National task force begins review of child-protection studies ahead of policy, legal reforms
The National Task Force on Children’s Welfare and Safety has begun reviewing existing studies and data on children and young people as a first step towards recommending new policies and legislative reforms to strengthen child protection.
During Tuesday’s edition of Issues in the News, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, who coordinates the task force, said it was established by President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali at State House on Friday.
The move follows the deaths of two children last week, one at Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, and the other at Charity, along the Essequibo Coast.
Minister Nandlall said the deaths were not isolated incidents but reflected a wider pattern of child abuse.
“Drastic, exceptional circumstances require drastic measures and responses,” the AG emphasised.
The task force comprises the AG and the Ministers of Home Affairs, Education and Human Services, with the Minister of Health expected to join.
Other members include representatives of the Judiciary, the Speaker of the National Assembly, law enforcement agencies, major religious organisations, the heads of constitutional rights commissions, the National Toshaos Council, Juvenile Justice and the Childcare and Protection Agency.
The Guyana Bar Association (GBA) has been invited to join the task force, while the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Restorative Justice Centre have expressed interest in becoming members.
Minister Nandlall said the task force is structured to reach all environments where children spend time, working with those responsible for managing them to help create safer spaces.
“This organisation is so structured that it will take this task force into every home, into every school, into every major recreational centre, into every administrative region, into the Amerindian communities, into the religious institutions and houses of worship,” he said.
A team is now gathering studies, reports and data already produced on children for a desk review. That review will give the task force a base of evidence to build on. Public consultations will also follow. The task force will then deliver a report with policy and legislative recommendations to the president.
The AG said the task force brings together “a unique constellation of organisations and segments of our society for the first time.”
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