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Summary: On Tuesday 17 May, the Commitee examined
the initial report of St Lucia. This summary
highlights the main issues discussed by the
government delegation and members of the
Committee; it is produced by the NGO Group
for the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Opening Comments
The head of the government delegation was the Honorable Jon Odlum,
Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Human Services, Family
Affairs, and Gender Relations. The country rapporteurs for St. Lucia were
Ms. Ouedraogo and Ms. Anderson.
Hon. Odlum opened the session. He apologised for the late presentation of
the report and discussed St. Lucia’s shortcomings and achievements.
Negative aspects included: child exposure to defective knowledge via
television; the female prison population consisted of 50% expatriates;
young males made up 70% of prisoners, recent radical changes in youth
habits; a lack of appreciation of male youth which led to a disproportion
appreciation for female youth; a rise in abuse and incest possibly due to
single, young, and inexperienced mothers; and a rapidly changing society
which was not provided with a support system. Positive aspects included:
important efforts to help young people despite financial constraints; strong
legislation and operational framework; since 2003, the rapid development
of family law for which the Easter Caribbean States Association undertook
steps to see how best to harmonize national obligations with international
obligations; reforms of family laws were changed to help include children;
criminal law was improved to include harsher and more concise laws for
those who abuse children; the establishment of a child abuse database;
hard work towards universal healthcare; and by 2006; a psychiatry facility
would be established; a book scheme was developed to make books
available to all secondary school children; a study was started to assess
truancy and dropouts; and their was an increase in school counselors.
Definition of the Child and General Measures of
Implementation
A child was considered to be a person under the age of 18. The Delegation
did not know the impact of the CRC on St. Lucians. They needed to conduct
a study to find out.
The outcome of the ‘Year of the Child’ had a significant impact on the
formulation of policy and legislation. The Committee for the Year of the
Child consisted of an inter-agency, national youth council and the Church.
They reviewed all draft legislation to make sure it adequately addressed
children’s needs. Due to a lack of NGO involvement, the intention was for
the Committee to act as a watchdog for child rights.
There was no 5 year Plan of Action, but they were planning on developing
one soon. There was hope to revitalize the effort to incorporate the CRC in
national legislation.
Data collection continued to be fragmented, because there were so many
agencies. As a result a centralized database registry was developed.
St. Lucia acknowledged that it needed to conduct a study on the impact of
migration. There was discrimination against male children. St. Lucia could
not provide a factual answer but thought that it could be because female
children were less confrontational. The same applied for reason why
females were more likely to have jobs. St. Lucia expressed its desire to
conduct studies on the issue.
The national budget was organized so that children’s services were
provided throughout government agencies. Education was the biggest
proportion of the budget, but St. Lucia would like to see more of the
budget allocated to social service programs.
Regarding other international treaties and conventions, St. Lucia
expressed its regret in its inability to provide reasons as to why it had not
ratified other conventions.
Civil and Political Liberties
The National Youth Council participated in reforms and provided a forum to
share views. There were a number of youth publications and radio
programs. However, it was not sure how effective they were. There were
also student councils in every school.
Family Environment, Alternative Care
Child abuses cases had increased partially due to the shift from the
banana industry to the tourist industry. Children were left unsupervised or
with their stepfathers. Migrants left for Martinique and parents left their
children for 2 week at a time. There were more reports of abuse because
of increased awareness about child abuse. Children also had non-
threatening environments to report to, such as school counselors. The
media was also promoting and reporting on child abuse. There was
training in child abuse for the police, but it was disorganized.
There was a child abuse hotline but it was only open between 8 am and
4:30 pm. There were efforts to make it 24 hours, but there were
insufficient funds and capacity to adequately respond to all the cases. The
Committee stressed the importance for child to have a safe place to report
all forms of abuse.
Marriage between 16 year olds and below was considered void. Children
must obtain parental consent if they are between 16 and 18 years old.
After 18, no consent is required. 40% of families were single parent
families and 80% of marriages were common law marriages. A family law
reform process reflected that both parents had a say in the culture and
care of the child. There was a problem with changing the mindset of
fathers who did not want to pay child support. There was an attempt to
educate absent fathers about the need for them to be involved in their
children’s lives. There was an issue to separate Church and State in all
aspects of life, especially for illegitimate children and common law
marriages.
Adoptions were regulated by the adoption ordinance of St. Lucia. They
should have more interaction with social services to obtain their input and
reporting about the environment in which children were placed. Overseas
adoptions could only occur if relatives were adopting the child. Anyone
unrelated to the child must have resided with the child for at least 3
months. There needed to be provisions for confidentiality in adoptions.
There was no problem of street children in St. Lucia due to informal
adoptions. However, there was no legal mechanism to receive
maintenance for these children from their parents.
Unfortunately, foster care was only resorted to in crisis situations and
children were given to their next of kin. They would like to license and
monitor foster homes and develop a foster care center, but they lacked
funding. People were willing to provide foster care, but they needed
supplementary money and as of yet, the government did not have funds
for allowances.
Health and Welfare
There was a national insurance plan for children and St. Lucia was working
on universal healthcare. There was a drop in primary healthcare, partially
because children who went to private doctors were not factored in the
statistics. St. Lucia expressed pride in its pre- and post-natal healthcare.
Breastfeeding was highly promoted and preferred by most St. Lucians.
There was a district registrar in every village with the mandate and
obligation to register all births, especially those born outside a hospital.
Unfortunately, there was no mechanism to force parents to register their
children. However St. Lucia devised a plan to catch non-registered children
by requiring birth registration to obtain healthcare and to enroll in school.
Children could be registered any time after their birth and there was a
provision in the law for late registration. The application to obtain a birth
certificate was not free but the fee was so minimal that it was not an
issue. There was a minimal access fee for mothers and children to receive
pre-and post-natal care.
St. Lucia expressed its satisfaction that the birthrate was declining, as it
indicated that discussions about contraception had worked. There was
also an overall reduction in teenage pregnancy.
There was a program to promote HIV/AIDS education which would
hopefully decrease the transmission of the virus. The target group for the
program was adolescents. Adolescent mental health was an issue that
needed to be more thoroughly addressed. The adolescent psychiatry
facility was not up to standard, but there was hope that new facilities
being built would be up to standard. Private Service facilities were
available to those who could afford it. There was a special committee to
help develop a program to improve mental health care. There was an NGO
project that helped assess children from ages 5 to 18 and the government
assessed children below five. St. Lucia also expressed its concern of young
people’s increasing involvement with firearms and drugs.
Juvenile Justice
St. Lucia was undertaking a major legal revision of its civil code. Aspects of
family law were revised as part of the civil code. The primary focus of this
revision was to ensure that the best interest of the child was secured. The
new divorce act made provisions for the welfare of the child and did not
discriminate against fathers who had children out of wedlock. Both parents
exercised guardianship, despite marriage status. St. Lucia’s court system
was structured in the following manner: there was a high court which
handled criminal offenses and proscribed fines of $5000 and a lower court
which dealt with minor offenses and proscribed fines up to $5000. The
family court had specific legislation and an encompassing role. It did not
have an extension into the high court. It dealt with juveniles and juvenile
offenses. It was created to separate the family and juveniles from the
established court structure which had the stigma of criminal association.
Juvenile matters serious enough to be indicted proceeded to the high
court. St. Lucia would like to see the establishment of a high family court.
There was a right to appeal to the high court from the family court. The age
of criminal responsibility according to the Children and Young Persons Act
of 1972 proscribes the age as 12 years old. Under the new judicial code,
the age was confirmed as 12. However, the community wanted the age to
be lowered because most crimes were committed by children under 12.
There was an attempt to remove the disparity between legitimate and
illegitimate children within the law. Juveniles could only be sentenced for
up to 3 years and they were sentenced to rehabilitation centers. However,
if they were sentenced while they were considered juvenile and their
sentence extended their 18th birthday, they were transferred to the adult
prison. Once they were 16 and above there was a tendency to treat them
as adults but they were still sent to rehabilitation centers. A child of 16
could be sentenced to life. However, under the revision of the penal code,
this would be revised and changed to age 18. Children were often called
before the court to express their opinions. Child maintenance was required
until the child reached 18. In the new legal code, counseling and
rehabilitation would also be provided for children for who charges were
dropped but still needed counseling. Pre-trial incarceration for investigative
purposes was allowed. It was not seen as punishment. Truancy was an
offense.
