Does Blaine really hear the children's cry?

By Jaevion Nelson

Many children in Jamaica are bombarded with a plethora of social ills, including abandonment and neglect, abuse, violence, poverty and hunger, and illiteracy, among others. They are suffering and desperately need all our support to erase the status quo so they can all be respected and have equal opportunities to a brighter future in the Jamaica that is to be cohesive and just by 2030.

This isn't very difficult if we all commit to make noise and protest every day, every hour about their situation. But I don't feel the efforts of many persons advocating for the welfare of our children are particularly voracious. Take, for example, the deafening silence among (many of) those persons who boast being the most prolific advocates for the rights and protection of our vulnerable and marginalised children. You don't see them protesting (anymore) about the untenable circumstances of far too many of our children.

The situation needs desperate attention. Over 16,000 children in Jamaica are child labourers - 7,000 of whom are engaged in child slavery, prostitution, and the production of pornography (Child Labour Unit, Ministry of Labour and Social Security). Sixty-eight per cent of children in conflict with the law appear in court without any legal representation (Office of the Children's Advocate). The Office of Children's Registry (OCR) reported last year that 482 of the 2,205 children who went missing were still not returned to their homes. In the same year, the OCR received 10,000 reports of child abuse, more than 5,000 of which related to child neglect.

MORE STARTLING DATA

A Baseline Survey on Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Regarding Child Maltreatment in Jamaica, commissioned by the OCR and UNICEF and conducted by Hope Enterprise in 2013, found that 71 per cent of our children between 10 and 17 years have either experienced or witnessed emotional abuse in the past three months (at the time of the survey). Twenty-nine per cent of children in the same age group witnessed or experienced neglect. Only 11 per cent of adult Jamaicans reported child abuse, and less than 50 per cent of children 10-17 years and adults know about the OCR. In 2012, there were 396,660 potential cases of HIV infection among sexually active young people 15-24 years because 42 per cent of them do not use condoms, or choose only to use it sometimes.

The statistics are frightening, to say the least. One wonders, does Betty Ann Blaine still hear the children's cry? What is she committed to so-called 'exposing'? Is she aware that there are, perhaps, more pressing issues confronting our children that urgently need the agency of persons like herself and colleagues protesting outside the University of the West Indies? I guess not, since she is zealously working to convince the nation that our (male) children are under attack … from gay men.

TRUTH ABOUT SEXUAL ABUSE

If we should go by the data, which I am very sure Blaine is privy to, then we'd realise that is not the case. The truth is there are far more heterosexual-related child sexual-abuse cases. Less than five per cent of cases reported to the OCR in 2012 relate to buggery and they included both boys and girls (i.e., 2,756 cases of child sexual abuse; including 101 cases of buggery). I am very aware many persons - perhaps the majority - do not report these incidents for one or more reasons and that there was an increase from 58 buggery cases in 2011 to 101 in 2012. We can't say for sure, though, that these incidents are increasing. This may be due, in part, to the improved efficiency of the OCR and increased awareness among Jamaicans about the entity.

Blaine and her friends who are chanting down Babylon should focus on child sexual abuse (if it is that they want to concern themselves with one social ill). I've always admired Blaine's passion for advocacy whether she is occupying Half-Way Tree, castigating the government or presenting her grandiose plans for when she becomes the second female prime minister. However, I strongly believe she must be more responsible in her pronouncements and advocacy. She must do more than fuel/perpetuate the bigotry and absurdness that seemingly characterise what it means to be truly Jamaican these days.

Please, Ms Blaine, listen a little to hear the children's cry.

Jaevion Nelson is a youth development, HIV and human rights advocate. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and jaevion@gmail.com.