By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas is experiencing an “epidemic of sexual abuse against children in our country,” Rise Bahamas claimed yesterday. Government, they said, was not doing enough to address the problem.
“Child protection has not been a priority of this or previous governments, as demonstrated by the fact that it took nine years after our repeated calls to enact Marco’s Alert,” the advocacy group said in a statement yesterday.
“This latest attack on a nine-year-old girl was described as a sexual assault, which we think is very vague. Was the child kissed by the man, fondled, made to perform sexual acts, raped or otherwise?”
The young girl was reportedly playing with friends outside her home on Saturday evening when a man in a white Nissan Skyline told her to get in his vehicle. It was claimed that he took her to an unknown location and assaulted her.
Police said they have arrested a 42-year-old man from Summerset Estate in connection with the incident.
Rise Bahamas said: “Our www.change.org/childprotection242 petition calls for the government to: Implement mandatory minimum sentences for crimes against children. (For example, the penalty for rape is up to life imprisonment, but we rarely see sentences of more than a few years. This would change that).”
“Mandate psychological evaluation, intervention and treatment for those convicted of crimes against children (to prevent reoffending), amend the Sex Offender Registry based on suggestions Rise Bahamas has submitted, including making the list public, retroactive, and adding first time offenders to the list.”
“Table ‘Bella’s Bill’ in Parliament –– our proposed amendment to Section 63 of the Child Protection Act that would expand the categories of stewards of children that are mandated to report suspected child abuse.”
The group said it “won’t rest” until every child feels safe in the country.
“There should be widespread public service announcements on this topic and parents need to make children more aware of what behaviours are inappropriate of adults who may be strangers, or people known to them,” the statement continued.
“Rise Bahamas will continue to call upon all that will listen to do our part in making our country a place that is safe for every child residing here.”
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