Between 2015 and 2021, over 260 Jamaicans aged 1 to 17 were murdered across the island, highlighting the dismal reality facing the country’s youth.
Over the same seven-year period, official police data show that 2,035 incidences of child rape were registered, with more than 600 youngsters left with gunshot wounds.
The figures, according to Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison, highlight one of Jamaica’s fundamental issues: children are both victims and perpetrators of criminal activities.
Gordon Harrison, speaking to the Jamaica Observer Press Club recently, mentioned that numbers of minors have been apprehended in connection with violent crimes in western Jamaica.
“Children are victims of extremely extreme types of abuse, and it’s all kinds of violence…we’re still seeing victims of excessive corporal punishment.” I believe it is fair to say that parenting has evolved throughout time… “However, we still see incidences of domestic violence that transform into school settings,” stated Gordon Harrison.
“We’re still seeing predators who prey on children, so we’re seeing sexual violence, and we’re seeing children themselves with child-on-child violence,” Gordon Harrison continued, citing many cases of violent conflicts among pupils since face-to-face courses resumed in Jamaica months ago.
Gordon Harrison was echoing the assertions of Ytske Van Winden, an international child protection expert with the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Jamaica, who utilized the Jamaica Observer Press Club to emphasize that Jamaica has a significant problem with violence and crime.
“Jamaica has set a new world record for homicide rates. When it came to homicide rates, it was always among the top five countries in the world. So there was already a huge problem, and I believe the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated it,” Van Winden added, noting that 1,463 murders and 1,258 gunshots occurred in Jamaica in 2021.
“That is enormous for a small country, and we have many young victims.” That is a high priority for UNICEF. “Protecting children from violence, abuse, exploitation, and neglect is top of our priorities since we are the United Nations organization mandated to achieve positive change for children,” she said.
The current UNICEF program cycle in Jamaica, according to Van Winden, is focused on addressing the issue of violence.
“So we address it in the home, in communities, and in schools as well.” We have really well-organized programs. Many projects are underway in the country, and we are guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,” Van Winden said.
She mentioned that Jamaica signed the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children in 2019, in which governments and international organizations agreed to work together to address the issue.
“One of the first countries to say, ‘We are on board,’ was Jamaica. We’re going to adopt that package, and we’re going to develop a national plan of action around it,’ Van Winden said.
The new National Plan of Action for an Integrated Response to Children and Violence arose from that decision (NPACV)
The NPACV’s mission is to establish and maintain a safe environment that is supportive of and sensitive to concerns with children and violence.
Its main goals are to limit children’s exposure to violence and the impact of violence on children through an integrated approach to prevention, control, monitoring, and intervention, so that children’s rights are protected and they grow up to be productive citizens of Jamaica.
Van Widen emphasized that various variables contribute to child violence, all of which must be addressed.
“If only we had a silver bullet to deal with violence, but we don’t,” Van Winden said.
“What we have in Jamaica is the NPACV, which is a really comprehensive, solid plan to address violence against children. This strategy was created by a collaboration of 20 governmental and civil society organizations who put their heads together. Van Winden noted, “This gives a framework with evidence-based activities that can reduce violence against children as a result of changing norms and policy.”
She claimed that the NPACV already included all Jamaica has to undertake to minimize child violence.
“As a result, the media is an important element of our solution because we need you to remind the government to implement it.” We have a strategy, we understand what needs to be done, and we understand what works. We have proof because it has been tried in Jamaica, the region, and around the world,” Van Winden stated.
