Jamaicans must work together to end Violence against Children

Former Prime Minister, the Most Hon. P.J. Patterson, has pointed to the need for Jamaicans to work together to speed up the pace of progress in eliminating violence against the nation’s children.

Mr. Patterson was addressing the opening session of the United Nations (UN) Cross-Regional Meeting for Advancing the Protection of Children from Violence held on Monday (June 30), at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

The former Prime Minister commended the Child Development Agency (CDA), which, over the last 10 years, has helped to transform the lives of many children by rescuing them from violent and abusive circumstances and placing them in sound environments.

He noted as well, that the passage of the Child Care and Protection Act in 2004, which followed years of consultation and planning, was one of the key developments in Jamaica’s process to transform child care and protection.

“I believe, however, that we will go even faster and further forward if we are able to work together to change values and attitudes towards violence, towards child-rearing, towards parent-child relations and the relationships between society and our children,” he said.

The former Prime Minister noted that the last global study on violence against children estimated that between 500 million and 1.5 billion children across the world suffer some form of violence each year.

He said that in many societies, including Jamaica, a violent parenting style is practised, and more needs to be done to change the mindset that takes parenting lightly.

“Good parenting is more than just financial support. It is ensuring that our children are able to live in a peaceful environment and be able to realise their human potential,” he noted.

The two-day United Nations Cross-Regional meeting was jointly hosted by Minister of Youth and Culture, Hon. Lisa Hanna and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Violence Against Children, Marta Santos País.

The high level round-table is expected to develop strategic recommendations on how the various regions of the world can collaborate on preventing and responding to violence against children.