One Year In Government - Prime Minister Andrew Holness

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THE ONE-YEAR-OLD Andrew
Holness administration has taken
steps through legislation,
policies, as well as public-education
campaigns, to protect women and
children from abuse and discrimination.
This is being achieved through the
ministries of Culture, Gender,
Entertainment and Sport; and
Education, Youth and Information.
The Bureau of Gender Affairs,
through a robust public-education
campaign, has issued a call to action
to end gender-based violence. The
campaign has been focusing on
community-based outreach to raise
awareness among the persons most
vulnerable to gender-based violence,
sexual abuse and other forms of
exploitation.
The Ministry of Culture, Gender,
Entertainment and Sport reviewed
three policy documents over the past
year – the Draft Sexual Harassment
Policy; the National Strategic Action
Plan to Eliminate Gender-based
Violence (NSAP-GBV) 2017-2027;
and the National Land Policy, to
ensure gender-sensitive legislation
that provides adequate protection of
the rights of women.
PLACING GENDER AT FOREFRONT
Gender Minister Olivia Grange
says the primary objective of these is
“to provide a framework for the
prevention of sexual harassment; to
provide public education and training
and to assess complaints procedures
and penalties”.
In addition, implementation of the
National Policy for Gender Equality will
continue this year. This is in keeping
with Government’s policy to ensure that
gender is placed at the forefront of all of
its plans and programmes.
The Government has also put
measures in place to better protect
children entangled in custody
disputes, particularly abduction,
involving disputes between parents,
by strengthening the Children
(Guardianship and Custody)
(Amendment) Bill, 2016.
The bill aims to protect
children from abduction
across international
boundaries by providing a
procedure to ensure their
prompt return.
Parliament also
approved a motion for the
establishment of a joint
select committee to focus
on issues related to
gender-based violence and
abuse of children.
The committee will
complete the re-examination of
the Sexual Offences Act; the
Offences Against the Person Act;
the Domestic Violence Act and the
Child Care & Protection Act. It will
also consider the crafting of
legislation in relation to acts of
violence committed against
pregnant women
which result in
harm or death
to the
unborn
child.
JAMAICAHAS also sought
partnership with international
bodies to tackle gender-
based violence and to
empower women and
girls.
One such partnership
with the United Nations
Educational, Scientific
and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO)
resulted in funding to
assist the Bureau to
implement the project,
Addressing the Gap of
Gender-based Violence
between the State and
VulnerableWomen and Girls.
Out of this project, which ended
in December, 34 community-
sensitisation sessions were held, reaching
approximately 1,927 females.
Grange said that the Government would
remain relentless in its thrust to deal with
gender-based issues and that a number of
initiatives would be rolled out in 2017.
Among them is the formation of the
Gender Advisory Council, a multisectoral
body which is to be established to advise
the strategic policy direction for the
gender portfolio and to identify a
strategy for addressing
obstacles to gender
equality.
Additionally, police and first responders
will undergo training as efforts are made
to strengthen the specialised rape and
sexual offences protocols and units within
the police force.
EVERY CHILD IS OUR CHILD
Meanwhile, Minister of State in the
Ministry of Education, Youth and
Information Floyd Green, who has direct
responsibility for youth, said the ministry,
through its agencies, will continue a
number of initiatives this year to protect
the nation’s children.
“The Our Children Jamaica campaign
launched last year by the ministry will
continue to remind every Jamaican that
every child is our child and we all have a
responsibility under law to protect that
child,” he said.
To further help to detect cases of child
abuse, the Office of the Children’s
Registry’s (OCR) Break the Silence
school tour will this year place special
focus on educators and students through
sensitisation sessions.
The state minister said that efforts
would be made to continue to empower
the victims of abuse themselves to go
directly to the Child Development Agency
and the OCR to report the abuse.
• • gleanerjamaica • jamaicagleaner • FEATURE THE GLEANER, THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017 G4
FILE
Shaneil
Gilespie (left)
has something
interesting to
say to his friend
André Burke.
Special effort to protect
women, children
INT’L PARTNERSHIPS,
TRAINING STRENGTHEN
ANTI-VIOLENCE STRATEGY
Olivia
‘Babsy’
Grange
Floyd
Green