By The Star Staff
As part of the commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the Domestic Violence Law and the four years since the creation of the 24/7 Helpline, Proyecto Matria, co-sponsored by the María Dolores (Tati) Fernós Women’s Commission of the Puerto Rico Bar Association, will hold a forum on Thursday with a group of experts who will analyze the impact of the statute in Puerto Rico.
Proyecto Matria Executive Director Cristina Parés Alicea said the forum, titled “Law 54: 35 Years for Women’s Peace,” will feature perspectives from various experts from the academic sector, the practice of law, activism of several decades, the public prosecutor’s office and gender violence shelters.
“We are commemorating an important milestone that invites us to reflect. We have made significant progress, but we still face numerous challenges,” Parés Alicea said. “The human rights of women and the LGBTQI+ community continue to be violated. It is essential that we join forces and continue to create spaces for dialogue that allow us to advance toward a Puerto Rico free of sexist violence.”
The discussion panelists will be Dr. Esther Vicente, a professor at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law; Lindsay Murillo, a special prosecutor at the Department of Justice; and Coraly León Morales, chair of the National Network of Gender Violence Shelters board of directors. The conversation will be moderated by Parés Alicea, who said the forum will address the origin of the statute and its history, as well as its implementation, the effect of the amendments, the challenges and the lessons learned; activism; the services available to survivors in shelters; and the support provided by various specialized spaces.
Parés Alicea added that the panelists will discuss where “hope for transformation accompanied by love, rage and strategy, with our dead in our hearts, and in their memory” points.
“We thank the pioneers of this cause and all the people who, throughout these 35 years, have worked hard with the victims and to raise awareness among the public,” she stressed. “This forum is also an invitation to collective action to continue working toward the eradication of gender violence in Puerto Rico.”
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