As part of the preamble to the executive order issued today by the governor Pedro Pierluisi In order to deal with the crisis of gender violence that the country is going through, it is stipulated that the current government administration maintains its commitment to implement a curriculum with a gender perspective, although the document does not highlight the process that will be followed for its development. or the dates by which you expect to be part of the public education system.
Because “we are committed to establishing a process for developing a gender perspective curriculum that will help combat the causes that contribute to inequality, discrimination and violence,” reads one of the points in the preamble to Pierluisi’s executive order, which includes 22 of operational sections.
The gender perspective curriculum was implemented in Department of Education by a circular letter under administration Alejandro Garcia Padilla, but was removed by the former secretary of education Julia Keleher.
The governor’s decree, which in the campaign promised to declare an emergency for gender-based violence, as called for by women’s rights organizations for years, kept Protocol of Action to Combat Violence against Women in Puerto Rico, which was created as a result of a “national alert” declared by the former governor Wanda Vazquez Garced in September 2019.
However, Pierluisi’s executive order was repealed Multisectoral Commission against Violence against Women (Common), which Vázquez Garced created by decree in October 2020 to implement the Protocol of Action. Pierluisi, in turn, replaced Comuvi with Committee on the Prevention, Support, Salvation and Education of Gender-Based 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 for its improvement and acceleration of its implementation.
The document stipulates that in 2019, of the 7,021 registered cases of domestic violence, 5,896, or 84%, took place against women.
In the meantime, the PARE Committee would have a representative from 11 government entities, a representative of the “academy”, a member of the media, three representatives of non-profit organizations and a “compliance officer” appointed by the governor. The compliance officer, it is specified, will have in his hands the administrative tasks of the committee, for which 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 family secretary, Carmen González Magaz, who will lead the PARE Committee. The Governor reserved the right to add members to the committee, as deemed appropriate.
To identify funds
The decree, on the other hand, does not detail the elements that will be needed to guarantee its effective implementation, but leaves it to the 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 must work hand in hand with Office of Management and Budget and Financial advisory authority and tax agency.
Starting with fiscal year 2022, each agency is ordered to “identify as part of its budget, an element for the allocation of resources to meet the objectives of this executive order and / or programs for the prevention and care of gender violence.”
The state of emergency will be in force until June 30, 2022, although the door is left open for its extension at the request of the PARE Committee.
Agencies that need to identify funds to respond to emergencies include the departments of family, justice, education, housing, health, economic development, correction and rehabilitation, the Institute of Forensic Sciences, the Institute of Statistics, the Police Office and the Women’s Prosecutor’s Office. . The 11 units will have a representative on the PARE Committee.