With 2012 just a month old, there have already been at least four reports of serious crimes committed against children in Guyana. Earlier this month, two girls barely into their teens gave birth at the Georgetown Public Hospital – one by caesarian section, and for a while it seemed her 13-year-old body would not recover. Then there was the sexual abuse of several young boys, allegedly by a religious teacher they knew and trusted. A week ago, three boys who were reportedly involved in a fight in school, were brutally beaten by a teacher with a bamboo whip, which left marks of violence about their bodies. Just this week, a distraught father reported that his 13-year-old daughter had been abducted from his home in the middle of the night by a known person.
With regard to the 13-year-old and the 14-year-old who gave birth, the crime committed against them is statutory rape. They are both below the age where they can consent to have sex, therefore, the males who impregnated them ought to be charged and placed before the court.
Statutory rape, sadly, is a prevalent crime and one where despite the amended legislation, the perpetrator/s rarely faces charges. One of the reasons for this, of course, is the fact that by the time the girls come forward or the physical evidence of them being sexually molested is visible, nearly a year would have gone by.
Additionally, in the instant case, the girls are from a hinterland area, where it would appear, policing does not naturally extend beyond arrests for praedial larceny and the odd break-in at one end of the scale, to drunken fights and murder at the other. There was no indication that the crimes were reported when they were committed, but even if they were, there is the question of whether the reports would have been acted on. In fact, even with the evidence now at hand and the means to link these children to their assailants available in the form of DNA testing, there’s no reason to imagine that the police will stir themselves to make out cases against the men concerned.
Unfortunately, but true, the girls referred to above are not the first cases of teenage pregnancy. There have been others, including pre-teen pregnancies and the prevalence is spread across urban, rural and hinterland Guyana. The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s Childcare and Protection Agency (CCPA) had told this newspaper that there were several other underage girls in the agency’s care who had already given birth and that a number of reports had emerged from far-flung areas about similar cases.
While the agency has a commendable programme through which underage mothers have a second chance at completing their education, it is reactive. What it ought to be doing is working with the police, parents and guardians, the Ministry of Education and other relevant departments to find a way to protect young girls from becoming pregnancy statistics in the first place. Educating these young girls and their parents and enforcing the law would be a good way to start.
Ditto for the sexual abuse of the seven small boys at Turkeyen and the abduction of the 13-year-old at Essequibo; the police must be thorough in their evidence gathering and must at the end move to successfully prosecute whoever is responsible. In addition, given the increase in cases of paedophilia, the Child Care and Protection Agency has a duty to ensure the safety of children by sensitising their parents to the warning signs that would indicate their children are in imminent danger.
The Ministry of Education has hitherto been lax in enforcing its own rules as regards corporal punishment in schools. There have been too many instances in the past where teachers received a tap on the wrist for the hostile brutality they have meted out to the children in their care. However, with a new minister at the helm, and one who has experienced firsthand just how badly cruelty damages children, one expects there will be a greater effort made to save and protect them.
