By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaican leaders want tougher punishments for people who sexually abuse children.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller told the People’s National Party Women’s Movement conference this week that Justice Minister Mark Golding is looking at ways to strengthen child abuse laws.
“What you need to do is stop it,” Miller said. “A woman represents motherhood. A woman is now prime minister of Jamaica. Stop it.”
The comments came after government figures showed more than 1,000 reports of sexual abuse against children through April of this year, according to the Jamaica Observer. Between 2007 and 2011, more than 7,200 cases were reported.
Recent United Nations studies indicated only a handful of child sex abuse cases in the Caribbean and Latin America lead to convictions. Marcelo Suarzo, the UN Populations Fund regional director, said it is unclear if the problem is with the laws or enforcement of the laws.
“What I am sure of is that impunity is the worst solution to sexual violence,” Suarzo said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer, adding that only two percent of reported cases in the region result in justice.
A school-based study conducted by the U.S. Agency for International Development in 2007 showed that one in three Jamaican girls between the ages of 10 and 15 experiences her first sexual encounter by force. Roughly 12 percent of young girls reported having sexual intercourse before they turned 15 years old.
“The issue needs an integrated response,” Suarzo told the Observer. “We need to strengthen our policies, make the appropriate investments and work closely to identify cases to ensure an integrated response from all the systems that are in charge of the application of justice.”
It appears the dialogue may already be having some effect. Not only has there been a spike in the number of reported cases of child sex abuse, but there also has been a number of high-profile prosecutions.
On Friday, a former commandant of Jamaica’s Special Constabulary Force will be sentenced after he was convicted earlier this month on two counts of indecent assault on a minor. The jury acquitted Harold Crooks, however, of carnal abuse since he and the teenage girl had sexual intercourse after she turned 16, Jamaica’s age of consent.
Earlier this month, a Kingston doctor was charged with four counts of committing sexual offenses against two teenage girls. A report by a Jamaican police watchdog group called the Constabulary Communication Network alleged that Dr. Rakesh Thomas lured the girls, ages 14 and 15, to his office several times to engage in sexual grooming, touching, and intercourse.
And in June, a Jamaican national was sentenced in U.S. federal court to 18 months in prison for sexually abusing a minor on the cruise ship where he worked. According to his plea agreement, Fabian Palmer befriended the 14-year-old girl and had sexual intercourse with her during a cruise last December.
At a recent meeting with Jamaica Observer editors and reporters, Jamaica’s UNICEF representative said more incidents are being reported to police “because [people] are realizing that silence is violence.”
Still, Robert Fuderich said the effort to stop the violence cannot stop there.
“There needs to be zero-tolerance,” he said.
For further information, please see:
Go Jamaica — Portia says Tougher Penalties Coming for Child Abusers — 16 July 2012
Jamaica Observer — Too Much Impunity for Sex Offenders, Says UN Official — 6 July 2012
Jamaica Observer — Former Police Commandant Found Guilty on Sex Charge — 5 July 2012
Stabroek News — Jamaican Doctor Charged with Sex Offences Against Girls — 2 July 2012
San Francisco Chronicle — Cruise Ship Worker Sentenced for Abusing Minor — 29 June 2012
