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Minister of Home Affairs, Information and Public Affairs Wilfred Abrahams issues the following statement in connection with the Government Industrial School matter.
Here is the transcript of that recorded statement:
I come to you in response to the alleged incident at the Girls Industrial School that was reported in the press yesterday and has been all over social media today.
 This incident has Barbadians outraged, and understandably so, because at the end of it, we’re talking about your rights of children, we’re talking about the rights of persons who are in the custody of the State. We need a full investigation into the protocols at the institution and whether the proper protocols were followed in this circumstance.
 What concerns me is the fact that some member of staff or someone had access to, and breached the privacy of that child to take a photograph or a video of a child in a vulnerable situation. That is against the rules of the institution, that’s against the rights of the child, her rights to privacy. No person should have been in a position to take a picture of that child and expose that child to unwanted publicity or even ridicule, far less the institution.
 At the end of the day, we will get to the bottom of this. If any of that child’s rights have been breached, someone will have to answer for it.
 The Government Industrial School is not a perfect institution. We are aware of the shortcomings of the school and we are working hard on those. As recently as Friday, we had a full meeting with my Ministry, the Child Care Board, the officials of the Government Industrial School, persons from UNICEF, and we were discussing the policies or the evolving policies in relation to child protection legislation in Barbados. We ended up meeting with an agreement to fast-track that legislation as quickly as possible. The policy should come before Cabinet very shortly and the legislation should be pushed through in the shortest possible time. That’s how we ended on Friday.
I am not going to rest until we get to the bottom of this matter. I am not going to rest because this is serious. We are taking this very, very seriously. I am taking this very, very seriously.
The rights of any person, in particular a child, should never be compromised. And I don’t want it under my watch.
