BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE New Horizons Juvenile Rehabilitation Centre, the gateway to turning around the lives of delinquent youths, is now fully functional.
The announcement of the operations of the new facility was made by Minister of Health, Community and Social Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, the Hon. Marcella Liburd, last Wednesday (Feb. 19) at a Cabinet Press Conference.
Minister Liburd told media professionals that the Rehabilitation Centre, which caters to both male and female, already has residents.
The centre is a replacement for the Harris’ Home which was destroyed by fire many years ago.
"The New Horizons Centre is operational. There are currently eight residents there - five males, three females. Five of them are sentenced and three are on remand," she explained.
New Horizons, located at Harris', is a juvenile residential facility for delinquents aimed at rehabilitation. The residents there are exposed to a well-rounded programme which include academic and vocational education as well as counselling.
The facility’s building was completed in September 2012 where US$296 563 was donated in the form of equipment and furniture by the United States Government. It was officially opened in March, 2013.
At the press conference, the Minister made mention of gender equality, stating that that is her Ministry's focus. She said the Ministry of Gender Affairs is working on ironing out the kinks which would retard progress in that regard.
Speaking specifically to the issue of child maintenance, Liburd said: "A lot of the legislation which we have passed, there was some inequality there with respect to mothers. We now have made sure that fathers and mothers have equal rights to their children under this new legislation to the extent that it is now possible for women to be asked to pay maintenance".
She explained that previously, in instances where the child or children were living with their fathers, the mothers were not asked to pay for maintenance.
On the topic of sexual assault, Minister Liburd said: "With respect to indecent assault, there were some inequalities there where the sentencing for girls, you had up to ten years and for boys, two years (for girls). We have quickly moved in and changed that so it is now ten years for boys and ten years for girls".
The Minister stated that her Ministry would continue to work steadfastly to equalise gender within the Federation.
