Georgetown : With a crucial responsibility to monitor and oversee the implementation of the rights of the child in Guyana, the Rights of the Child Commission has been directing much energies towards a number of issues affecting children in the society. According to Deputy Chairperson of the Commission, Attorney-at-law Ms Rosemary Benjamin-Noble, “we see our function as an important one in terms of monitoring; to bring about change if change is necessary or bring about improvement if that is really all that is necessary for something to work better. Systems are very, very important when it comes to dealing with children in the various spheres of life and we therefore recognize this as a lot of our energies have been put into issues that affect children,” the Deputy Chairpersons said.
She revealed though that it is regrettable that the body does not as yet, due to the unavailability of funding, have all of the preferred systems in place up and running but anticipates this will change very shortly. Notwithstanding that however, and without having a formal complaint system in place, the Rights Commission has in various ways been engaging with respect to issues regarding children and matters that have come to its attention from time to time whether through the press or documents that have been sent to it, Benjamin-Noble said. Several matters, including incidents that have occurred in both the school and hospital settings, she revealed, that the RCC in its efforts to intervene have had to interface with the relevant authorities on occasions to have action taken.
In presenting a few case studies that have gained the attention of the Commission during a recent Women and Gender Equality Commission forum, Benjamin-Noble spoke of an incident whereby a Grade Six Child was severely flogged by a teacher. The teacher involved in the said case was sent on administrative leave pending an investigation while the parent of the child has since expressed concern about how some aspects of the matter have been dealt with. This perhaps led to that mother of the child pursing the matter extensively in the press before seeking the intervention of the Rights Commission.
Another school incident, which occurred on the West Bank of Demerara that unfortunately resulted in the death of a child, has also been gaining the attention of the Rights Commission. This matter, according to Benjamin-Noble saw the Commission seeking the support of both the Ministry of Education and the Police Force as there were some uncertainties as to what led to the fatal incident.
However, outside of these, the Commission has seen itself being called upon to address situations in the hospital setting with one incident whereby officials had neglected to register a newborn baby because the bill for the service provided had not been paid. But according to Benjamin-Noble the matter was swiftly settled with a single telephone call. “We were forced to point out that one issue had nothing to do with another and furthermore, even more critical this went to the core of the well being of a child that from the very birth of a child persons were trying to put things in the way…it really was unfortunate and we were disappointed that it had occurred.”
However, while the Commission has been keeping tabs on other cases such as the rampant spate of sexual offences committed against children, Benjamin-Noble said that the Rights Commission is aiming to widen its reach this year with a view of aggressively pursuing such cases in various ways. “We recognize that a lot of our energies have to be continually put into dealing with these issues that affect children and we will continue to interface with the various agencies as the need arise.”
As part of the mandate of the Rights of the Child Commission is to promote and respect the views of children and ensure that all levels of Government and other public and private bodies institute policies that protect children from ills such as child labour and other forms of harassment. The Commission is also responsible for making recommendations on policies and practices of organizations, which will result in the promotion of child rights even as child rights issues are redressed by the Commission and annual reports are prepared and submitted on the Government’s behalf to the United Nations Committee on Rights of the Child.
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