An open letter which was addressed to the Prime Minister requesting that he raise the age of consent in Dominica from 16 to 18, has sparked discussion this week.
The long outstanding matter in relation to the protection of the children in Dominica was introduced seven years ago, by Delia Cuffy-Weekes when she delivered a petition signed by over 3000 people, supporting the idea of raising the age of consent.
According to her, since this time, nothing has been said on the matter which has further placed our children at risk.
As such, Dominica News Online (DNO) poses the question to the public, “Do you think there is an urgent need to increase the age of consent in Dominica?”
A number of individuals were randomly approached, here is the feedback from some of those who spoke to us.
Catherine (Jimmit)– “Apart from just encouraging sex until your’re of a certain age, I think we should be teaching no sex until marriage. That way we will not only prevent teenage pregnancy but we will somewhat get control of all these sexually transmitted diseases in society. There are too many risks out there. As a Christian nation we should be promoting what the Bible teaches rather than promoting things from our own personal beliefs. The same way we ask them to wait until whatever age let’s encourage waiting for marriage.”
Athene (Goodwill)- “I certainly believe that an increase in the age of consent is urgently required. Why should teenagers be given the right to partake in adult things. I have to feed you, send you to school, provide a shelter for you and because you are 16, you are free to have sex whilst under my care. Nonsense. It’s time the government increase the age to 18.”
Shillingford (Mourne Rachette)– “Teenage pregnancy is too common nowadays so yes it should be increased to 18. Children should be given a chance to finish school and work. Sex is a big responsibilty and at 16, your mind still young so you just do things but at 18, you can make a more informed decision and more responsible decision.”
Phillbert (Wesley) -. “Leave it the way it is. Regardless of consent age, this will never stop children or teenagers from having sex. The only thing that will happen, more children will be reported as missing for a day or two, some will lie and say they going one place and they somewhere else and more people will end up Stockfarm and is we the taxpayers that have to pay for that. I just think we need to have more public education. That’s what they should be doing at school and push the risk of sex.”
Esther (Morne Daniel) – “In 2020, it’s unfortunate that this is still up for debate. I 100 percent believe that an increase in the age of consent is urgently needed. Young teenagers under the age of 18, are simply not physically or mentally old enough to cope with the responsibilities of having sex. At that age you are not you are not emotionally mature enough to make sensible choices so to place that decision of having sex in the hands of a 16 year old, you are just setting that child up in most cases for a lifetime of regret. They are not fully matured physically and can face serious complications in the event of a pregnancy due to the strain on a body that is not yet fully grown. Let’s allow children to be children and increase the age of consent to 18 when they are adults.”
Beyanca (Kingshill)- “I am both for and against an age increase. Everywhere you turn, on radio, tv, facebook and even in school sex is a hot topic so these children are curios because sex is seem as fun and hardly any mention is made of the danger. Most times they lie about their age so innocent people will be put in jail because the young people just want to have something to tell their friends. But on the other hand, the reason why I am for an increase is because you can’t get a job until you are 18-years, so when these girls get pregnant or these boys get a girl pregnant the burden always falls on the parents. But like I say, I’m for and against an age increase really.”
Elnora (Wallhouse)- “Most people have had some sort of sexual experience by the time they reach the age of 18. Raising the age of consent to 18 is forcing people to suppress their desires. The age of consent should be decided by the individual, not by the government. You know your body and you should be able to make the decision when you are ready or not.”
Charles (Elmshall) – “If the age of consent is increased to 18 I know a lot of Doctors will be happy. I’m not saying at 16 years you should be having sex but abortions rate will certainly increase in Dominica and that brings a lot of risk for the girls not only now but in their future.”
Marshall (Roseau)– “In my opinion, raising the age of consent will reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections in teens, and also protect them from these child abusers and predators in society. How can we allow a mature man or woman who even has a child or children at the same age or older given the privilege of engaging in sexual activities with a teen? That’s not right.”
Amalie (Portsmouth)– “I don’t think an increase in the age of consent will stop these young people from engaging in the act but it should be increased. Also, stiffer penalties and public pictures and names of offenders will help I believe. We all need to educate not only the children but the parents because a lot of times they condone these behaviours. Law enforcement have to set a better example by not being involved in abuse themselves. Changing the age of consent will accomplish anything without education on parenting and teaching our kids to report abuse, who they can talk to and numbers they can call.”
I lived in the UK for many many years and on a Friday or Saturday night you go to any club and you will see these girls dress with make up eye lashes etc. you will have them for their birth certificate other wise it’s impossible to know that they are under age
Delia needs to learn to read the tea leaves. She is an educated person. She heard Skerritt say he wants 40,000 more Dominicans, so how can she expect him to follow her wish, which will kibosh his plan.
