Protecting the children

Sep 20, 2011 Editorial

The nation is observing Children Protection Week as part of an annual observance. A few years ago the nation recognized that there was need for legislation to protect children. In this society that was once a closely knit unit; people cared a lot for children for a series of reasons.
There were those who saw children as their wealth. Farmers welcomed the arrival of children because they represented extra hands in the fields. In fact, this was a tradition in many countries where the rural poor used the land to eke out a living. Both the male and the female would take to the fields, sometimes at the expense of the formal academic system.
This was also the case in rural Guyana. The male child would work alongside the patriarch doing the heavier tasks while the women would do those tasks that they could best manage. Parents did not set much store by education until the 1950s when Guyana introduced compulsory education.
That law was discriminatory, though. The male child was required to attend school, compulsorily until age 16 while the mandatory age for girls was 14.
At the same time, the age of consent was thirteen so that many children were forced into the life of an adult. The parents married off their daughters as soon as they reached 13 and in some cases, when they were as young as eleven and twelve. The absence of birth certificates allowed this and the official merely had to take the word of the parent that the child had attained the age of consent.
A few years ago, one incident in Guyana caused the authorities to raise the age of consent to sixteen.
There was also the removal of the discriminatory rule that allowed girls to leave school at a lower age than boys. The society also began to focus more and more on the child, many of whom were abused as part of what was seen as routine parent-child behaviour. Children were beaten, sometimes cruelly as a means of discipline.
There was sexual abuse, too. Many children were victims but the shame and stigma that accompanied such acts prevented many disclosures. And many of the perpetrators were people associated with the child.
Criminal prosecution was scarce and this continues to be so to this day. In cases where there is prosecution convictions are scarcer still. Parents go after money by way of compensation then forcing the child to withhold testimony.
Today, there is a department that works with the child and where necessary removes the child from the home if there is the suspicion that the parent is seeking to place pressure on the child to allow the perpetrator to escape prosecution.
We know of cases where fathers sexually molest their daughters. Many of these girls are now in state-run homes because they have a right to a life free from abuse. They need to grow as children do, savouring every aspect of their development.
Things have changed; the society is paying closer attention to its children. This may have resulted from the increasing number of scarred children appearing in the society. Street children became a phenomenon. Until recently, the sight of children begging on the streets and stealing was a common feature. These were abandoned children.
Today, Guyanese are hard-pressed to find street children because there has been a concerted effort to not only remove the children from the streets but also to have them placed in homes with relatives who may not have been aware of their plight.
The state developed an investigative capability. It was this capability that led to the Child protection Agency tracking the parents of these children and being able to ascertain the reason for the children being on the streets.
There is a commission specially devoted to the rights of the child; there are also plans to establish a Family Court where matters affecting children would be properly addressed.
It is now left to the rest of society to join these efforts to protect children. And it is apposite to remember the adage, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’.

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Protecting the children

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