The proposed child protection act sends the message to those who hurt children that “enough is enough” – and that there is a penalty for their actions, Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin said.
The minister was speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday, during the debate on a Bill for an Act to provide for the Care and Protection of Children and for Related and Consequential Matters.
Mrs Griffin began her speech by reciting Matthew Chapter 18. She said that she did not mind if people accused her of preaching, because for too long, the Bahamas has been “offending our little ones for whom God holds us accountable.”
The minister told the house that children in the Bahamas are being subjected to all manner of abuses – sexual, physical and verbal, as well as incest and neglect.
She said that children were being “kicked around like footballs by adults” and that she commended the proposed legislation to the house, not as a panacea or a perfect document, but as one that would go a long way in improving the quality of life for children and strengthen families.
Mrs Griffin noted that the Bahamas ratified the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991 and therefore the government was obligated to harmonise domestic law with the convention.
[Bahamas B2B Note: What does it say about our irresponsible uncaring government, when it takes an additional 16 years to enact appropriate legislation to live up to a commitment to protecting our children that was signed in 1991?]
She claimed that the present law, chiefly the Children and Young Persons (Administration) Act, which was enacted in 1947, has “not kept pace with today’s social realities.”
Mrs Griffin said that in 1995, the government and non-governmental organisations formed a committee to examine and critically review the “inadequacies and antiquated practices” of the law.
The committee submitted reports in 1999 and 2000, but that it was upon the PLP assuming office in 2002, that plans for the proposed legislation were re-activated, she said.
According to Mrs Griffin, her ministry undertook a number of consultative activities to apprise the public of the provisions in the proposed legislation; which included a series of town meetings in New Providence, Grand Bahama, North Andros, Cat Island and Exuma.
She also claimed that presentations were made by technical officers from the relevant government departments and that the public was invited to submit comments.
However, the proposed bill has been criticised by some, notably by Clever Duncombe, president of the group Bahamian Fathers for Children Everywhere.
Mr Duncombe maintains that the bill does not go far enough to meet international standards, is not fair to fathers who seek to do the right thing by their children, and was not discussed sufficiently in public meetings.
According to Mrs Griffin, the purpose of the bill is “firstly to implement measures to enable the enforcement of certain responsibilities” that persons should discharge with regard to their young relatives.
“Secondly, it seeks to enable the Bahamas to fulfill certain obligations assumed under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which it signed on October 30 1990 and ratified on February 20, 1991.”
She said that additionally, the legislation proposes to amalgamate several pieces of existing law which ﾠﾠalready addresses the welfare and interests of children.
Mrs Griffin noted that the PLP government had pledged that it would have “a proactive children’s policy that would seek to ensure that six important goals were met: no child should go hungry, none should be homeless, none should be denied healthcare or medical services because of lack of funds; no child should remain illiterate; none should be abused or abandoned and every child should have the right to be respected and protected by the family, community and state.”
She suggested to the House that the proposed bill is a major and important step in the government’s efforts to achieve those goals.
By ALEXANDRIO MORLEY, The Tribune
