EDITORIAL - Tyranny in the ghetto

A police superintendent has this week confirmed what was often rumoured about girls who have been reported missing from inner-city communities. According to Deputy Superintendent Steven Moodie, some teenage girls living in such neighbourhoods are sent away by their mothers to the country, or to relatives elsewhere, to get them out of harm's way. These girls are then reported missing.

By sending their daughters away, parents are trying to prevent their daughters' sexual exploitation by inner-city dons who are known to summon these girls, explained the deputy superintendent. Presumably, there are some parents who have nowhere to send their daughters, which means they have no alternative but to expose them to sexual abuse.

This revelation by DSP Moodie raises serious questions about the national effort to protect our children. First, there is genuine puzzlement that the police would expose the fact that these parents have developed their own survival strategy as they fight for existence in tough, lawless, inner-city communities.

And second, if the police have all this knowledge, when was the last time a so-called don was brought before the court and tried and punished for child abuse?

The abuse of our children, whether in state care or in their family homes, has often been the focus of public discourse. However, the plight of inner-city teenagers has been studiously avoided. DSP Moodie described it as a "perpetual" problem, yet it is unclear what law enforcement has been doing to tackle the reprehensible rape of our young girls.

MISSING LINK

DSP Moodie also revealed that, since the start of 2013, more than 700 of the nation's children have been reported missing. Thankfully, nearly 600 of them have been found. What of the roughly 150 whose whereabouts remain a mystery? And how many of these could possibly be fleeing from area dons?

The Office of the Children's Advocate was established in 2006 with the mandate to protect the rights and best interests of the nation's children. So, is that office aware of the abuse being meted out to girls from the inner cities? And if so, what is being done to expose the perpetrators and put them behind bars?

In addition, there is the Task Force on Child Abuse Prevention and the Office of the Children's Registry, so Jamaica is not lacking in institutions to see to the protection and enforcement of children's rights. On paper, there are many agencies and organisations that are deemed to be on the side of our children. So why has the problem of abuse of inner-city teenagers not become the focus of public attention and national outrage?

And where is the voice and muscle of Ms Lisa Hanna and Dr Fenton Ferguson, who have portfolio responsibility for youth and children's affairs, respectively?

If we are to fix this problem of exploitation of our children, we need to develop a highly skilled investigative task force whose priority should include identifying and locking up thugs who are raping little girls.

This will call for the allocation of additional resources so that the police can be better trained and better equipped. Child sexual exploitation should not be swept under the carpet or ignored. These vulnerable girls must receive all the necessary protection.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.