The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A SEX crime workshop was held yesterday to address the challenges of child abuse and sexually-based crime in the Over-the-Hill area.

The one-day forum, which was held by the Over-the-Hill Community Development Partnership at the Paul Farquharson Conference Centre, gave primary, junior and senior high students from public schools in the Over-the-Hill community the opportunity to voice their concerns on the issue.

Speaking on behalf of Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell, the ministry's parliamentary secretary, Michael Foulkes, described the seminar as "timely and important".

Presenting the minister's speech, Mr Foulkes said: "In the early part of last year, I revealed to the public that for the year 2018, a total of 627 cases of child abuse were reported to authorities.

"This reflected an increase of about 10 percent of reported child abuse cases which looked at 2017. Of the 627 cases of child abuse, 213 of the cases or 40 percent of all recorded child abuse was classified as sexual abuse."

Mr Foulkes said Mr Campbell's heart went out to the 213 reported victims of sexual abuse as well as the victims from other child abuse cases that go unreported.

He also said the minister believed it was vital for adults to give young people an opportunity to express their views on the matter.

"Today represents the beginning of a new era in how we address and respond to sexually based crimes for young persons," Mr Foulkes said quoting the minister.

"We're not here to just talk to you, we're here to hear from you. We're here to listen to you to determine how we can best address this matter based on how you feel."

During the workshop, students got the chance to recommend things they believed the ministry can do to improve their services and make them feel safer.

Some were also given the opportunity to go into the studio and record public service announcements.

According to Mr Foulkes, Minister Campbell looked forward to hearing the feedback from the students to learn how to support them better and further combat sexually based crime in the community.

"This intervention, bringing together local non-profits, the Department of Education, the Department of Social Services and the Office of the Prime Minister will support and guide you in helping your peers with not only addressing sexually based crimes in the community, but also the drugs gangs and other social problems," he said.