The Tribune

WOMEN United has accused the Davis administration of weakening its own anti-violence law, noting that the recently appointed Protection Against Violence Commission has been left without a dedicated allocation in the 2026/27 budget.

The group’s president, Lisa Bostwick-Dean, said the Draft Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure presented by the Ministry of Finance do not appear to contain an express allocation for the commission, the body created to drive the Protection Against Violence Act.

When the bill was debated in 2023, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said the commission would help coordinate national support for victims, oversee implementation of a national strategic plan and have direct access to funds for community programmes.

The commission was formally appointed with effect from February 1, 2026, and publicly announced on March 2, nearly three years after the law was gazetted. Its chair, Marisa Mason-Smith, later told The Tribune she expected the body to be fully established and operational by May, though it did not yet have a permanent office and was operating from the Ministry of Social Services’ building.

Women United said the apparent absence of funding in the first budget after the commission’s appointment raises doubts about whether the government intends to fully use the law’s tools to confront violence.

The group noted that the Protection Against Violence Act was passed in July 2023 and received Senate approval on August 2, 2023, but that the commission — which it called the central mechanism for implementing the law — was not established until February 1, 2026.

“This sequence of events — a law passed in 2023, the Commission established only on the eve of an election, and then left unfunded in the very first budget following that election — suggests a troubling lack of genuine commitment to using the tools in the Act to assist in the fight against violence,” Mrs Bostwick-Dean said.

The commission is supposed to coordinate a national response to violence by linking government ministries, support service providers and community organisations. The law was designed to strengthen protections for victims of violence and create a framework for support services, including shelters, victim advocacy, data monitoring and coordinated assistance.

Women United said Mrs Mason-Smith’s ability to fulfil the commission’s mandate would be “severely hampered” without money.

The group said the commission is expected to develop a national strategic plan, coordinate support for victims, ensure adequate shelter provision and certify funding for community projects.

It said the Act provides that the commission’s funds shall include money appropriated by Parliament, meaning the body cannot function properly without a budgetary allocation.

“A Commission without funding is a Commission without capacity,” Mrs Bostwick-Dean said. “It cannot appoint advocates for victims. It cannot liaise with shelters. It cannot support service providers. It cannot certify funding for community projects. It is, in effect, a shell.”

Women United said violence against women and children remains a persistent crisis and argued that the commission is needed to deliver the multidisciplinary response the Act promised.

The group called on the government to immediately identify where the commission is funded in the budget or, if it was omitted, to move money from elsewhere to properly resource it.

Mrs Bostwick-Dean said the Davis administration’s Blueprint for Progress 2026 promised to “fully resource and operationalise the Protection Against Violence Act.”

“That promise must be kept,” she said. “The women and children of The Bahamas deserve nothing less.”