Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: Despite the approval of the new bill, the rights of LGBT children remain a concern, as does a clause recognising child marriage, while the issue of abortion for sexually abused girls who fall pregnant was swiftly shoved off the table.
[25 May 2012] - [The Senate has unanimously approved the Children's Bill 2012 (attached) after a 15-hour sitting, which began at 1.30 pm on Wednesday and ended at 4 am yesterday.] Government, [however, chose] to avoid the controversial issue of gay sex and has said no to sexual activity between minors of the same sex. This, despite a unanimous call from the Independent bench to amend the "Romeo clause" in the Children's Bill which treats same-sex experimentation between children as a crime, while decriminalising that experimentation if it occurs between a boy and a girl (Article 20). "It is a matter which as a society we would have to address and have to confront. The Honourable Minister (Verna St Rose-Greaves) is engaging in the widespread consultation process that is necessary because it is a very complex issue in our society, having regard to the positions of State, the church, the family groups, the NGOs and the judicial arm of the State and many others," Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said in the Senate yesterday. "The time is ripe for that discussion to take place in our society and I have no doubt that as a responsible, mature, functioning democratic society, Trinidad and Tobago would respond to that as well as other issues." Ramlogan said Independent Senator Helen Drayton was "absolutely right" when she said buggery was not confined to the same sex, and there was no "rigidity" about how it was viewed. He said the bill was a leap in the right direction in taking care of the young and innocent. St Rose-Greaves said she had real [concern] with the Romeo clause. "I didn't want it," she said. But she said she did not want to hold back the Children's bill, given its urgency. She asked that the bill be passed now, but gave a commitment to bring back for legislative treatment, those issues which are sore points at a later stage. St Rose-Greaves said she didn't want to break rules or disrespect the House or anybody. "We have heard some many examples of things happening all over the world. But if we in this House do any honest self appraisal, we would see certain things that we don't have to go outside of this (chamber). If we honestly look at ourselves in this room, we would find one person who may have abused their child...one person would has beaten...a woman, one person who would have given drugs to a child, one person in almost everything that we talk about because it is not outside of us...it happens in every place in this country," she said. St Rose-Greaves said people allude to lower-class families and certain districts in talking about certain things during the debate, but it happens everywhere. "We, myself included, know of people who are sexually abusing children. We knock glasses with them," she said. St Rose-Greaves became emotional, getting close to tears, when she spoke of the choices some mothers had to make. She said she heard people in the Senate "beat...women and mothers". "We don't take the time to understand the difficult situations that women are in...We have to be easier on mothers," she said. St Rose-Greaves defended her position on abortion. She said people have raised the issue of incest. But yet when she dared, in fulfilment of her mandate, to raise an issue much discussed, in terms of options available to a young girl finding herself in a difficult situation, she was bullied for putting such things on the table. She said the clauses in the bill which recognised child marriage (Articles 26, 27 and 28) was a bitter issue for her, and Government was still in consultations on this issue. Further Information:
pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/T&TChildren'sBillDraft.pdf