Dubai - "Women are vulnerable to various forms of harassments and sometimes there is no one to protect you other than yourself."
Published: Sat 24 Sep 2016, 12:00 AM
Updated: Sat 24 Sep 2016, 1:21 PM
Following the gruesome murder of a Filipina domestic worker - whose body was mutilated - a women's rights group has urged women to learn basic self-defence.
Dubai resident Kristie Mae Templa Gonzales, secretary-general of Gabriela, an international group advocating women's rights, said: "Women are vulnerable to various forms of harassments and sometimes there is no one to protect you other than yourself."
Gonzales cited two cases of murdered women: A prominent Filipino businesswoman who was found dead in the trunk of her Jaguar sports car in an abandoned lot in Sharjah in 2012 and another Filipina who was stabbed 23 times and left lying in a pool of blood at her home in International City, Dubai, earlier this year.
"These were heinous crimes which got the attention of the media and the public," Gonzales told Khaleej Times on Friday. "But there are other forms of violations like sexual harassments, theft and other 'minor' incidents that can happen anywhere - at home, workplace, on the streets. So, aside from memorising the police emergency hotlines, the most important thing is to be alert and know how to protect yourself."
There are several groups in Dubai that provide free self-defence training to women, like SMPII (Sangguniang Masang Pilipino International Inc.), an international NGO connected with the Philippine National Police, led by Ibrahim Robel Beltran, a martial arts expert and former police officer.
Beltran explained: "Self-defence is not just a physical exercise; it also involves mental and emotional preparations. The first thing in self-defence is to be alert and to know how to assess your situation and surrounding.
"Expect the unexpected, as the saying goes, even if we live in a safe city like Dubai, bad things can also happen."
angel@khaleejtimes.com
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