With over 100 cases of child sexual abuse in Dominica in 2014, the executive of the Non- Governmental Organizations (NGO)’s Coalition For the Protection of Children and Youth is seeking to raise awareness of the matter in Dominica.
The coalition is proposing a six-point ‘Call for Action’ which includes legal reform, child friendly court system, harsher sentencing, integrated protocol, mandatory reporting and a convicted sexual offenders’ list. A town hall-sytle meeting, next Wednesday, is also expected to be held to discuss the matter.
The six points were made public at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon and some of them will be discussed with National Security and Justice Minister, Rayburn Blackmoore, at a meeting organized with the NGO Coalition on Friday 15th May.
“We had some ideas of proposing things like legal reform, a lot of people are talking about that right now and it is a top priority thing that needs to be done,” Childfund Caribbean Program Manager, Gelina Fontaine, said at the press conference. “One component of that is we are asking that the law should be amended to protect those who have been sexually violated from being intimidated and bribed by the accused through the introduction in law of a Bail Act.”
She continued “The second thing we have on the list for call to action is a Child Friendly Court System, this will be extremely valuable…last year we had over 100 cases of sexual violation against children and this year, as you know with the assizes, we just had a handful of these cases.”
According to her, Child Friendly Court System is needed to process cases as quickly as they come in.
Additionally, she said, an effective Family Court should be set up where children and family matters can be treated sensitively, “so that the experience of giving evidence does not further traumatize the child witnesses.”
The third item involves harsher sentencing and Fontaine believes that perpetrators of sexual crimes should receive sentences which truly act as a deterrent to committing further offenses.
In terms of integrated protocol, Fontaine said that Child Sexual Abuse investigations should be managed singularly by social services department in collaboration with the police stakeholders, “all using the same procedure, avoiding multiple interviews and ensuring that the best interests of the child is paramount at all times.”
Mandatory reporting, she said, is a huge one, “and that will really cause a breakthrough in the situation we have right now.”
“Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse should be mandatory and professionals working with children should all sign a code of ethics as a condition of employment,” Fontaine stated.
The last item is a Convicted Sexual Offenders List which should be made available to the public.
“This does not even require a change in law,” she stated. “People need to know who those perpetrators are, those who have been charged, those who have been brought before the court and so they can alert their children, the schools, so that they do not become a victim of someone who is already offended.”
The 12 members of the coalition are; Dominica National Council of Women, AGANAR, Dominica Association of Arts and Crafts Producers, CARIMAN, Child Fund, East Federation , West Federation, Dominica Planned Parenthood Association, Lifeline Ministries, Love One Teach One, National Youth Council of Dominica and Dominica Association of People with Disabilities.
I support you in this regard. Parents must also be counseled, to ensure that their underage children, especially the girls, are supervised at all times They should not be left alone and not in the company of certain males who are not family members.
Some family members could have such a tendency. If per chance they do not, the children are safer in their company. Beware of sending them alone on errands.
There have been so many promises made in the past both by government agencies and NGOs. It seems each of these is followed by a DNO article reporting that sexual child abuse is increasing by the month, or the problem is now epidemic, and nothing ever changes.
However it may be that the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Coalition for the Protection of Children and Youth is the best thing that has happened yet in this war against what I believe is the worse world wide evil of the 21 century.
Other organizations have had a limited agenda and seemed too vague when it came to putting forth any kind of goals. The NGO Coalition (second paragraph) has set forth a six point plan. The content here shows they know exactly what is needed. Not one item here should be dropped or compromised in the least! I hope they will made each point their battle ground and fight for it to the finish line until it is in place.
Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill, D.D., International Evangelist.
Why isnt the roman catholic church on this NGO? They seem to have a system in place to handle this issue. Did we forget that they removed Dominica’s most prized priest because of sexually abusing at least 3 children under the age of 12. And why was that not reported to civil authorities?
The Roman Catholic Church has a policy of covering for its own.
If a case of alleged sexual abuse involving a priest was reported to the civil authorities he would likely be charged and tried in a secular court. If he was convicted he would serve time. The judge could say he was unfit for ministry and take him out of circulation. The church would lose a priest.
The church has a shortage of priests in its parishes. Enrollment is down in the seminaries. Many active priests are approaching retirement age.
Priests who are accused of sexual crimes against children are sometimes said to be on “administrative leave” and sent to one of their treatment centers before being transferred to another parish.
If you have reason to believe a priest, pastor, or evangelist (or anybody else) has sexually abused a child you should report it to the police immediately. You do not need permission from the bishop to report a
priest.
Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill. International Evangelist.
I couldn’t believe we have a (NGO’S) coalition for the protection of children and youth on the Island were they sleeping all the time how much have they done since, now they are trying to raise awareness, that is good but too little to late. The children are gift from the almighty father and must be protected from harm and danger at all times, and sometime even from their own parents or other family members, There is an all out attach on our children and the system have to step up and stop making excuses enough is enough.
I just hope that your team will keep the pressure on the Government to dish out the funds and man power needed to clean up and stop this evil on our children .
I sense your anger and I don’t blame you. Every time I read a report of a sex crime against a child on DNO or hear of it happening here on Canadian television I have a problem with my blood pressure (really).
However, there is reason to be optimistic. I sincerely hope people like yourself will continue to write strong comments. Government leaders are beginning to respond. NGO’s Coalition for the Protection of Children and Youth is a young organization. They seem to have it all together. It appears to me that these people have substance.
You have been disappointed in the past by people and organizations who were more gab than guts. But if this coalition does what they say they are going to do there will be an observable difference. I say this because I understand the problem well enough to know what needs to be done and I can see the coalition knows what has to be done. They have announced an agenda and made a commitment.
Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill. International…
the Coalition has been established for just over a year and in that time has done a lot and made enough inroads… i ask that you look at the related articles on this website and you will realize that the Coalition has indeed been very active in it’s fight and in calling for more to be done… it won’t happen overnight, you should get involved, we need all the hands we can get to fight this scurge
the court in Dominican have to do like civilise countries,simple publish the name and photos of perpetrators.the shame will stop this cancerous behaviour.Dominica being a small country everyone will know their dirty ways
OVER 100 cases!!?? in 2014?? where is the publicity? Does this also include neglect, verbal, physical and mental abuse etc? or simply just sexual ? im inclined to believe all of the above