Subsequent to a meeting between Guyana’s First Lady and US Ambassador to Guyana Sarah-Ann Lynch, the US Embassy issued a brief statement on issues the two discussed, to wit, “…a vision for Guyana’s future and the common areas of interest between the United States and Guyana”.
A statement from the Office of the First Lady specified that during the meeting, First Lady Arya Ali expounded on her ‘One Guyana’ platform, which seeks to examine biological and environmental factors that cause individuals to be excluded from various aspects of society, in particular differently-abled persons and children.
Mrs Ali has only months ago become First Lady of Guyana, but the interest she is taking in the vulnerable in society speaks volumes for her future engagements in the office she now holds consequent to her husband’s election to high office.
Her interest in the welfare of the vulnerable in society, especially children, would most likely extend to the eradication of the practice of child prostitution and trafficking of persons in Guyana. If she investigates these atrocities, she would be distressed and disgusted at the inhumane and cruel actions of perpetrators who prey on the vulnerable and helpless in society.
Unquestionably she would strongly object to the practice wherein persons try to use children as prostitutes – male or female, especially since she feels so strongly about the protection of children and ensuring that they have the requisite quality of childhood that would ensure a healthy combination of mental, psychological, emotional and physical growth.
Child prostitution and trafficking in persons are absolutely heinous crimes that proliferate worldwide, and in some societies where poverty is dire, some parents feel driven to sell their own children for pittances – destroying their own children for temporary relief from their pecuniary circumstances.
Many children have been kidnapped and sold; many have been sexually exploited by their own relatives or trusted persons in their lives; many persons, adults and children have been tricked into slavery – where they are taken away to distances and situations from which they find it impossible to escape, and are forced into virtual servitude either to sexual predators, or as slave labourers.
In Guyana many impoverished persons, especially children and females, have been lured away from their rural or hinterland homes with the promise of jobs or by other means, only to sometimes find themselves in horrendous situations.
The previous Government had been plagued by some public servants not delivering on their mandate. In the Child Protection Services this lackadaisical, laissez faire attitude was a contributory factor that led to the saga of suffering and eventual murder of Neesa Gopaul, which was condemned in no uncertain terms by former Social Services Minister Priya Manickchand.
This high level of incompetence has undoubtedly caused some animosity by the public, and distrust. Manickchand had directed some caustic remarks at the non-functionality of that department, which precipitated an unfortunate series of incidents that eventuated in the abuse and murder of Neesa Gopaul.
Many have tried and failed to eradicate this heinous scourge, even in societies more developed than ours, and it is highly commendable for Guyana’s First Lady to undertake this massive responsibility, by which she seeks to provide a platform for empowerment/education and extrication from exploitation and abuse of the voiceless and vulnerable. Perhaps her zeal and passion may achieve what others have failed to accomplish – make Guyana a safe haven for the vulnerable in society.
