJ International: A Criminal Justice Newsletter [Chicago]. Monthly. September 1998-May 1999.

Domestic Violence Center of Trinidad and Tobago (DVCTT) Website.

Human Rights Watch World Report 1999. December 1998.

Metacrawler search engine.

Resource Centre. "Trinidad and Tobago" country file. 1998-present.

_____. "Trinidad and Tobago: Amnesty International" country file. September 1998-present.

WIN News [Lexington, Mass.]. Quarterly. Summer 1998-Winter 1999.

The Women's Watch [Minn.]. Quarterly. December 1998.

Electronic sources: Internet, IRB Databases, NEXIS.

Non-documentary sources:

Unsuccessful attempts to contact the Domestic Violence Center of Trinidad and Tobago.