Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has announced that in the upcoming 2021-2022 Budget set for July 28th, his government intends to increase the staffing of the Social Welfare Division to help combat sexual abuse, “especially against children”.
He made the announcement on his weekly Annou Pale talk show recently.
Child sexual abuse continues to top the list of reported offences against children in Dominica.
In December, 2020, Acting Coordinator for the Child Abuse Prevention Unit at the Social Welfare Division, Nicole Toussaint Jno Baptiste told Dominica News Online (DNO), that the number of child abuse cases in Dominica continues on an upward spiral, with sexual abuse once again leading the way.
She noted that the cases which are reported are widespread, explaining, “Sometimes, the children don’t know their abuser, or sometimes, it’s a family or a close friend of the family. Based on the cases we get, it’s very diverse on who the abusers are.”
Jno. Baptiste said over 100 sexual abuse reports are made annually and sometimes that figure reaches more than 160.
“As I always say, one case is far too many because we are a small population and the numbers are very frightening for child sexual abuse,” she noted.
Data revealed that the other forms of abuse mainly reported are physical, followed by neglect, and on a very low scale, emotional abuse.
“What we intend to do in this year’s Budget is to increase the staffing for the division to ensure that we have more people to deal with such occurrences. And the idea is to ensure that the relationships between the unit and the police and other government state agencies are improved,” Prime Minister Skerrit said. “Because everyone has to play their role in a diligent manner to ensure that this case is taken into court and the cases are heard.”
He stressed that at the end of the day sexual abuse is a societal problem and, “it is important for each one of us to recognize that we have a role to play in combating sexual abuse especially against children.”
“ We have to build advocacy on this, I believe that the schools need to play their part, the churches, so that our children can feel comfortable, can feel confident and brave enough to be able to come forward and to let us know if they are subjected to any form of abuse.”
The Prime Minister called on everyone to play their part to condemn these actions and to speak up, not only when there is a case, “but to be consistent with our speaking up.”
What about the young girls/women that come to the Red Clinic…?
Mr. Skerrit,,I hope that this is not just lip service. If you are serious, I support you 100% on this one.
There are too many grown men who prey on innocent and misguided female adolescents and juveniles. Too many relatives who escape justice for physically abusing and mentally maiming children. This has to come to an abrupt end, at least, we should try
I hope the Child Abuse Prevention Unit in the Social Welfare Division, is given the wherewithal to eradicate this social ill from among us.
The necessary synergies must be created for this to be done. The Social Welfare Division, the police, the courts, the community must work closely together in order to achieve success.
Any genuine attempt to greatly decrease the large number of cases of sexual and other abuses of minors is laudable..