There was an increase of juvenile girls in conflict with the law due to
poverty, the influence of TV, a lack of supervision, and the social services
agency could not adequately respond, most likely due to a lack of funding
and staff. St. Lucia expressed its desire to see court mandated mandatory
counseling for parents who abused their children or whose children were
juvenile offenders. They also recognized the need to build a juvenile facility
for girls.
Education and Leisure Activities
40% of the population was under 18, which was why St. Lucia promoted
universal secondary education. The CRC was included in the school
curriculum. There was no plan of action for dropouts, but a study would be
conducted.
As far as a youth association was concerned, there was a national youth
council. All youth organizations were registered.
The Education Act of 1999 allowed all children to express their views on
decisions taken in respect to them, as long as the modus operandi was
good.
Corporal punishment was a difficult issue for St. Lucia. The Education Act of
1972, which permitted corporal punishment in the school, was being
revised. The draft for the Protocol to Prevent Child Abuse would be used as
the basis for engaging in a direct dialogue to promote a zero tolerance
attitude towards corporeal punishment. The Delegation recognized that it
was a very big problem in St. Lucia. However, it envisioned that it would be
removed from schools and eventually it would also be eradicated from the
family. The Act of 1999 also recognized corporal punishment, but only in
limited circumstances and if authorized by the Minister of Education.
There were committee meetings to prepare a policy for children with
disabilities.
There were not enough spaces in secondary schools because there were
not enough secondary schools. Children therefore had to go back to
primary school until they could pass the secondary school exam. Starting in
2007, there would be 5 new secondary schools and some of them would
be geared towards technical training. The secondary school exam was
meant to address children who were in need of remedial education. There
were care programs, programs providing skills, and an NGO project
supported by the government to provide alternative education. There were
adequate numbers of schools and teachers to provide primary education.
The Committee expressed its appreciation for St. Lucia’s good libraries.
There was a small facility fee for the education system. There was a book
scheme system but children had to pay for lunch and transportation. There
was a school assistance program on a needs basis.
There was no definitive education policy on children who spoke only the
Creole language. St. Lucia wished to have the Committee provide them
with answers on how to get parents involved with their children and their
education.
Free sporting activities were organized, while certain other activities had
fees. There were plans to start a new and free recreational facility. St.
Lucia expressed the opinion that they realized how important it was to
provide children with activities to keep them out of trouble.
Child Protection
There was a minimum age of contractual capacity: anyone under the age of
18 could not enter into a contract and they could not be sued except in
cases of educational advancement.
The child labor age was in relation to the kind of work being done. Under
the Education Act, children under 15 could not be employed full time. It was
an offense to engage children under 15 in employment. The exception to
the rule was that children could work full time during school vacation and
as part of a school-based assessment program. There was no current
policy to implement any legislation on children engaged in the most
hazardous forms of work because it was not a problem or an issue.
Generating employment for both skilled and unskilled workers was a
problem that had spread to all age groups.
Commercial exploitation of children was not a problem in St. Lucia but they
did have some children who practiced commercial exploitation of their
bodies. AIDS foundations were working with this limited group. In general,
people who came to St. Lucia to work in the sex trade (mostly in the tourist
industry) were dealt with by immigration.
There was a poverty reduction fund to assist women and children. The
fund made footpaths and paid for educational fees.
There was a well organized disaster preparedness program, but there was
no specific program geared towards children. The delegates expressed
their willingness to return and make sure that the program could be
comprehended by children.
Concluding Remarks
Ms. Anderson thanked the Delegation for its patience and expert handling
of questions. She expressed the Committee’s disappointment that the
report came a decade after St. Lucia’s ratification of the Convention. There
was a general lack of activity surrounding children’s rights which was
visible in the presentation. It was suggested that there should be a re-
vitalization of the NGO sector. There were weak resources given to the
ministries and divisions dealing with children, but the Committee believed
that they would see changes and that the legal reform would go far in
solving the problem areas cited in the report.