Child abuse too often overlooked in SKN
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Department of Child Protection Services recently informed SKNVibes that making persons aware that child abuse is prevalent in the Federation is one of the biggest roadblocks in preventing its occurrence.
“Our efforts at the Department of Child Protection Services are geared toward those children who become the victims of physical abuse,” Department Director Maurice Williams said in an exclusive interview. “The difficulty is that not much attention has been placed on these atrocities to children.”
Williams said that many times when his department shows photographs of Kittitian and Nevisian children who have been severely abused, the general public doubts that they are real.
“Often times when we have the opportunity to put on public display some of the images of children who would have been abused in St. Kitts, we have an extremely difficult time in convincing people that we did not get the pictures from the internet,” he said.
Additionally, Child Protection Services meets opposition in its protection efforts because the general public misinterprets the difference between abuse and punishment.
“There are some general misgivings about the role of the department as it relates to child protection, especially when it comes to the issue of punishment. Many persons appear to be confusing punishment and abuse. The department is well aware of Section 6 of the Juvenile Act, which in a way saves corporeal punishment from being a criminal activity.”
Because corporeal punishment is protection under the Juvenile Act and is written into the Education Act as an acceptable form of discipline, Williams said his department could currently do nothing to prevent its occurrence unless that punishment crosses the line into abuse. ~~Adz:Right~~
“Our views as a department would have to be in sync with the government’s policy. We’re here to execute government policy because once it is made policy we have an obligation to execute it.”
The Director did however note that St. Kitts-Nevis, as a country which has ratified the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, would eventually need to do away with corporeal punishment in order to be in compliance with that document.
“One of our obligations as a party to that convention is to provide the UN Commission on the Rights of the Child with periodical reports on the measures being taken domestically to address any shortcomings and to provide conformity with convention.
“When our first report was submitted, it is no big secret that the Federation was internationally reprimanded for not taking the necessary steps towards abolishing corporeal punishment,” Williams said.
With the next report to the UN expected to be delivered sometime in 2009, Williams said he hopes that the Federation receives better marks on its next review.
“As far as where we stand currently, what I can tell you at the moment is that we are near to completing our second report to the UN. I guess we would have to wait and see their observations to determine if we are on the right path in regards to corporeal punishment,” he said.
