“Have We Lost Our Humanity?” Minister Turner Makes Passionate Plea for Society to Believe Children and Report Abuse

Minister of Social and Urban Transformation, Hon. Rawdon Turner, delivered an emotional address, warning that Antigua and Barbuda is failing its children and calling on every citizen to act.

Speaking yesterday [September 28] during the debate on the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, which passed the House of Representatives, the Minister said that since assuming responsibility for social services, he has been exposed to the reality of physical and sexual abuse facing children in this country.

He explained that the reports he receives from the Family and Social Services Division about child abuse are deeply traumatising and have deeply affected the Division’s director and its social workers.

“Somewhere along the line, the village decided that it was time to sexually assault and violate our children,” the Minister said. “I don’t say those words lightly.”

The Minister outlined cases in which people convicted of sexually abusing very young children, some as young as three and five, received sentences of between three and five years.

He also cited comparable cases from across the Caribbean, stressing that the problem stretches beyond Antigua and Barbuda’s shores.

“Something is wrong with the administration of justice,” he said, welcoming the introduction of minimum sentences.