Hinds chides Minister’s response

Home Affairs Minister Wilfred Abrahams is being called out for “stalling” in the face of alleged children’s rights breaches at the Girls’ Unit of the Government Industrial School (GIS).

And, President of the National Organisation of Women (NOW) Marsha Hinds is challenging him to declare the major differences that will set apart the latest probe from countless past investigations that have yielded little to no change.

The women’s rights activist has also subtly suggested that in the interest of impartiality, the next inquiry should involve specialists from outside the country, whose independent findings ought to be strictly acted on.

“The minister says he wants a report written, but there was a report written into another two incidents and nothing came out of that investigative report,” Hinds told Barbados TODAY.

“So my question would be ‘what would be different about this particular report’? Who would do it? Are we bringing individuals from overseas so that we understand that they will give us commitments that we will follow to the letter?  Why another investigation? It all sounds like stalling and grandstanding to me,” she further contended.

The activist, who is deputy chair of the GIS board, is among numerous voices that have been amplified in the wake of a report that a 14-year-old girl was seen naked lying on the floor, in solitary confinement at the Barrow’s St. Lucy institution.

Since then, Minister Abrahams promised a “full investigation” into the incident along with the protocols at the institution. He then condemned those responsible for breaching the child’s privacy by taking and leaking an alleged photo.

In response, Hinds-Layne said she was “disappointed” in the response, as it appeared tone deaf and contradictory to recent promises from the Mia Mottley administration.

“The child’s dignity was not impugned when, according to the minister, the photograph was taken. The child’s dignity was impugned when she was treated the way she was treated in a government institution, and so I am not happy,” she contended.

“Last week, we went to Parliament and allocated taxpayers’ money to be able to create this entity in Barbados that would speak to corruption and facilitate whistleblowing. Yet in this particular instance, we have found somebody who has attempted to blow a whistle, and who was publicly chastised by the minister.

“He has expressed his anger at the whistleblower but he has not refuted the claim and so we know that a child has gone through an experience at a government institution that is downright and simply unacceptable and I believe that she should have been brought out forthwith and reunited with her family,” Hinds-Layne added.

The NOW president also expressed solidarity with an online movement currently being advanced by a generation of “savvy”, “educated” and “expectant” young women, under the social media banner #ProtectOurGirls. The group has presented 10 recommendations, including a mission-critical call for the closure of the penal institution.

“I think they are clearly showing through this movement and movements in the past that they expect something different from their government and elected officials, so it makes me very proud to see them command their space… It is an issue for the youth and an issue of the youth,” Hinds-Layne explained.

“When you get to the point where institutional abuse is deep-seated and longstanding such as at the Government Industrial School, there is no other option but to close the facility. The facility must be closed, the facility must be restructured and there must be a clear understanding moving forward that everything that has gone before is no longer acceptable and will no longer be tolerated. I really don’t see another way that you can treat to the circumstances,” she added.

Hinds-Layne argued that government ought to prioritize the social needs of the children in their care instead of attempting to punish them unnecessarily.

Supporting calls for the setup of a new all-girls institution in a section of the Dodds, St. Philip compound, Hinds-Layne called for an overall educational reform programme that provides access to Caribbean Examination Council examinations, technical and vocational training, among other basics.
(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)