PM Renews Calls for Children to be Protected

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, has renewed her call for adults to take care of the nation’s children and protect them from abuse.

She said she has asked that legislation be looked at “for further protection of our children, and I am serious about it”.

The Prime Minister, who was speaking at the opening of the Kintyre Bridge in St. Andrew on December 4, made an appeal for parents “to not leave your children in the care of careless persons, and persons that you know are not of sound character.”

She argued that when children are left in the hands of persons, who are not responsible, the danger of them being hurt is always imminent, and “when you get back, you cry ‘if mi did know’. It cannot repair the damage and the hurt, and the pain of that child.”

“Too many parents are getting away with what happens to their children…when it is their carelessness why. Let them tag-along (with you) so that they are always in your care,” she advised.

The Office of the Children’s Registry (OCR) indicates that there were 6,961 reports of abuse of children as at the end of August 2013, with 1,253 of those cases occurring in June.

The Prime Minister said the number of cases is far too high. “We have to do something. It is not just about Government, it is about parents, it is about members of the community. It is all our responsibility to take care of the children,” she stated.