TWO SOCIOLOGISTS on Wednesday warned Jamaicans against creating violent criminals and social misfits through neglect, violent abuse and exploitation of children.
Sociologists and researchers, Dr. Claudette Crawford Brown and Dr. Leith Dunn said that there were several social, macroeconomic and gender-related factors which were leaving children emotionally wounded and untreated and which would lead them to manifest pain through violence.
They said that many Jamaicans have an "ah nuh nothing dat" attitude, which disregarded or "normalised" abuse and child prostitution and that this, in turn, was teaching a whole generation that violence was the only way to solve issues and that it was okay for children to forego good values to get money or favours, or whatever they want.
RISING LEVEL OF VIOLENCE
Speaking at the final of three seminars held as part of the celebrations marking the University of the West Indies' (UWI) Social Welfare Training Centre's 40th anniversary, Dr. Dunn and Dr. Brown expressed concern at the rising levels of violence affecting children and the impact of such actions on those under 18 years old.
Child labour and sexual abuse, especially incest, raised concerns.
"We found that in an incestuous relationship, there is a form of slavery, because that child is being held to ransom," Dr. Dunn said. "Quite often the family does not want to do anything about it, because the abuser is the bread winner."
Growing child killers and murders also worried the two sociologists, who expressed concern about the number of children who were or could be exploited during activities such as Spring Break, Carnival and even during church crusades.
"There are a number of 11 to 15-year-olds who are at tremendous risk for violence," said Dr. Crawford Brown, who used data to show just how meaningless a child's life appeared to be in current Jamaican society.
Using data from the police's information arm, the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN), Dr. Crawford Brown showed that since 2001, child murders outnumber children killed by traffic accidents.
Most of those who died were under 12-years-old and were being killed with
guns, knives, ice picks and other sharp instruments.
Between 1998 and 2001, 42 children were murdered violently. Most were killed arising from domestic squabbles, family vendettas and from being caught in the cross fire. Gang related feuds and reprisals killed 19 children in 2001. Young lives were also taken via accidental shootings, drug wars, increase in crime generally and the use of children as targets by perpetrators, including young gunmen, who use children's deaths to prove that they were "true bad men".
In 2001, there were 29 murders and most rapes recorded showed that victims were below 15-year-old. The impact on the behaviour of these children is startling as it results in their lashing out, Dr. Crawford Brown said.
On the matter of child labour, Dr. Dunn said that according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), it referred to "work that harmed the child's mental, physical, social, moral integrity and that deprives him or her of an education is considered child labour."
"It would not include the chores we give our children to instil discipline, responsibility and so on. Child Labour would then move into the arena of having them work very long hours, to have them deprived of going to school, to have them stay home and take care of children, or have them working on the farm and depriving them of an education," Dr. Dunn said.
A child who is abused would be a child working under the age of 14 or 15, she added.
Child abuse involves children being involved in illegal or illicit acts such as stealing and drug trafficking and in hazardous activities which, she said, are going to "affect their morals, affect their education, affect their health."
Quoting an ILO study on Children in Prostitution, Dr. Dunn said that the
researched showed that, "not all the children involved in prostitution are in fact exploited. Some of them use these avenues as a means of gaining material wealth, position or power." The audience as well as sociologists agreed that no matter the activities and events available, it was up to society to protect children from oversexualisation and exploitation.
They were also strong calls for countries to ratify the ILO's policies aimed at wiping out the worst forms of child labour and Cabinet approval of the long over due Child Care and Protection Act.
"We are still praying that it will be approved. The end of March was the deadline. We are being told that there is a new deadline," said Dr. Dunn.
For her part, Dr. Crawford Brown, who is also a lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Social Work, UWI and who is involved in the UWI's violence prevention/ reduction programme, wanted to see more persons being trained to recognise the early signs of abuse, for enforced mandatory reporting of abuse and early intervention to treat and counsel both victims of abuse and the perpetrators.
She also wanted more focus on better parenting skills and for social workers, the media and other groups to further advocate for changes which protect children.
