Recent statistics released by the Department of Social Services show that reported cases of child abuse rose by 22% in The Bahamas in 2014. In one instance, it is our hope that case reporting has increased due to more sustained public education and awareness in recent times.

However, officials say that these statistics only represent a fraction of actual occurrences. A question that has been repeatedly asked by our Minister of Youth, Sports & Culture in relation to members of the opposition that did not attend Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival is, “Where were you?”.

Parents, guardians, neighbours, family and friends what are we doing to prevent child abuse in our communities? Business owners, civic groups and religious institutions, is enough being done to ensure the resources, programming, and volunteers are in place to effectively tackle this issue?

Elected officials, what exactly have you done to ensure the protection of children in our country becomes national priority and how will that be reflected in the proposed national budget and development plans?

“A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Children do not have the capacity to protect themselves, thus it is squarely upon the shoulders of the electorate to do so. There were 597 reported cases of child abuse in 2014 including neglect, abandonment, incest, physical, sexual, verbal and emotional abuse. If that statistic does not spur a sustained national demand for an immediate and long term action plan to make the protection of children a priority, then we, as a citizenry are failing. As one of many survivors of childhood molestation, I will not stand by resigned that future generations will ask, “Where were you?”.

Instead, I will continue to be a thorn in the side of a society that is not yet agitated enough to make a strong and resolute stand on this issue until we do so.

Prevention needs to be a key focus, through:

 

  • Launching a massive multimedia national awareness campaign
  • Implementing a preventative program, encouraging would be perpetrators willing to seek professional evaluation, treatment and on-going monitoring to do so
  • Mandating both public and private school curriculum that teaches young children about inappropriate adult interactions, how and where to report them

 

Detection mechanisms need to be better enforced:

 

  • Prosecutions related to mandatory reporting should be carried out to the fullest extent of the law in accordance with section 63 of the Child Protection Act: “Every person who has information indicating that a child is suffering or has suffered significant harm, shall forthwith report that information to the Director (of Child & Welfare Services)”
  • The investment in specialised training should be substantially increased for the police force, social workers, guidance counsellors etc. to deal with cases involving minors and victims of sexual assault
  • Child Protection Unit contacts should be widely circulated to the public

 

There needs to be zero tolerance in relation to child abuse crimes.

 

  • All components of the Child Protection Act that have not yet been enacted, should be
  • The promised separate family court should be fully operational as well as a separate sexual offences court established
  • Marco’s Law needs to be revisited and strengthened
  • Relevant stakeholders and researchers should come to a determination on the regulations for the convicted sex offenders registry
  • Sentencing trends in child and sexual abuse case convictions should be evaluated and compared with international trends to assess equity and effectiveness

 

This is a call to action. Who will heed the call?

Terneille Burrows, Founder

Rise Bahamas

Bahamas Against Sexual Violence & Child Abuse

risebahamas@gmail.com