It appears that the recent spate of child sexual abuse in Dominica, is being treated like the monster that it is.
On Friday, some Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO)’s teamed up to voice their displeasure and to make some recommendations on how to address the issue.
President of the Caribbean Male Action Network (CARIMAN) Thomas Holmes admitted that as parents and protectors, they have failed the children.
“As parents, as protectors we have failed to some extent,” he said. “Because sometimes I feel for those who are really working hard, but for some reason they do not have the persons to really be the wind behind them to push them.”
Holmes stated that it’s high time for action, and called the alleged incidents, “very terrible and unfortunate,” and added that, “sometimes we have to react; because we see that it is going to continue, if we do not do something about it. Yes we have not done enough action maybe and you can see it as a failure, but we are there; we are trying.”
But he is also urging the authorities to increase the human resource in the Child Abuse Prevention Unit. Currently, there are only two staff members to man that department.
“The two of them cannot take out the load that Dominica is putting on them…just too many cases. So we would appreciate if the powers that be increase the number of personnel at those areas,” he argued.
Program Manager for Child Fund Caribbean, Gelina Fontaine, stressed the significance of the problem of child sexual abuse.
“It is huge on a global level, it’s huge on regional levels and it’s huge in country.”
Fontaine said before, parents were more concerned about girl’s welfare, but now the rate of sexual abuse among boys is climbing as well as for girls.
“And the children are saying that the people that they trust the most, to tell these things are people like police, nurses, teachers … but they trust those in authority. Which means those in authority should never be allowed to be the ones to break that trust.”
She said sometimes all it takes is a stroke of a pen to “sign some things”, and “I am imploring those who have that power to please do it. I prefer that things are signed in place, and then everybody has to adhere to it, than we do all kinds of things of programs and interventions for people to change their mind set, because that takes years,” stated Fontaine.
In a press release, the NGO’s said that they are calling on the policy makers to:
Set the mandate that all public service employees and child care institutions / services sign and adhere to child protection and ethical behavior policies that hold them accountable to the most serious consequences as an essential condition of employment.
For those employed to be working with children should be mandated to protect the children and youth in their care. Abuse must be expressed and addressed.
Establish that all teachers, nurses, and other professionals to be mandated to report on all cases of child abuse to the proper authorities.
Ensure that the appropriate authorities apply due diligence and transparency in addressing all reported cases so that children are protected and receive the justice that they deserve.
Revise the current laws to penalize those who initiate and receive bribes at the cost of our children’s future.
Mother, you are asking the government, Prime minister and politicians to do something. Let me advise you that from what I am hearing from the NGO is that government are one of the concerned culprits. They reduced mothers and families to beggars, and keep them in poverty. That is a major abuse to put poor mothers and families at this abused level. The RED CKINIC is a crime, the money dished out for votes in the poor villages is a crime…walking up the financial centre to beg for money to feed your children is a crime.
God protect our children from this corrupt and abusive government
My heart bleeds to know that so many children are hurting. We must all work in collaboration to save our children. Quite often, we are quick to condemn children based on behavior, rather than getting to the root of the problem, in order to redirect the child. There are so many red flags that we must not ignore. A child who is rambunctious, anti social must be given attention to. We must never blame the minor, that is double victimization. My people, let us take heed, our children are crying silently. If we fail our children, we will all pay.
I would like to make these proposals: the immediate amendment to the 1998 Act, severe punishments for perpetrators convicted of such heinous acts, mandatory laws for the state to prosecute those accused of these acts, regardless of parents consent. We must register all sex offenders. These filthy perverts must never be protected. They are destroying our children!
Like you indicated, too many of those sex offenders get away with murder. They need to understand that when you violate a child, you are distroying a life. Some people grow into adulthood without saying a word.
Imagine, a lady in her 70’s told me she was molested by the Honey man in Possie. She got pregnant and was devastated but could not say anything. She carried that all her life with a child she did not want, and could not acknowledge to his real father because of the rape.
I wonder how many more he did that to in Possie. Something needs to be done, quick to protect our children.
