Expose Children to Positive Music – Hanna

Minister of Youth and Culture, Hon. Lisa Hanna, is calling on the society to ensure that the music children are exposed to promote positive messages, attitudes and behaviours.

“Music that celebrates the gun and glorifies sexual violence against women has no place on the airwaves, in homes, on public transportation, and or in private motor vehicles, where children are exposed to its debasing and socially harmful doctrines that sometimes subliminally seduces them to wrong actions,” she said.

Miss Hanna was speaking at the launch of the Office of the Children's Registry (OCR) 5th anniversary publication and child participation programmes at the Courtleigh Hotel in Kingston on May 17.

She argued that “if children are the future of our country and the earth is theirs, we owe it to them to create social and cultural legacies for them in terms of values that are wholesome and uplifting. Here in Jamaica we can begin with our music."

The Children’s Registry, a statutory body under the Ministry of Youth and Culture, was established in January 2007 under the Child Care and Protection Act (CCPA) 2004.

It is responsible for receiving reports of child abuse and recording, assessing and referring them to the Child Development Agency (CDA), Office of the Children’s Advocate and the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA) for investigation and action.

By Chris Patterson, JIS Reporter