By Robert Hart, Staff Reporter 
Rhodd
THE JAMAICA Coalition on the Rights of the Child (JCRC) and other interest groups are commending the "many positive provisions" in the long-awaited Child Care and Protection Act.
However, the JCRC and two other groups represented by attorney-at-law and child rights activist, Paula Blake Powell, have issued a series of concerns to the Joint Select Committee examining the Bill.
The Child Care and Protection Act, which will allow for the reform of the island's child protection agencies, was first tabled in Parliament in July.
During Thursday's first meeting of the Joint Select Committee examining the Bill, Mrs. Blake Powell, presented the first submission from interest groups invited to make recommendations.
Representing the JBA, the Jamaica Coalition on the Rights of the Child and the Joint Women and Children Consultative Group, Mrs. Blake Powell noted four areas of concern despite lauding several clauses in the Act. She said that "no specific provisions were made to deal with children suffering from disabilities or from HIV/AIDS; the issue of pornography has still not been addressed and the Act should provide that all persons dealing with children under the criminal justice system should undergo specialised training."
Mrs. Blake Powell also suggested that more of the recommendations of the Keating Report on children's homes should be enacted in the Bill. One such recommendation she cited was the physical separation of children on remand.
But making reference to the concern raised in relation to provisions for the disabled, John Junor, committee chairman and Minister of Health, said he subscribed to the view that "there is a need to normalise disease patterns and conditions". Highlighting those diseases and conditions does not assist in doing that, he added.
Also responding to the concerns, Dr. Donald Rhodd, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, said his Ministry had created a new HIV/AIDS policy for schools. The Junior Education Minister also promised to provide the committee with an analysis of the National Youth Service's 'boot camp' for boys, "to see how did these people (the boys) fare after being exposed to this kind of institutional arrangement".
"The fact is, we definitely would like to encourage some type of institutional arrangement, definitely not one in which the children are exposed to the environment of an adult institution, but where they can undergo some sort of re-socialisation activity," he said.
