Corporal punishment, drug abuse, sexual violence rampant among children – ROC Chair

Several key issues such as drug abuse, corporal punishment and sexual abuse were some of the key topics examined in this year’s annual report of the Rights of the Child Commission.

On Monday afternoon several parliamentary officials and members from the Rights of the Child Commission among other stakeholders assembled in the Parliament Chamber, Public Buildings, Brickdam, Georgetown for the official handing over ceremony of the Annual Report of the Rights of the Child Commission to Speaker of the National Assembly.
Delivering remarks during the brief ceremony was Chairperson of the Rights of Child Commission, Aleema Nasir, who gave a surface level overview about several issues highlighted in the report. According to the chairperson corporal punishment was one of the main challenges outlined in the report. She revealed that this topic has always been on the forefront of the Rights of the Child Commission, however the situation has only gotten worse over the years.
“When our report goes to Geneva, they really take us to task on our beating, our corporal punishment that’s an area. And we have been dealing with that since 2009, when we started working. And it’s a challenge that is not getting any better. Because our people feel that if you don’t beat the child, they wouldn’t learn, things wouldn’t go right. But we are trying our best we’re making small steps, and I’m thankful for that” Nasir explained.
She added that drug usage among the nations children is also one of the prominent issues highlighted in the report. The chairperson revealed that there is at least one child in every educational intuition that uses drugs.
“Another area which we concentrated on, it’s the addiction to alcohol and drugs. And this is really, really, a really terrible area. Because in all the schools of Guyana, and I say this with confidence, each school, there are children there who are doing drugs and alcohol Including the religious schools. And we’ve been doing a lot of work within the recent times on this,” she revealed.
Additionally, the chairperson highlighted several other challenges observed amongst the nation’s children, she said “We’ve been to all ten regions of Guyana and it is very distressing in some areas where there’s a lot of sexual abuse and incest, and all these things that are happening in some areas the children are not in school, they come in contact with the law, and things like that. It’s a humongous task, and we are trying our best to see how we can, along with all the other government agencies, trying to see how best we can deal with these situations.”
Lack of effective disciplinary measures
Meanwhile chiming in on the corporal punishment debate was Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir, who opposed the elimination of this traditional disciplinary measure. The speaker explained that there is a nuance between western ideologies compared to the rest of the world.
“I heard mention of the challenges the chairman said that we have with respect to sparing the rod. And we deal with many cultures. And there is no divine handing down providence in any book that says Western ways are better than other ways none, They just can’t appreciate that, because while they are educated in their ways, they are not exposed to the cultures, the practices, and more particularly, the way the other two-thirds of the world live in harmony, in unity, and more particularly in making decisions that may not have material prosperity, but community and spiritual upliftment,” the speaker contended.
On this point the speaker took the opportunity to defended corporal punishment, he further went onto highlight some of the issues America faces due to a lack of effective disciplinary measures.
“And so today, we’re told about corporal punishment being so horrific. Every single day in America, there are at least ten mass shootings every day by children. I was looking at the newscast from the Florida Sheriff or one of the sheriffs in one of the counties. And he was talking about naming and shaming these juveniles and also their parents. But they are lecturing us about sparing the rod. We’re getting a lecture about that. Who lectures those in America about the little barbarians they’re raising in their homes? Who lectures them?” He stated.
The Rights of the Child Commission (RCC) is an independent, quasi-governmental body with constitutional powers, established under Article 212G(1)(d) of the Constitution of Guyana. The Commission was granted jurisdiction to investigate and resolve complaints that violates and omits the rights and interest of the child, ensuring that every child’s voice is heard on all levels in Guyana, in accordance with, the Convention on Rights of The Child (UNCRC) Articles.