Chief Parliamentary Counsel says child protection law no pathway for sex changes

By Emmanuel Joseph

Concerns that the proposed Child Protection Bill will open up the door for Barbadian children to get sex changes have been rejected by the island’s Acting Chief Parliamentary Counsel.

Shawn Raine Belle was seeking to put to rest fears expressed by Community Outreach Officer with local Christian charity Family-Faith-Freedom Barbados (FFFB) Davina Maynard-Holligan who on Tuesday addressed a sitting of the Joint Select Committee of Parliament examining the proposed bill as well as the Chief Justice Bill.

“Not only will our general legislative framework continue to be challenged, but with this ideology, we fully anticipate there will be pressure on Barbados to amend our laws to facilitate such interpretations, including, ultimately, the gender transitioning of children,” Maynard-Holligan declared during her presentation to the committee chaired by government MP Toni Moore.

“The Child Protection Bill does not speak specifically to sexual transitioning, but it does not need to in order to be utilised for this purpose. The application of the Bill to sexual transitioning is tantamount to the concept discussed before this committee two weeks ago,” added the attorney-at-law.

She referred to a discussion with the Barbados Bar Association on the abduction of children from another jurisdiction being brought to Barbados under the Hague Convention.

“There is no great difference between the two applications. In both circumstances, we have a convention impacting its intent provisions on our local courts and jurisdiction, as a result of Clause 31 (a) of the Bill. We note that the words which apply to the Hague Convention do not specifically appear in the Bill. For instance, abduct does not at any time occur in the Bill. Nevertheless, the construct and language of the Bill together with the parameters and operation given to the Child Protection Authority will allow the authority to exercise its powers in accordance with convention,” Maynard-Holligan suggested.

But the Chief Parliamentary Counsel sought to allay fears of children being allowed to get sex changes in Barbados under the Child Protection Bill.

“In terms of your immediate concerns about the surgeries and so on, the Bill does not in its wording give the opening for that interpretation,” Belle assured.

However, the FFFB official also expressed another major concern.

Acting Chief Parliamentary Counsel Shawn Raine Belle.

She wants Section 31 (a) of the Child Protection Bill and Section 3 of the Child Justice Bill removed.

Those sections state that the primary purpose of the legislation is to ensure compliance with not only the specific treaties listed in those bills but with all international instruments to which Barbados is a party. 

Maynard-Holligan argued that this would weaken the hands of anyone who wishes to challenge the legislation later. She argued that international gender lobbyists will not relent in their pursuit to infiltrate Barbados’ laws while seeking to promote the gay lifestyle and trans-genderism.

“We see very clearly, the evidence of this gender ideology being promoted intentionally by the United Nations organisations through the very instruments that we have signed onto,” she said.

The FFFB official noted this was why the charity was so strident in cautioning the drafters of the legislation against including the two sections.

But again, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel responded by informing Maynard-Holligan that even if those portions were removed, Barbados would still be bound by the UN Convention provision because it has signed on to the document.

“The only way then that we can really [address it] is to put in a reservation in relation to certain obligations, which as a sovereign state we have the right to do. You would also know that within international law, there are certain restrictions in terms of what kind of reservations can be made, in terms of if it goes directly to the substance of the convention or something like that,” Belle explained. 

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb