Mohit addresses gender-based violence cases

Min­is­ter of the Peo­ple, So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices, Van­dana Mo­hit, says re­cent cas­es of vi­o­lence against women in Trinidad and To­ba­go re­quire na­tion­al ac­tion.

In a state­ment, Mo­hit said in­ci­dents of gen­der-based and do­mes­tic vi­o­lence re­main on­go­ing is­sues af­fect­ing in­di­vid­u­als, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties.

The Min­istry of the Peo­ple, So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices said it con­tin­ues to ad­dress gen­der-based vi­o­lence through pol­i­cy and ser­vices. The state­ment said vi­o­lence in phys­i­cal, emo­tion­al, psy­cho­log­i­cal and dig­i­tal forms af­fects women and girls.

Through the Gen­der Af­fairs Di­vi­sion, the Gov­ern­ment has im­ple­ment­ed the Na­tion­al Strate­gic Ac­tion Plan on Gen­der-Based Vi­o­lence and Sex­u­al Vi­o­lence. The plan out­lines mea­sures for pre­ven­tion, pro­tec­tion and ac­count­abil­i­ty.

The Di­vi­sion op­er­ates the Na­tion­al Do­mes­tic Vi­o­lence Hot­line at 800-SAVE and pro­vides shel­ter ser­vices for women and their de­pen­dents. The Min­istry said pro­grammes in­clude pub­lic ed­u­ca­tion, com­mu­ni­ty out­reach and part­ner­ships with the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice, schools, civ­il so­ci­ety groups and in­ter­na­tion­al agen­cies.

The state­ment said ini­tia­tives such as the Men’s Bu­reau en­gage men and boys. Col­lab­o­ra­tion with the UN Spot­light Ini­tia­tive sup­ports in­ter­ven­tion pro­grammes. Cam­paigns in­clud­ing “Un­mute the Si­lence” and youth ac­tiv­i­ties such as “The Walls for Change” Art Com­pe­ti­tion con­tin­ue.

Mo­hit called on cit­i­zens and or­gan­i­sa­tions to sup­port ef­forts to ad­dress vi­o­lence and as­sist per­sons at risk.

The state­ment ref­er­enced In­ter­na­tion­al Women’s Day 2026 and reaf­firmed the po­si­tion that women’s rights are hu­man rights.

The Gov­ern­ment said it will con­tin­ue to sup­port sur­vivors and fam­i­lies and work with stake­hold­ers to ad­dress gen­der-based vi­o­lence.