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RCC on mission to end vicious cycle of societal violence
There is need for deliberate efforts to be made to end the cycle of violence in the society. The Rights of the Child Commission [RCC] is working arduously in this regard.
This was recently amplified by RCC Chief Executive Officer [CEO], Mr. Amarnauth Panday.
Addressing the problem of societal violence is particularly important, Panday said, since it has been found that many youths adopt violent behaviours from a very young age.
This behaviour is often learnt right in the home, he noted.
According to Panday, this state of affairs was observed during strategic personal development sessions with youths who came into contact with the law.
He recalled that in 2015 the RCC had engaged youths of the Sophia Juvenile Holding Centre on a weekly basis to conduct personal development sessions with them. Speaking of an interactive session, Panday recalled how a youth of about 14 years old was only able to describe his days as a young child by associating it with violence.
“He picked up a whip because he said that he could fight and beat-up people. Having studied his life and the number of times he saw his father beat his mother and the number of times he got beaten mercilessly by his father, he had no other conception of how to resolve a matter and how to show masculine authority but through violence,” related Panday.
He continued, “This is our great trepidation that if we continue to tolerate the usage of violence in all aspects and all forms and in all places in society we will sustain the vicious cycle of having a violent society…We have to stop it at some place and say we will not have this in any place or any form.”
In order to achieve this goal, Panday said that the Commission has been forging partnerships to advance its efforts. “We collaborate with all agencies and all sectors, and all bodies of the state and non-state. We work with all ministries and Non-Governmental Organisations [NGOs] and Amerindian communities too,” related Panday.
Just recently the Commission visited Orealla/Siparuta where it engaged a number of factions including the Village Council, teachers and health workers too. The intent of this engagement, according to Panday, was to ensure that persons are aware of the rights of children as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
According to the CRC to which Guyana is a signatory, “States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.”
The Convention goes on to outline that “Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.”
Guyana signed and ratified the CRC in 1991. These actions further concretized a commitment by the Government of Guyana and its people to proceed with programmes for the protection and development of children.
For many years Guyana has consistently demonstrated support for global, regional and national programmes to enhance the overall well-being of children. For example, Guyana participated in the 1990 World Summit for Children at which the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of the Child, and its accompanying Plan of Action, were adopted.
Following that summit, a considerable number of programmes and measures were instituted, and many more were developed for implementation. However there remains a great deal of work to be done in order to ensure that the rights of children are truly protected in all aspects.
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