[www.inewsguyana.com] – On Sunday, February 9 the Guyana Equality Forum (GEF) will host the Third Walk for Equality under the theme, “No to violence!”
The walk will commence at Parade Ground, Middle Street, Georgetown at 15:00 hrs and will return to the Ground for a closing rally of words and music.
According to the organization, “Every day bring more reports of violence in Guyana. Children, women and men are all victims of violence. The murder rate in Guyana is over 18:100,000. Eighteen times higher than the murder rate in England. In 2013 alone, 29 women were murdered by their partners. In 2013, 2925 cases of child abuse were reported to the Child Care and Protection Agency. There were 574 reported cases of sexual abuse of children. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Guyanese are suffering as a result of violence directed against them. There are reports of police brutality against citizens and egregious violations of their rights.”
Participants from civil society, government agencies, the private sector, religious communities and youth groups are expected to participate in the walk.
At the rally, speeches will be given by survivors of violence, relatives of victims as well as Dr. Philbert London, Archbishop, Beacon Ministries and Vanda Radzik, Commissioner on the Women and Gender Equality Commission.
