A dozen-strong delegation represented St. Maarten at the first working Kingdom Conference on Domestic Violence, themed “No Mas, No More,” in Aruba March 7-8. The delegation comprised representatives of governmental, non-governmental and faith-based organisations. The conference purpose was to bring delegates from throughout the kingdom together to discuss and share best practices, knowledge and skills in combating domestic violence with the end goal of concrete actions in 2018 via cooperation within the Kingdom. As a result of the conference, St. Maarten will work towards the development and finalisation of a Domestic Violence Policy document, legislation development and the establishment of a task force consisting of all key stakeholders. Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour Secretary-General Joy Arnell was one of the presenters at the conference. She spoke about the correlation between disasters and domestic violence in her presentation “The effects of Hurricanes Irma and Maria on Domestic Violence.”
