CCPA Director sees need for special victims unit

…with increasing prevalence of child abuse cases

THE Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) from June to September this year had responded to 2,628 child abuse cases and its Director, Ann Greene, sees the need for a special victims unit to deal with the increasing prevalence in the number of cases.

She was addressing attendees at a commemorative event last Saturday for Universal Children’s Day celebrated on November 19, and observed under the theme: “Speaking out against Violence, Abuse and Discrimination Against Children”, allowing several children to express themselves through art.
At the event, spearheaded by the Guyana Equality Forum to highlight various issues afflicting children in Guyana, Greene noted that: “For the year [2013] from June to September the CCPA responded to 2,628 child abuse cases of which the data revealed that 1,330 children were neglected; 500 sexually abused; 442 physically abused and 72 abandoned.
“These cases are proving to be most challenging for CCPA officers, who oftentimes put their lives at risk, being publicly attacked and threatened, not to mention the disempowered feeling when immediate action cannot be taken.”
According to Greene, the special victims unit should include police, social workers and mental health specialists, particularly with the increasing prevalence in cases where parents have serious mental health issues resulting from substance abuse, thereby putting children in extremely vulnerable situations.
Meanwhile, SASOD (Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination) highlighted the need to speak out against violence, abuse and discrimination against children at the children’s commemorative mural painting Saturday afternoon on the Seawall between Pere Street and Vlissengen Road.
The event was spearheaded by the Guyana Equality Forum in collaboration with several other organisations, including Youth Challenge Guyana, Guyana National Youth Council, Youths for Guyana, the Guyana Girl Guides Association and SASOD.
And chairing the event was SASOD’s Secretary, Board of Trustees, Zenita Nicholson, while in attendance were several children and special invitees CCPA Director Ann Greene and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative, Marianne Flach.
The UNICEF representative complimented the various organisations that collaborated in planning the event, stating, “Art is a very powerful tool that children can use to express themselves.” She continued with the words of UNICEF’s Executive Director Anthony Lake, “Oftentimes abuse occurs in the shadows, undetected, unreported and even worse often accepted.”
SASOD, with children as a main focus, had painted a mural earlier this year on the seawall between Pere Street and Vlissengen Road which the children restored and extended by making a few additions.
Guyana has been a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child for over 22 years, having signed the convention in January 1990, though it was ratified in 1991, but questions exist about the success in enforcing it.

(By Tash Van Doimen)