New sex law about protection, not prosecution
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-ONE Child Protection Services official stated this week that the seemingly imminent amendments to the Age of Consent Act are an important step toward updating “archaic and outdated” legislation regarding the safety of St. Kitts-Nevis’ children.
Currently the only information about the proposed amendments is that they will change the legal age for a person to have consensual sex from sixteen to eighteen, but Child Protection Services Director Maurice Williams said that there is more to the Act than that.
“The recommendations which we would have made for the Act go way beyond just increasing the chronological age. Though I am not at liberty to say what those specific recommendations are, they go to the heart of what we consider to be the problem in relation to the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children.”
The new amendments are not as new as they seem, Williams said, noting that if the Act is passed it will merely bring the Federation closer into accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that was signed and ratified in 1990.
“When the UNCRC was signed, we observed that there were a number of contradictions in the age of legal majority. In order to reconcile the contradiction between the school leaving age and the age of consent we began lobbying in the early 1990s to have the age raised to 18.” ~~Adz:Right~~
Prior to the UNCRC signing, many Caribbean nations had their age of consent set at sixteen years of age or less, and therefore had to make major adjustments to their legislation afterward to be in compliance.
“[Caribbean nations] were many light years behind what the convention requires, so a number of countries are now trying to catch up in improving not only the laws but the practice as well,” Williams said, “and St. Kitts has not been recognized in the region as one of the leaders as it relates to securing the rights of children.”
While there has been some opposition to the age of consent being raised, including prominent educator Washington Archibald calling it a “dumb, lopsided and Draconian” Law that will unnecessarily jail offenders, Williams said that after 18 years of lobbying by his department those opposing the Act are limited in number.
“I have not heard a lot of opposition to this Act being passed, and from what I have been hearing most of the opposition appears to have focused on whether or not enhancing the legislation would prevent this type of activity.”
The Director also refuted the claim that young men would be jailed unnecessarily by the law, stating that his department had made efforts to ensure the Act is more about deterring rather than punishment.
“If the Act is enacted and does not have a deterrent effect to it, then I think it will have some shortcomings that need to be addressed.”
Williams said that even though the Age of Consent Act has been receiving substantial publicity, it is merely a small portion of Child Protection Services’ goal of “ensuring that the legislation and practice in St. Kitts-Nevis are more closely in line with the UNCRC”.