With the high rate of rape and unlawful carnal knowledge, i doubt that will make a difference, unless the law is actually enforced. Big man will still go behind little girls. little girls will still want big man with bike and ride and a 20, 40, 50 dollars to spend, especially if their parents poor, and their friends encouraging them. They can raise it to 100 years, the country already lost. Hang around town on a weekday and watch some of those grown man (some loitering, some on scooter, some driving bus) go behind those young girls in school uniform. Those girls self more stupid instead they go home and do their home work they just there grinning like fools in Roseau. So raise it, dont raise it, once the law isnt enforced without impunity, it makes no difference.
How will a17 yr old get her/his groove on, go underground for another year? What if you-all make it 21 while he/she still waiting?
Just asking …for a friend.
You run a family home and not a maternity ward, young people should be encouraged to marry and set up their own family. The respect in the home must be maintained. when you feel grown up and take your own responsibilities, you should move out of the family home and start your own family. step mother, step father, what go so. It sound like people out of control. There is no law that said you should issue a licence for fornication. Respect to oneself and to others must be adhere to.no ifs or buts.
Are you suggesting that they must run to get married before they know what being with someone else is? just so they can have sex? Absolutely bad advise. Thats like buying a house and not knowing what the inside is like. That aint going to last.
The legal age for marriage in Dominica is 18 years for both men and women. So, if it is prudent for people to be married before having children, then yes, the age should be raised to 18.
Also, it is not only about age of consent. Too often, teenagers are taught to focus on passing exams to get jobs but get absolutely little or no education about living on this Earth. Young people from age 13 should be taught about living, their bodies and reproduction, and the rights and responsibilities of adulthood.
So, along with raising the age of engaging in sexuality activities to 18, as early as possible, young people should be educated about:
1. their rights as human beings
2. their responsibilities to themselves and others.
3. the consequences of their actions
That education should be part of the school curriculum since not all parents are able to discuss these matters with their children. The education should also reduce the high number of children needing foster care.
Upon initial consideration, my emotions swayed me to lean towards saying yes. After further honest and reasonable deliberation; however, I am not so sure. Legislating and enforcing the minimum voting age is infinitely less challenging than doing accordingly with sexual consent or even drinking where desire and passion are infinitely more inflamed.
In these times of social media exposure and a lack of general inhibition, one might argue that it might be a case of too little too late to put that genie back in the bottle in a hyper charged sexually tainted Dominica and world. As far back as I can remember, the sexual atmosphere has been hyper charged on our Nature Isle. Just examine the exhibitive behaviour displayed during carnival and the sexually lit lyrics of our calypso songs.
At the end of the day, raising the consent age might marginally increase accountability but will do very little to suppress sexual passion.
A lot of folks love to brag that Dominica is a christian county. I suppose they read their Bible and understand that it is the word of God. I do. As such when it clearly states that one of the signs of the end of times is that “children will be having children”. Are they trying to make God a liar or are they saying that we are so righteous to be one place where we can prove God is a liar. If there is a high incedence of sexual transmitted diseases, then why don’t we set up a campaign to address it. There are many ways to reduce young girls from getting pregnant, so why aren’t these being propagated to young people at all venues. 3,000 people out of 70,000 wanting to change the way things are done doesn’t sound like an overwhelming majority. Trying to deny young people the natural desires of the mind and flesh is a way to negativly affect the psychology of healthy young people. Why the focus only on girls by Delia? This is wrong. God is not a liar and time will tell.
Nature, through biology, determines when an individual is mature enough to have sex and bear children. Biology says individuals are capable of such in their early teens, thus possibly making the argument consent is earlier than sixteen. Now, from a moral and legal standpoint, I support a consenting age of 18. Individuals are not mature enough to deal with the pitfalls of sex at 18, far less at 16. Minors are unable to legally contract for goods and services until the age of majority, currently 18, so sexual consent should be 18. A pregnancy results in a de facto contract, with each parent obligated to provide for, care for, and to seek the best interest of the child. Pregnancies prior to age of majority would, therefore, circumvent the inability to legally contract before eighteen.
@SN, Skerritt just told us that he wants 40,000 more citizens/babies in Dominica. Therefore, he will have to provide the finances for raising of the new baby citizens. Since the concept is now on “continuing education” these young parents won’t be disadvantaged now or in the future. The only outstanding issue is of morality and that is a personal issue. Government cannot and shouldn’t change the legislation of when a baby is brought into Dominica since Skerritt will provide for it.
Yup! Absolutely! Raise the age to 18, but relatively relevant education must be added, else, in my opinion, the legal move would prove to be fruitless.
The only reason I would say yes is so that Ministers and cabalist “would” go to jail but realizing that will never happen why bother!
The age of consent is not the issue in Dca and moving it up will accomplish nothing more than sending a lot of young men, not ministers and cabalist or police officers to jail. Up to today we still have cabalist and a former government official on bail reference the La-Point case and the case is still in limbo. So leave the age of consent alone because while we may not want to admit it, at 16 yrs most of the young ladies in Dca these days are more sexually active than their grand mother when she turned 50 yrs. Raising the age of consent will not stop anything but rather make us a nation where abortion will become more prevalent and some doctors more rich.