Speaking out is not enough – we as a society must take full responsibility for accepting as normal the immorality taking place around us and turning a blind eye to it. And it takes place in high and low places – in the institutions including the family and instead of finding solutions we are so quick to find justification. So it is in the lyrics of our songs that is ok for us because it just a song; it is in our mode of dress but that is our freedom and our right; it is in our behaviour but that is nobody business because we working for our money and I need to free up and I have a right to do this and that even if is infront of the kids they my kids ; we buy clothes with all kinds of prints on the shorts and blouses such as ‘ Im sexy; I am sweet; all kinds of slackness but it is our children and no boby can tell me what to tell my child and what to buy for my child and how to dress my child. Ha and you think thats all – no we give or expose them to alcohol and to the latest sexy dance and jarations and we feel proud that they are able to do it – we encourage them to have the latest gadgets that can access all and sundry – we ourselves as adults can’t even operate – but it sounds so nice to hear that I got my daughter or son an i-phone or a this phone because it is the in thing; thats for each and every one of us to answer sincerely. we encourage men and others to buy things for them and they bring it back home – we are more excited about the material things instead of being worried about where and how it was obtained. so to be short when we sum up all those socialization misfits and immoralities what do we expect?
atc, I take and very much respect your views and assessment. It is indeed a very good write up but I feel not suited to the issue at hand but best suited to the proliferation of indecent behaviour of some teens and adults upon themselves in public and closed doors and not really associated with child sexual and other abuses.
The majority of th abuses take place in the homes where our vulnerable children in particular under 14 take place.
The parents may be out late partying and exposed in these situations and indecent exposure you outlined in your write up and left their children homes vulnerable for these perpetrators to come into the homes and abuse them.
And we need these policies made law yesturday!!!!!!!
*insert clapping icon*…….It is time we take the issues of Child abuse (i.e ALL forms of abuse) seriously. Our past history has been to turn a blind eye and sweep these issues under the rug and we neglect to see the long term impact these have mentally on the victims. Then again our culture also does not pay much significance on mental issues either. I would suggest regular audits on case files to ensure there has been appropriate follow ups etc. This is a great call out and I hope we can start to be active in fixing this problem.
What is taking the Dominica Government so long to address this ugly situation ? I’ll tell you, it’s because most of them are guilty of committing this crime on young children. I will say it again, growing up in the 60’s and 70’s in Dominica we were exposed to pediphiles from the Gov’t
Minister’s down to the laborer’s. It’s a culture that was mostly accepted and frowned upon at the same time. No one said anything and didn’t confront the perpetrator’s on behalf of their children. They were scared that people would loose their jobs with no concern about the child, (victim). I can write a book about this subject and can name manes, but I won’t. My heart cries for the young girls and there’s a pain I carry in my heart.
Concerned,
I am a victim coming from the 70’s and it is not a nice feeling. Children are left with low self esteem, some become promiscuious as a result, because they are crying inside for help. It is only now I speak openly about the abuse. One of these days i will confront those rapist
As the world turns it is tantamount to being reactive rather than proactive, both have their place in society, let it be clear. How ever in our Dominican we seems to have problems with the status Co. and unless the situation hit certain homes so to speak then we all hear the uproar. to every problem there are cause and effect. We fall for anything and when some amongst us speak and take a stand we are vilified or as in Dominica today, Rubbish” and Rubbish that! What our problem is in my opinion too many times we look to Government to solve our problems when in certain cases Government is the problem! We are unfortunately the reason why our servant we voted to take care of our country`s affairs become lazy big head intoxicated by power the power from we the people. in simple terms when the very fabric of our society is threatened and held to bondage we the people should in one voice call for or demand effective action from those we entrusted to carry out their mandate and if they fail us. VOTE THEM OUT! ITS becoming a cancer and some of us just blow hot air today and SEWO tomorrow hoping the situation goes away. My humble suggestion is we have to place emphasis on stamping out the problem with a two prone approach, one if the laws are on the books it has to be fully and EQUALLY ENFORCED! if it is not legislated what are we waiting for? and as we are always reminded it takes money and man power, my answer to that lets set our priorities right and get our heads out from the sand and protect our suffering brothers and sisters. Every man or woman has to take responsible for their own action. What is clear and troubling is those who think that Dominica still operates in a vacuum and any thing goes once it is Mr so and Miss SO?? otherwise it does not matter. Lord help us!!! Where has our vision Gone?????
I would like to know what the NGO’s are doing about the sexual abuse allegations in the local catholic church. Why did you not speak up when the Grandbay people were publicly protesting in favour of the accused priest. I would hope by now these NGO’s and the police would have done their own investigation and realized that the allegations against the priest are actually really serious claims of child sexual abuse and not the minor things that have been posted in the media. Do you all really want the names of accused persons to be made public? Remember the people that commit these crimes are usually popular, hold high positions or are in positions of authority. People you would never believe could do such a thing. I don’t think Dominicans are ready to deal with that. Look what happened when the priest name was made known to the public. How useful was that information? Did anyone take an extra precaution with their children around this priest in case the accusations were really true? Did people people stop sending their children to him for prayers and for him to remove the devil from them? I don’t think so, instead we tormented and criticized the alleged victim and supported the priest and protested for the whole international world to know. And when it was made known that there are more than one alleged victims, we still dismissed it and continue to say our dear priest can never do that. Why will it be any different for someone else who is accused. Just because the alleged victims are now adults does not mean a crime did not take place and it does not mean that the accused person has stopped committing these crimes.
