Amerindian Affairs Ministry to help fight problem

Jun 13, 2009 News

Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai, says that her Ministry will be looking into allegations of rampant child prostitution in Region Eight, primarily by Amerindian girls.
The Minister said that as long as a social ill surfaces, her Ministry enters into partnership with sister Ministries to tackle the issue.
In this case, the Amerindian Affairs Ministry will work with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, who recently established a permanent office in the region
It has long been suspected that in the mining town of Mahdia and its surrounding communities that there were ‘ladies of the night’, but to hear of child prostitutes was particularly appalling. Some of the girls are as young as 12 and others are barely on the threshold of the age of consent.
Several members of both Mahdia and nearby Campbell Town, acknowledged that while they are not certain where the teenage prostitutes come from, there was no question that they do frequent the nightspots at Mahdia, and would be seen entering some of the camps with porknockers and others to ply their trade.
The residents believe that many of the girls who prostitute themselves, were brought to Mahdia by people who frequent the community.
Minister Priya Manickchand, who was in the locale recently, was told that Mahdia is not the only place where the child prostitutes operate. There are those that would be taken to areas referred to as the backdam to ply their trade.
Moutain Foot and Konawaruk were just two such places mentioned.
A 15-year-old girl said that she had initially been taken into the locale knowing that she was going to prostitute, but she only managed to “pick a fare” once, because she contracted malaria and had to be transported out.
She said she was paid two pennyweights of gold by a porknocker for her service.
One of the very first questions that was asked of Minister Manickchand on a recent trip there was, “If you have rooms renting and a porknocker comes out of the backdam and rent a room and they bring in a very young girl, lets say 13 or 14 and the next morning the parents turn up claiming that it was their daughter in the room, you as the proprietor are you responsible for that?”
This, the Minister said, was a situation where a person could very well be charged nevertheless for negligence, for allowing a child to be in harm’s way.
Some of the older women in the locale had pointed out that the girls have been spoken to on numerous occasions by many, but to no avail.
“We have to educate the residents so that they can make informed choices. We have to educate them to the point that they accept that there is a commitment that you look after your child.”
The Minister added that she was in no way unrealistically optimistic, that there will be immediate change, but with some intervention, persons will be better able to deal with the positive change.

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