Activist group blasts attempt to downplay abuse at GIS

The group Women In Action (WIA) has denounced what it sees as an attempt by authorities to downplay problems at the Government Industrial School (GIS), including allegations of physical, sexual and psychological abuse.

Referring to a feature carried during the Monday evening newscast on the state-run CBC, which included interviews with two former wards of the juvenile reform institution, WIA said on Tuesday that it was “saddened by the shameful attempt by the Barbados Government to marginalise the voices of the girls crying out for help by handpicking two former wards to glorify their incarceration and to justify the abusive environment in the GIS that has existed for the past 32 years”.

“In choosing to promote only positive experiences while ignoring the trauma of other girls who are crying out for help, the authorities are indicating that they do not care about all of the girls, and this is unacceptable,” said the network of organisations and individuals advocating for the closure of the GIS facility at Barrows, St Lucy, and the reform of the juvenile justice system.

“The two former wards interviewed are not cases that we are overly concerned about because, by their recollection, they did not experience or witness any abuse. However, this is the first time we have heard a young woman incarcerated as a child recount the experience of being placed in solitary confinement with such smiles, laughter and gaiety, and with no mention of activities she enjoyed while incarcerated,” it added.

The group also noted that the sentence of three to five years for wandering is so normalised that the former GIS ward accepted the switch from a three-week to three-year sentence for the offence as “fair and deserving”.

“That is the impact of systemic abuse,” it added.

The WIA further insisted that it was an insult to the intelligence of Barbadians and their sense of dignity to attempt to drown out the voices of some of the island’s youngest citizens calling for help.

“We recognise the desperate attempt to vindicate the Government by trivialising and ignoring the complaints about the abuse meted out at the GIS. We maintain that the authorities will not make these girls and young women invisible by being allowed to trivialise the pain, shame, nightmares and suffering that still plague them,” it said.

Government has ordered departmental inquiries into the operations of the GIS facilities at Barrows, St Lucy and Dodds, St Philip. Current and former wards and staff are expected to get an opportunity to lay complaints and highlight concerns about the institution.

In its statement, WIA stressed that as a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Government’s handling of juveniles is governed by the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice and the UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency which provide that no child should be placed in solitary confinement.

Although acknowledging that the international convention has not been incorporated into domestic law and is therefore limited in its application in the local courts, the WIA said failure to follow through and commit to a standard of care for children speaks volumes about Government’s true intentions for the nation’s children.
(DH)