Rising violence linked to poor diet, ignored youth rights

Health and child rights experts are warning that unhealthy diets and the widespread disregard for children’s rights are fuelling a surge in violence and behavioural problems among schoolchildren.

Speaking during a Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados Inc. workshop on Thursday at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, United Nations child rights expert Faith Marshall-Harris and clinical nutritionist Nicole Elliott made separate but aligned calls for urgent intervention to fix the problem.

They pointed to the growing consumption of ultra-processed foods and a cultural resistance to children’s rights as major contributors to worsening deviance.

Marshall-Harris said Barbadians often misunderstand the rights of the child, and some even blame these rights for the rise in school violence.

“Very often, people have said to me that children don’t have rights—’What are you talking about? They are supposed to listen and obey. They are to do what they’re told. They don’t have a right to an opinion. They don’t have a right to be heard’.

“Some even go further… and say, it’s because of all this talk about rights and the indoctrination that we’re doing about rights, that’s causing these children to act out. It’s causing the present eruption of…school violence.”

She continued: “To me, a very tenuous connection, but the connection has been made. In fact, you will know that far from it causing that eruption, may I propose that in fact… it could help to stem the present tide of school violence.”

Barbados is grappling with a troubling wave of violent incidents in schools. Earlier this year, reporting by Barbados TODAY highlighted a spike in student-on-teacher aggression, stabbings, and viral videos of school fights, with experts repeatedly calling for more structured emotional and social support for children.

Marshall-Harris said the failure to teach and model rights-based behaviour was part of the problem, with many young people entering adulthood unequipped to navigate conflict or advocate for themselves in healthy, constructive ways.

“The last thing we would want is, at 18 years old, someone bursts onto the adult scene, never having been able or never been allowed to participate or express an opinion. They have to grow into that,” she said.

“By advocating and teaching children’s rights, we can do a lot to change our community. For example, if children became aware that their rights impinge on other people’s rights and they are taught to respect other people’s rights, a lot of what we see now in terms of the school community and the conflict could be ended.”

Elliott, co-chair of the Barbados Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition, warned that ultra-processed foods are wreaking havoc on children’s physical and mental wellbeing, contributing to a growing list of chronic illnesses and behavioural challenges.

“The consequences of ultra-processed foods — obesity, type 2 diabetes in children, hypertension, early dental caries — are the behavioural issues that we know. This is one of the major ones that we are seeing,” she said.

“A lot of children now are presenting with, for some reason, GERD (gastro-oesophageal reflux disease) and acid reflux and all these things. I must say that there are so many children now in school coming with letters from the hospital saying this child has GERD, this child has acid reflux, and irritable bowel syndrome, and I’m like, ‘what have you been eating?’”

Elliott said the frequent consumption of fast food and sugar-salt-fat combinations — heavily marketed to children — is not only harming physical health but is also affecting their ability to concentrate, manage emotions, and make sound decisions.

“Everybody wants to be trending,” she said, highlighting the influence of social media and fast food culture. “One of the major issues is that now we have on Tuesdays, children say, ‘I’m not buying lunch at school anymore — there’s a KFC special, so I’m gonna go on down because I’m gonna get that’.

“So even when we try to create a good environment in the school setting, we still have to figure out how to get them to have enough education to make a good decision,” Elliot added.

Both speakers agreed that tackling school violence and child health must go beyond reactive measures and focus on the root causes, including poverty, poor nutrition, a lack of respect for children’s rights, and the overwhelming influence of unhealthy food marketing.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb