As part of the preamble to the executive order issued today by the governor Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia to address the crisis of gender-based violence in the country, it is stipulated that the current government administration remains committed to implementing a gender-sensitive education curriculum, although the document does not outline the process to be followed. will continue to develop it nor the dates for which it is expected to be part of the public education system.
Because “we are committed to establishing a process to develop a gender perspective curriculum that helps combat the causes that contribute to inequality, discrimination and violence,” reads one of the points in the preamble to the executive order of Pierluisi, which includes 22 device sections.
The gender perspective curriculum was implemented in the Department of Education by circular letter under the administration of Alejandro García Padilla, But was removed by the former Secretary of Education Julia Keleher.
The governor’s decree, which in the campaign promised the declaration of emergency for gender violence, as claimed by women’s rights organizations for years, kept in force the Protocol of Action to Combat Violence against Women in Puerto Rico, Which was created following a “national alert” declared by the former governor Wanda Vázquez Garced in September 2019.
However, Pierluisi’s executive order repealed the Multisectoral Commission against Violence against Women (Communion), Which Vázquez Garced created by decree in October 2020 to implement the Protocol of Action. Pierluisi, in turn, replaced the Communion with Committee for the Prevention, Support, Rescue and Education of Gender Violence (PARE), Which will have among its responsibilities “to evaluate the Protocol of Action to Combat Violence against Women in Puerto Rico, incorporated by Executive Order 2020-078, and to make recommendations to improve it and accelerate its implementation” .
The document stipulates that in 2019, of the 7,021 registered cases of domestic violence, 5,896, or 84%, occurred against women.
The PARE Committee, meanwhile, would have a representative from 11 government entities, a representative from the “academy,” a member of the media, three representatives from nonprofits, and a “compliance officer,” appointed by the governor. . The compliance officer, it is specified, will be in charge of the administrative tasks of the committee, so he will work full time.
The order stipulates that members representing the media, academia and non-governmental organizations will be selected by Pierluisi and the Secretary of the Family, Carmen González Magaz, Who will chair the PARE Committee. The governor reserved the right to add members to the committee, as he saw fit.
To identify funds
The decree, on the other hand, does not detail the items that will be required to ensure its effective implementation, but leaves it up to individual agencies to identify the necessary budget. For the remainder of this fiscal year, the undetermined amount of funds would come from the certified budget, the central government emergency reserve, federal items, or “any other available funds,” for which agencies will have to work from the hand with the Office of Management and Budget and the Financial Advisory Authority and Tax Agency.
For the fiscal year 2022 onwards, it is ordered that each agency “identify as part of its budget, an item to allocate resources aimed at meeting the objectives of this Executive Order and / or prevention programs and attention to gender-based violence “.
The state of emergency will remain in force until June 30, 2022, although the door is left open to extend it at the request of the PARE Committee.
Among the agencies that must identify funds to respond to the state of emergency are the departments of Family, Justice, Education, Housing, Health, Economic Development, Correction and Rehabilitation, the Institute of Forensic Sciences, the Institute of Statistics, the negotiation of the Police and the Office of the Attorney General for Women. The 11 units will have a representative on the PARE Committee.