President Bharrat Jagdeo Saturday evening said that Guyana’s solution to addressing child abuse must not be influenced by foreign circumstances, but rather it should be tailored to fit the Guyanese reality.
He was at the time addressing the gathering at the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha’s “Emerging Voices” concert at the Guyana International Conference Center (GICC), Liliendaal, which marks the launching of the Sabha’s “Voices Against Child Abuse” campaign to raise awareness and garner support for abused children.
The President said that this initiative by the Sabha is timely and deserves the support of the entire country.
“We made a promise that we would strengthen the legislative environment to protect children and we created the Child Care and Protection Agency,” he said.
The Agency, which is currently being staffed, will be complemented with a strong legislative framework inclusive of the Children’s Bill, a comprehensive package of legislation with five bills: Adoption of Children; Child Care and Development Services; Custody, Access, Guardianship and Maintenance Bill; Status of Children, and Protection of Children Bill.

This legislative agenda, the President said, would ensure that the problems that were encountered in the past, such as enforcement, would be resolved. He noted that this is a problem for the State,, as well as a cultural issue, and pointed out that ordinary Guyanese and religious Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in particular, have to play a greater role in effecting cultural changes.
“We must become very intolerant to this abuse in a society that promotes tolerance,” President Jagdeo said.
He lamented that there are over 300 children on the streets throughout the country who are considered homeless, and to date several homes have been built in an effort to reduce this.
However, he pointed out that taking children off the streets and placing them in institutional care is a much more complex matter, since many of them have already become habituated to life on the streets.
“Let us be very careful, let us fight abuse in the extreme form, but do not succumb to western or other people’s definition, because we can end up dispersing our efforts so thinly that we don’t focus on the real problems, which at this point in time are the extreme abuse in the form of physical violence against children,” President Jagdeo said.

“We are going to lend support in the form of staffing and buildings, but I am hoping that more NGOs and the religious communities in particular will help to effect the societal changes we need to address this problem,” he added.
Dr. Vindhya Persaud, of the Sabha, urged the young generation to speak out against all forms of abuse in society.
A shelter will be constructed in Berbice to house abused children regardless of race and religion. Additionally, every attempt will be made to address their situation in order to re-integrate them into society and their families, if possible.

Government has pledged its support to this initiative by agreeing to undertake the full cost of a shelter, which will have the capacity to house 30 children.  The Sabha will also be collaborating with NGOs and other stakeholders to assist in this regard. (GINA)