IT IS tough being a child in Jamaica today. According to the recently-released UNICEF report on Jamaican children, nearly 1,000 of them were victims of sexual abuse last year. Sexual abuse is a universal and alarming problem and this latest report should help to focus the nation's
attention on the continued cruelty being meted out to our children.
Considering that many of these situations are not reported, these statistics are horrifying, to say the least. When we add the number of children who have been murdered in recent times, you may find it easy to agree with me that childhood is under threat.
ROBBING INNOCENCE
Equally disturbing is the fact that another survey found that 86 per cent of these crimes which were reported in 2002 and 2003 were committed by relatives, friends or acquaintances.
Such data go a far way in confirming that for many of our children, the home is a place of cruelty and pain.
It is a fact that we tend to slap sexual offenders on their wrists and move on. The courts are guilty of this by offering very light sentences; and so are families.
I recall a case where a married man of 60-plus abused a little girl of 11 and impregnated her. However, the child's grandmother said she did not have the heart to send the man, who was also her neighbour, to prison, thus frustrating the police investigations.
Happy to have been let off, the offender went on to impregnate the child, one more time. The devastating result is that a mere child was cuddling two babies before she had reached age 14!
Someone somewhere in the hierarchy of the government must feel a sense of outrage at these crimes and wants to do something about them. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children deals with abuse in Article 19 calling on the state to protect children from all forms of abuse.
And in Article 34, specific attention is placed on sexual exploitation. This UNICEF report calls into question Jamaica's commitment to the ideals of this convention.
Our children's future is far too important to neglect and the urgent preventative strategies are needed to reduce these incidents of abuse.
EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES
The first thing that is required is education. A huge chunk of the education budget should be spent on educating our children about basic safety. It can't be left to the 'stretched-too-thin' NGOs to empower children so that they can feel confident to report these matters. Yes, these NGOs do a
magnificent job of advocacy with very limited resources and we must salute them.
Strategies aimed at early
detection, reporting and treatment of sexual and other abuse must be a priority. Whether we are parents or not, the entire community
involving professionals who come in contact with or supervise children should take on the responsibility of reporting any such
knowledge or reasonable
suspicion. Our doctors, teachers, (including church school teachers) police officers, guidance counsellors etc., should all be required to
comply.
I also suggest that thought be given to establishing a Child Abuse Investigative Team with the
mandate to quickly investigate these matters in order to minimise the trauma to the children while bringing the perpetrators to justice.
CELEBRATION A FARCE
In my estimation, adequately funded public safety and social
service agencies would have far greater impact on the country than many of the newfangled agencies such as the Office of Utilities Regulation or the Fair Trading Commission ensconced in their air-conditioned towers.
Every year we set aside May as Child Month. Maybe 2005 is the year in which Child Month
celebration will provide a critical opportunity to address our flawed child-welfare system and the
devastating effects of abuse on our children. Wait and see.
Dennie Quill is a veteran
journalist who may be reached
at denniequill@hotmail.com.
