THE establishment of a sexual offenders’ registry is on the horizon as Guyana endeavors to strengthen its efforts against child sexual abuse, according to Director of the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA), Ann Greene.

Greene was reported as saying that her agency will be working to assist with the creation of a sex offenders’ registry. Many persons have been calling for the establishment of this registry for years, including the CPA. In light of the crime against 13-year-old Leonard Archibald recently, the need for this has increased greatly. When the Guyana Chronicle spoke to Greene on Saturday, she stated that Guyana has adequate laws to protect children; in fact, she postulated Guyana has “one of the best child protection acts.” However, she posited that the enforcement of these laws and the attitudes of people is lacking.

She explained that the combatting of these issues are compounded by the plethora of issues faced by the police service and the “long, slothful process” of the judicial system. Greene related that the establishment of this registry is definitely under strong consideration by the CPA, which falls under the purview of the Social Protection Ministry. There are some areas that need to be ironed out however.

“Even when we start the registering of the sexual offenders, they gotta go through the system and there’s a point where they could appeal,” Greene said, adding that “The system must work.” Nevertheless, she emphasised, “Collective responsibility is needed, nothing partisan. There’s nothing partisan about child protection, this is about children.”

Also, speaking on the Juvenile Justice Bill, Greene related that it seeks to lessen the adjudication of juveniles by the justice system and focus more on child rights. The CPA, under the purview of the Ministry of Social Protection and its social services department, has been a key stakeholder in the review and creation of this bill. It was highlighted earlier this year, by Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, that the bill seeks to abolish truancy, wandering, among other crimes deemed “economic.”

Greene further disclosed to the Guyana Chronicle that raising the age of criminal responsibility from age 10 is definitely a component of the bill. “A child at 10 right now could be charged and placed before the court and that’s really very young,” she said, but could not ascertain what age this should be raised to.

Other components of the bill include mandating compulsory probation reports for juveniles, as well as the provision of legal representation for all juveniles. In layman’s terms, she explained, “[the] juvenile justice [bill] is saying that from the time you hold a juvenile, you gotta start the rehabilitation process. So, the places where you’re gonna hold them must be places that will not jeopardize them or put them at risk.”

Despite the extensive changes being advanced through this bill, the director related that she does not anticipate much opposition towards this bill when presented in parliament. She welcomed initiatives to “fix” aspects of the bill and make it better, though. Throwing her support behind this bill however, she stated, “We need to get some changes; we definitely need to reform the juvenile justice bill.”

“I don’t see why we’ll have opposition to this unless somebody has a better point that we could fix.” It was reported that the bill was completed in July and was reviewed by the Minister of Public Security and a parliamentary committee that included the Attorney General, parliamentary opposition and the Social Protection and Public Health Ministers.