RIGHTS: Jamaica Readies New Child Protection Drive

By Zadie Neufville Reprint | | Print |

Zadie Neufville

KINGSTON, Nov 3 2001 (IPS) - Parliament is to receive by year-end a new Child Care and Protection Act drafted among a raft of government ideas to clamp down on sexual, labour, and other abuses of children’s rights.

The act promises Jamaican children “a decent life and adequate provisions for the opportunity to survive,” says Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.

In addition to the new law, Health Minister John Junor says, a new and independent Child Development Agency is being formed from a merger of existing children’s services and adoption offices.

The initiatives come amid a reported increase in the numbers of sexually abused, homeless, and working children – particularly those working as prostitutes and being used as drug couriers.

The new law also would improve reporting of abuse and exploitation, supporters say, by compelling doctors and parents to report abuses and abusers. In addition, it would allow government to ratify International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions that govern child labour and exploitation.

It is illegal for children under the age of 16 to work here, but a 1994 study sponsored by the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) showed that 22,000 children, 4.6 per cent of all Jamaicans aged 6-12, go out to work each day.

Last year, the ILO sponsored a study that identified more than 4,000 working children in the tourist centres of Montego Bay and Negril, the old capital of Spanish Town and the south coast fishing region of Rocky Point.

Police figures suggest sexual abuse is waning but Yvonne Hood, the deputy children’s services director, says she believes that, in reality, the cases and types of abuse are increasing. Hospital data support her view.

According to the police, “carnal abuse” fell from 872 cases in 1996 to 434 last year. But hospitals report having treated 235 children younger than nine and 649 aged 10-19 for sexual assault last year. Health officials add that they the majority of abuse cases are treated by doctors in private practice, who do not supply figures.

No one bothers to report beatings and corporal punishment because these are considered commonplace disciplinary measures, says Hood.

Efforts to tally abuses – let alone prosecute perpetrators – also are stymied by the incorrect classification of cases, says Coleen Wint-Smith of the non-governmental Coalition for Better Parenting.

Pauline Milbourne, head of the 10-year-old Child Guidance Unit at Bustamante Children’s Hospital here, says her outfit “has not been able to gather enough information to begin its work because people just don’t want to give the information about who abuse their children.”

Whether the new law manages to overcome that reluctance remains to be seen. Victims and their parents often are dissuaded from reporting abuse or pressing legal charges through a combination of bribery and coercion, says Hood.

When the abusers are relatives, their crimes often are hushed up to avoid scandal and prevent family break-ups, further sapping authorities’ ability to prosecute cases, says Artice Brown-Getton, chief of the Police Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Centre.

One public prosecutor, speaking on condition of anonymity, adds that Jamaican juries are reluctant to convict defendants of rape or carnal abuse. “There is a feeling out there that ‘sex’ is not a crime and many will go to great lengths to free the accused” he says.

Nevertheless, Brown-Getton says the new legislation would strengthen authorities’ ability to prosecute on evidence collected by childcare agencies.

Brown-Getton, who also is responsible for the police’s teen programmes, explains that poor teenage girls who need help with school fees and other expenses are coerced or “manipulated by older men with money”.

“Economics plays a big part, but mandatory reporting of in particular sexual and carnal abuse will also make an impact on the teenage pregnancy rate,” she says.

Every year, more than 14,000 babies are born to teenagers under 19 years old, the Planning Institute of Jamaica says.

The latest reforms also include several toll-free numbers to encourage anonymous reporting of abuse.

At present, “fear is the biggest deterrent” to reporting abuse, says inner-city school teacher Patrice Findlay.

Local crime bosses and their cronies commonly handpick schoolgirls as young as 13 as sex slaves or for discipline by rape, Findlay says.

“Many would have had their fourth child” by the end of their teen years, she adds, but “can’t report (the abuse) or they will be labeled ‘police informers’ and could be forced to leave the communities or be killed.”

While officials and lawmakers grapple with these realities, they also are assembling a national steering committee to develop and monitor child labour regulations and statistics and educate the public.