Childrens Rights in Jamaica

1
Childrens Rights in Jamaica

• Challenges/Achievements
• Carol V. Samuels (2009)

2
The Challenges

• Moving the CRC from a conceptual and theoretical
  framework to application
• Radical shifts in how children are viewed
• Tackling issues that affect children

3
Challenges contd

• National resistance to the concept of childrens
  rights
• Adults openly resented childrens rights
• Children basked in the concept
• Needed to develop strategies to sell the
  concept

4
Challenges Contd

• Ensuring implementation at the government level
• Answering the cry of insufficient resources
• Implementation through law and policy changes
• Development of rights-based programmes
• Countering the negative, adversarial image of
  child rights advocacy organisations
• Surviving times of ostracism
• Moving towards partnership and collaboration

5
Challenges Contd

• The slow pace of change
• Many gains made through persistent advocacy
• Child Care and Protection Act took ten years
• Other laws still languishing on the legislative
  agenda
• Consultation processes, development plans
  commendable, however, those not translated into
  action that benefit children directly
• Children still seen as the future not the present
  

6
Challenges Contd

• Resource constraints
• Dependence on volunteerism
• Withdrawal of some international funding agencies
  
• Constraints on the Jamaican government ( the
  years of structural adjustment)
• Wider developmental issues
• Increased impact of violence in homes and
  communities
• Increased involvement of children as victims or
  perpetrators of violent crime
• Impact of poverty on children especially rural
  children
• Increased impact of risk factors, e.g. HIV/AIDS,
  homelessness, trafficking and prostitution.

7
Accomplishments

• Building Awareness
• Surveys reveal that the majority of Jamaicans now
  know that children have rights.
• Result of years of effort by NGOs, funding
  agencies (UNICEF, SCF) and the GOJ
• Strategies used include
• Books and materials that simplified rights
  concepts
• Visual and Performing Arts
• Showcasing responsibilities in tandem with
  rights.
• Empowering children as self-advocates

8
Accomplishments Contd

• Advocacy Efforts
• Research, surveys and analyses - accurate data to
  build compelling arguments
• Media partnerships
• Training and involving children and youth in
  advocacy
• Staying with the issue (JCRC, UNICEF)
• Growth in childrens sector.
• Challenging and collaborating with our members

9
Accomplishments Contd

• Partnerships and Alliances
• Wider civil society groups (womens and justice
  sectors) involved in child rights advocacy
• Collaboration with Members on various activities
  
• NGO partnerships with government officers
  (Childrens Officers, Probation Officers, Police)
  through training, community interventions and
  awareness-building programmes
• Role of Committee on the Rights of the Child and
  the NGO Group in Geneva in drawing attention to
  major breaches

10
Accomplishments Contd

• Developments at the GOJ Level
• Amalgamation of separate child-related agencies
  into the Child Development Agency.
• Enactment of the CCPA, strengthening protection
  of rights in the law
• New standards, monitoring and funding for
  children in alternative care revival of foster
  care programme.
• Focus on Early Childhood
• Establishment of the Office of the Childrens
  Advocate
• Upcoming implementation of mandatory reporting of
  abuse, through the establishment of the Registry
  and Registrar appointed

11
The Big Picture

• The last decade and a half have seen several
  positive developments in the understanding and
  implementation of childrens rights.
• Yet, in many ways, as the education system comes
  under greater threat, community-based crime rises
  and poverty and lowering moral standards affect
  the integrity of the family, children are at
  greater risk today than ever before.
• Having laid a foundation of awareness and legal
  protection for childrens rights, our next great
  challenge is investments and partnerships in
  making these rights a reality