By Janus Snyders

The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), along with global stakeholders, is scheduled to meet in Cuba to further promote and encourage networking and sharing in the area of research on sexual violence in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

The SVRI was founded in May 2000 as an initiative of the Global Forum for Health Research, with support from the World Health Organisation. It is currently hosted by the Gender and Health Research Unit of the Medical Research Council. Programme Manager Liz Dartnall says: “The key aim of the Cuba meeting is to explore the extent of sexual violence in Latin America and the Caribbean and how research can strengthen services for women survivors of sexual violence and reduce violence”. This satellite meeting is an adjunct to the Global Forum for Health Research’s annual event Forum 2009, 16 – 20 November 2009 in Havana, Cuba.

The meeting in Cuba has been informed by a roundtable discussion held at the international conference of the SVRI, SVRI Forum 2009, which was held in Johannesburg from 6-9 July 2009. With support from UNFPA Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, the SVRI commissioned a desk review on sexual violence in the LAC region. Preliminary findings of the desk review were presented at a roundtable at the SVRI Forum 2009.  Participants of the roundtable were asked to identify additional resources on sexual violence in LAC and were used as a reference group for the further development of this review. The revised version of the desk review will be presented at the SVRI/UNFPA Cuba workshop, 16th November 2009, International Conference Centre Palacio de Convenciones de la Habana, Cuba.  “It is hoped that this event will help us to shine a spotlight on the issue of sexual violence in LAC, raise awareness of the extent and consequences of sexual violence and promote high quality research in this region,” Dartnall added.

The work of SVRI has drawn the attention of South African born actress, Charlize Theron who sent a special message to SVRI Forum 2009 attendees. Charlize thanked everyone involved for their ‘immeasurable important work’ in the field and stated that “it is so crucial that we come together and unite in this fight, because the task is a big one”.

Dartnall encourages everyone who is interested in research on sexual violence to email the SVRI at svri@mrc.ac.za. Resources are also available on www.svri.org.

Listen to a podcast of the interview with Liz Dartnall

Article approved by: Liz Dartnall