Child abuse/violence against women
By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
~~Adz:Left~~ BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2007 which was released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour earlier this week, cited child abuse and violence against women as two of the main issues with which the Federation grappled during last year.
The report which focuses on issues of “Respect for the Integrity of the Person”, “Respect for Civil Liberties”, “Respect for Political Rights”, “Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Non-governmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights”, “Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons” and “Worker Rights”, noted that while the law of the country proscribes rape and domestic violence, it drops short of addressing other issues that directly affect women such as “spousal rape”.
It further states that although the unwillingness of women to lodge complaints, several cases have been recorded by the Ministry of Gender Affairs.
“The law prohibits rape, but it does not address spousal rape…Violence against women was a problem. The law criminalizes domestic violence, including emotional abuse, and provides penalties of up to $5,000 (EC$13,500) or six months in prison. Although many women were reluctant to file complaints or pursue them in the courts, the Ministry of Gender Affairs reported 25 cases of domestic violence during the year, commensurate with the recent annual average of 25 to 30 reports.
The director believed that the true number was higher, but that due to the nature of the crime, many women did not feel comfortable reporting it or asking for a protection order. There were no prosecutions or convictions for domestic violence during the year… The law does not specifically address sexual harassment, and it remained a problem.”
The report says that while the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is committed to “children’s rights and welfare”, abuse of children was a major issue in 2007.
“The government was committed to children’s rights and welfare…Child abuse remained a major problem. The law sets the age of consent at 16. Authorities brought charges in six cases involving alleged sexual activity with minors (indecent assault). In addition to those charges, the Ministry of Gender Affairs received 24 reports of sexual assaults against children during the year, an increase from the 11 cases reported in 2006. In February and in November the Sun newspaper reported that authorities arrested two juvenile boys for \”unlawful carnal knowledge” in two separate incidents. In November a former police officer in Nevis was tried for incest, but the matter was rescheduled to April 2008 when the jury could not reach a decision.”
