Chief Welfare Officer Martin Anthony says the effects of sexual abuse cases among children in Dominica are becoming worrying.
Anthony told a consultation in Dominica today, that a recent case involving a young child who suffered a venereal disease after being sexually abused brought light to the seriousness of the matter.
“From where we stand at the Welfare Division we see on a daily basis, many children who are being violated. We have been looking at a case where the child, after being sexually abused has come down with a venereal disease. This is a concern when a child less than ten years is already affected by such a disease and one does not even know what long term effects it will have. We are not even aware how badly they are affected,” he said.
Meantime Anthony said the Welfare Department is also concerned about children who are physically abused.
“When we see children coming from their top of their heads to their feet marked and scared, this is a concern. Many expressions have been made but it means that when all is gathered, we need to join forces to address this issue,” he added.
He said the Welfare Division has for a very long time been discussing the issue at a national level and strong proactive action must be taken to address the issue.
@Vanessa B: well said Vanessa B. In addition to what you have said I think stiffer penalties should be put in place to deal with the perpetrators. The community should come together and deal with these pedophiles personally if the judiciary, legislative and the powers that be do not take the necessary actions to protect our children. Can you imagine a child under 10 affected with an STD? kamem. Will there ever be a solution to the AIDS problem? Government needs to wake up. The saddest aspect is that if someone kills a man for violating his/her child the police arrests that person. On the contrary when the perpetrator is caught he only spends a year/two in prison or walk free. Do you think crime and violence will ever come to an end? castrate these criminals, eliminate them from the face of the earth, lock them up and throw away the key, torture them. For God’s sake do something to save our beautiful island and protect our future leaders.
Upon review of the “Laws of Dominica” Children and Young People Act Chapter 37:50 you will please note the desperate lack of statutes to protect children from adult predators. As the saying goes if we don’t stand for something we will fall for anything. How is it possible that the adults stand by and allow this situation to continue. It takes a village to raise a child. This is some of the most uncivilized behaviors that are being allowed in the midst of culturally astute, intelligent people. Forget about our political differences for a change. While seeking power check your intentions – taking care of the least of these should be one of the platforms on which we stand. This is what I term Third World behaviors – not poverty, but the debased nature in which we carry out our sexuality, children SHOULD be left out of this equation.
We might as well be a bunch of animals, on second thoughts maybe not – animals protect their young. A mother or other adult in the animal kingdom fight fiercely to protect their young.
THE LAWS OF THE LAND NEED TO BE CHANGED.
Maybe their is a lawyer/priest/pastor/nurse/teacher/politician out there willing to take on this cause and be a CHAMPION for the kids. Please?
TALK SOLUTIONS:
Start with putting effective reporting systems in place to report these CRIMES
If the parent does not report it, or does not want to report it (since many parents seem to benefit financially from some of these arrangements) .
Let us put a system in place to have (others) report such crimes. Clearl a child of 14 pregnant and giving birth, she must be having sex, and with whom?????? Evident signs of abuse should be reported and investigated.
How about doctors, nurses, teachers, guardians, social workers….. That’s a start.
Any doctor, or medical professional, public or private should report any underage pregnancy to a special task force that works in conjunction with welfare and any other organizations with responsibilities for the welfare of our children. (since parents today just don’t seem to give a damn.)
They must report it, because BY this time (if we put these things into place), having sex as a minor should be illegal with penalties for the parent and the child and the partner involved, and if the partner involved is an adult, then he or she should be charged with even more severe crimes. RAPE, ASSAULT, INDECENT EXPOSURE, what ever we can find…
By this I mean: all the underage pregnancies- reported!!!!! All the underage births—- reported. And if the child who is pregnant does not want to reveal the father of the child (perpetrator of the crime) then the parents are held responsible.
I say this because as a mother, I am responsible for my child’s actions up to that point when she and he become an adults legally, so naturally, I ought to responsible for their actions. I am to put in place the necessary disciplinary measures to make sure my children are raised right, and not engaging in acts that for which there are severe consequences. It’s like doing drugs, we are aware of the consequences, so we don’t want them to do it, it should be the same for sex.
We have to be active. We spend sooo much time talking about problems and no solutions. if we can stem the “children having children” syndrome, and start making the responsible people pay, maybe in the long run we, or homes, our societies will benefit from it. AIDS is rampant here, and thriving among our young girls and boys why do you think that’s the case?
While I understand the need to protect the confidentiality between social worker, doctor, nurse and a patient, cases involving minors who are pregnant, cases that prove sexual activity, or cases where minors are infected with STDs, MUST BE REPORTED. Especially if that child is not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. And, yes, while such actions might prevent these children from seeking medical care and help, it should begin to stem the incidents if they realize there are consequences (severe) for their actions.
That ought to shake things up. Lets engage in proactive discussion on this, not being selfish and thing LONG TERM. WE have to fix the problems now, IT will require SACRIFICE, COMMITMENT, and in many ways, we have to disrupt the comfort of our lives. We live in perpetual disgrace, yet do nothing about it, in fact we encourage the actions if we benefit from it. Time to be a little less selfish, and more selfless.
If my 14-year-old daughter got pregnant, by God she will tell me who or one or both of us is going to jail. Moreover, I can live with that. We can go so far as to make the act of having sex (voluntarily) under the age of consent a crime. That ought to slow them down some, for I know that many of the underage/minors females in Dominica voluntarily have sex in exchange for goods, services or money and generally that with ADULT men, who abuse the system in which there are no repercussions for such indecent and criminal acts.
Talk to the magistrates and judges, for “Strong proactive actions” ! They need to boost up
the penalties for those children molesters and rapists!
But on one hand the courts letting child molesters go or giving them light sentences; so, what do we expect?