Standing Against Gender-Based Violence in the Dominican Republic
USAID sits down with General Teresa Martínez, a key leader with the Dominican National Police Force on gender-based violence prevention
Every morning, General Teresa Martínez wakes up and goes to work with a purpose: to end gender-based violence in the Dominican Republic and provide justice for those who are affected by it. Sadly, this is no easy task — the Dominican Republic has one of the highest rates in Latin America of women’s deaths at the hands of their partner. In 2020 alone, the Dominican authorities received reports of nearly 30,000 incidents of violence between family members, and more than 10,000 incidents of gender-based violence.
However, General Martínez is up to the challenge. She has been breaking gender barriers throughout her career. She’s now one of only two female generals at the Dominican National Police, which has around 39,000 members, and was recently appointed as the police force’s first female deputy director. In the course of her law enforcement career, she has partnered with many U.S. Government agencies, including USAID, to reduce gender-based violence.
Now, she is working to transform the Dominican police by bringing together civil society organizations and government officials to identify law enforcement challenges and solutions, strengthening media relations, and creating a commission that will focus on enacting policies to promote gender equality in policing.
In honor of Women’s History Month, USAID sat down with General Martinez to talk about the importance of gender-based violence prevention and response, partnering with USAID, and how we can all do our part to protect those who are vulnerable to different forms of violence.
Why were you motivated to work in the National Police? What’s your history within the institution?
The main motivator of being part of our National Police was my desire to work with the community and transform social realities. I learned that from our institution, I could achieve it, and I have, which is a blessing. My extensive journey at the National Police is characterized by the satisfaction of serving our country. I started as a recruit, continued as a raso (the beginner level at the Dominican National Police), and advanced in my police career with a great commitment, to eventually become Brigadier General and Deputy Director of the National Police.
How did you become involved with USAID?
In 2009, when I was director of the Community Police, I learned about USAID’s work through their citizen security advisor, Lissette Dumit. Since then, we have strengthened our inter-institutional relationship, which has allowed our institution to progress. When I was director of the Specialized Directorate for Attention to Women and Intrafamily Violence, we began defining a strategy that strengthens our management processes. The major goal of this unit is to provide support to women victims of gender and family-based violence and taking action against the aggressors. With USAID, we carried out a study to identify the needs of women and families who experience violence and create a police intervention strategy. This helped build the foundation for training our police officers who respond to domestic violence calls.
What has been your opinion about the training sessions and the work USAID has been carrying out?
My relationship with USAID has been very positive because I have witnessed the progress within our institution that has been achieved together. It has been very successful. The trainings have helped strengthen the relationship between the police and the community and also with other institutions. In collaboration with USAID, we were able to carry out the training of more than 55,550 police officers and community leaders nationwide within five years.
These experiences have made it possible to advance in institutional planning, management, internal guidance and manuals, a change in police culture, and institutional transformation. When I think of police transformation, I think of how USAID has supported us to carry out and implement change and how beneficial these changes have been for our National Police.
What motivates you to continue your work?
I want to continue contributing to the development of our country and the transformation of our National Police. I aspire to continue working to promote more capacity building, to dignify our policewomen and advance gender equality. In addition, I hope to lead and strengthen programs aimed at supporting vulnerable groups of our population, such as at-risk youth, people with disabilities, victims of gender violence, and migrants.
Why should we combat violence in all its forms?
Because it is a frank violation of human rights, because of the negative social and economic impact that it generates for the country. Among the types of violence, we can highlight the gender violence and intra-family violence that results in the separation of parents, school dropouts, teenage pregnancy, and even femicide. We want to continue working with USAID for a peaceful coexistence, and thus, save lives.
About the Author
Brenda Silverio is a Social Media Specialist at USAID’s Mission in the Dominican Republic.
