Help and Shelter Statement on treatment of teenaged girls from Mocha

Help & Shelter, which is committed to transforming attitudes in Guyanese society on the use of violence through building respect for the rights of women, children, youth and men to live lives free of violence and the threat to violence, views with alarm the decision to send the two young teenage girls from Mocha to the NOC for three years

Help & Shelter would remind the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security of the findings of the Children and Violence Project, which they coordinated with UNICEF Guyana in 2004-2005. The report, “Voices of Children: Experiences with Violence” states:

“The majority of children spoken to in the NOC had experienced serious and frequent physical and emotional abuse at home and this abuse had often contributed to the events which led them to be committed to the NOC. Some children were running away from abuse at home and a few girls had become involved in exploitative sexual relationships with older boys or men. In most cases, care givers reported to the police that the child was delinquent and the child was subsequently committed to the NOC. The report goes on to state “ it is questionable whether it is really in the best interest of most of the children committed for “wandering’ or for petty crimes to be sent to the NOC.”

The Minister of Human Services is also on record as saying that she is committed to abolishing the offence of wandering, in recognition – it is assumed - of the fact that child abuse and neglect are major contributing factors to delinquency, risky behaviour and sexual and other forms of exploitation, including trafficking in persons. We therefore invite the Minister to confirm her position and take immediate action to have the girls removed to a more suitable place, where they will be able to receive counselling and other appropriate services in keeping with their basic human rights and in their best interests as children. The practice of committing abused children on the pretext of ‘wandering’ to an institution for juvenile offenders is a travesty of justice as it heaps additional abuse on those whose fundamental problems stem from abuse and neglect.

Help & Shelter also calls on parliament and those governmental ministries and agencies that have responsibility for the NOC and the juvenile justice system to review the system and the institutions that fall under it so as to bring both into compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Guyana is a signatory.

Help & Shelter stands committed to assisting these two teenagers in whatever way it can and has made similar statements previous to this to the media. The ultimate responsibility however lies with the Ministry of Human Services, the law enforcement agencies and the courts.