According to the Nation newspaper of Thursday, February 16, 1012, former Opposition Leader, Mia Mottley has called for the removal of the “anomaly” in law which prevents children aged 16 and under from seeking health care without parents’ consent. She went on to clarify that she was dealing with the situation where the law allows children to have sexual intercourse at 16 years of age but, the same child cannot seek medical assistance without the parents’ consent. Further, she claims that it is a matter which she felt strongly about, and that she has sided with the Minister of Health, Donville Inniss.
If I understand the issue correctly, the Health Minister is in favour of removing parental rights in this regard. However, I fear that their position is myopic, focusing on one aspect of the problem rather than looking at the bigger picture. Their views can only be described as an endorsement of child abuse which is currently legal under the Laws of Barbados, but nonetheless abuse. Rather than protecting children, taking away the parents’ rights would open the floodgates on sexual abuse of our vulnerable children.
Miss Mottley’s justification for supporting Minister Inniss’ position betrays some very warped reasoning. She claims that the data shows that there are persons who are sexually active at a very early age. So what? That is no reason to facilitate children’s early entry into sexual relations. That same argument can be used for the legalization of harmful drugs; after all, lots of people get involved with drugs at an early age. Maybe if enough persons get involved in murder, we would hear a call from some foolish politician to make it legal. Instead of making it easy for children to be sexually abused, Parliament should be considering ways to protect our children.
I believe that Barbados is a signatory to the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child. Article 1 states:
For the purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.
Under Barbados law a person becomes an adult at 18 years of age, and if Barbados wants to honour its international commitments we should not allow sexual exploitation of children under that age. Since Government signed on to this convention it should be making out a case for increasing the age of consent. Article 19 requires Government to take steps to protect children under the age of 18 from sexual abuse. How is removing parental rights protecting children from sexual abuse? Article 19 says:
1. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.
If politicians really want to give children at 16 years of age adult responsibility, why don’t they go all the way and consider giving them the right to vote for parliamentary representatives at that age as well. Having sex is by far a more adult responsibility than voting.
Finally, if such a law is passed, I suggest that it should be entitled, “An Act to provide for the interest of perverts and sexual predators.
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