CSW 2010:YWCA Guyana discuss Girls in Armed Violence
YWCA Guyana’s General Secretary Glynis Alonzo-Beaton was part of a panel discussion at the CSW 2010 on March 9 about the negative effect that guns have on girls and women in settings of endemic violence.
Glynis spoke about the challenges of gun violence in a small country like Guyana that only has a population of 750,000 people. Guns have poured into the country because of the drug trade and though the drugs may leave Guyana the guns remain. Glynis said that the daily headlines tell the story of gun violence each day. Two women or girls are attacked or killed in Guyana everyday and many of these violence acts involve guns. She spoke of the YWCA Guyana’s programmes that support women and passionately advocated that change starts with us and “this is why we are here and why we are using the Beijing Platform for Action to respond.”
In addition to Glynis’s presentation, several other panelists presented on the critical need to address the impact that gun violence is having on women all over the world from Colombia to the Democratic Republic of Congo to gun violence issues that affect New York City high school students.
A quote at the end of the panel discussion succinctly summarised the sentiments of all the panelists which stated that “security today requires the development of the human being not the preparation of war.”
Related Stories