Pedophiles are very smart, they don’t prey on every child, only the ones who are vulnerable and who they can get away with taking advantage of. They will prey on children who most likely would be questioned or not believed, children who probably have other problems. Children who would be afraid to tell anyone.
Actually if all the grown adults now would start speaking out about the men who raped and molested them when they were children you just might save one child! Because these men are still alive going about their business because of your silence. If the adults are still afraid to speak out, how do you expect our children to speak out. The catholic church should be forced to report to the people what is really going on. Are our children at risk with this priest. We need to know. If all these women that have reported their stories to the church are lying then lock them up. But I really doubt they are ALL lying. Wake up Dominicans, This sexual abuse issue is not just for one set, it might be your best friend, brother, uncle, doctor, father, employer, lawyer, government minister, husband and god forbid your pastor or priest.
DA massive any case that is alleged including the one of the church cannot be commented on only if the person has been tried and found guilty, but those in the church who tarnish the good name of the church are not excused from the list of this grave crime.
We have to stay focus and operate within the law. Priests etc have been convicted, imprisoned in the past years , so they are not immune and so are liable also.
Anybody who knows of a child being sexually abused should report it to the police immediately. Not to do so should be a crime and carry a heavy penalty. If your country does not have this law on the books your government carries a big share of the blame for the rise of sexual child abuse.
There should be absolutely NO exception.
A women who find that her live-in boyfriend or even her husband has abused one of their children should report it to the police immediately or be charged and face a trial. I have known of cases where the woman refuses to believe the child or pretends she doesn’t know because the man is paying the bills. There was a case not long ago where a judge dismissed the case because the man was paying the bills and the woman had no other recourse. This amounts to pimping the child. In this case the man, the mother, and the judge share the blame. I say this because I know if the man goes back into that home he is going to continue raping that little girl.
Priests who are found to have sexually assaulted a child should be reported immediately to the police. Do not confront the offender. Do not report it to the bishop. The offender will deny it. The bishop will either promise to “take care of it” and tell you not to report it or he will intimidate you. At the best the priest will be transferred to another parish and will offend again.
Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill. International Evangelist.
The promise would not exist as it does now if the people had not allowed to continue and grow.
Sexual child abusers MUST be reported to the police. I don’t care if the abuser is the child’s father, uncle, brother, the mother’s boyfriend, or the priest.
Is here a law in your country that says somebody who knows about an abuse case and does not report it will be charged? We have that law in Canada. It applies to everybody with no exception; parents, family members, school teachers, nurses, counselors, foster care case workers, social workers, priests, and all religious workers.
If an arrest is made your newspaper should be notified. They should jump on the case and ride it until a verdict is handed down. The public has a right to know their communities and streets are being kept safe by the people whose job it is.
Sexual child abuse only exists when the citizens let it exist.
Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill. International Evangelist.
all media houses should publish the do and don’t for the child have it as an ad on the side, also who to contact, numbers, pictures of the persons. Because the abuser will see the number.
There are a lot of children using the internet
Here we go again! Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted!
Very good suggestions made by both all parties in this article.
An additional suddestion is to create a national website to PUBLICLY display the names, and pictures of ALL CONVICTED child molesters/ abusers.
In order to win the battle you must KNOW your enemy. We may not know those who have not been convicted but we can certainly know those who HAVE.Knowledge is power and knowing is half the battle.
Many resources are being spent to help victims of child abuse and to get victims to come foward. But unfortunately, by this time the damage has already been done to the poor children.
How about PREVENTING the damage in the first place. A great part of the prevention fight is knowledge. The public must be given a chance to KNOW these CONVICTED abusers both by name and by photographs. These abusers should also have to register as a sex offender at the police station of any new residencial area that they move to.
Kylie,
I agree. If you dont want to be exposed, dont do it. Too many of them getting away with destroying our children’s lives.
d
It’s about time something is being done to protect our poor innocent children that are our future, and who are being traumitised before they are even able to reach adulthood. Let’s all see this transparent action.
About time! This has been going on for too long! The incest, child molestation need to stop. Prime minister and politicians off dominica, You need to make this a mandate! Too many children suffering. I have heard too many stories. These vultures need to stop hurting our children. Thier names need to be broadcast! Have a data base of all these molesters! We cannot keep sweeping these monsters under our beds just so they could crawl out to hurt our children. Enough is enough. Time to demonstrate Dominicans!