COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF THE CHILD CONTINUES REVIEW OF REPORT OF BARBADOS

AFTERNOON
HR/CRC/99/21
18 May 1999


Government Delegation Queried on Corporal Punishment, Age Limits for Criminal Responsibility, Juvenile Offences, and Marriage


The Committee on the Rights of the Child continued consideration this afternoon of an initial report of Barbados, questioning Government representatives about the use of corporal punishment in the schools, laws setting age limits for criminal responsibility, trial as a juvenile, and marriage.

Committee members expressed some concern that persons between the ages of 16 and 18 were considered adults by the courts. The Barbadian delegation said that while the standard was true in a strict sense -- and was a holdover from colonial law and tradition -- in fact legal authorities treated persons under 18 more leniently than those who were older. Some persons between 16 and 18 were in adult prisons, but alternatives to such incarceration were now being developed. Although the minimum age of marriage was 16, the delegation said, marriages at that age were rare. Teen-age pregnancy was a greater problem, and had been made the focus of Government and non-governmental organization programmes.

It was announced that the age of criminal responsibility, previously set at 7 years, had just been raised to 11 under a new penal reform act.

Barbadian officials said that although corporal punishment was allowed in the schools, it was rarely used, could only be carried out by a high-ranking school official -- usually the headmaster -- and was carefully regulated. Several Committee experts nonetheless contended that a country that had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child could not allow
such punishment.

Discussion over the course of the afternoon centred on the general topics of legal definitions related to children; civil rights and freedoms; and family environment and alternative care.

Barbados, as one of 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is required to provide the Committee with periodic reports on the status and circumstances of the country's children.

The Barbadian delegation consisted of Senator George Griffith, head of the Barbadian delegation and Director of the Barbados Family Planning Association; Joan Crawford, Director of the Child Care Board of Barbados; Sandra Mason, head of the country's Committee on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and Simone Rudder, Chargé d'Affaires of the Permanent Mission of Barbados to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. Wednesday, 19 May, to conclude its consideration of the report of Barbados.

Discussion

The Barbadian delegation, responding to questions put at the end of the morning meeting, said, among other things, that the age of 16 as a limit for juvenile offences dated from the colonial period; efforts in the past to change the age to 18 had drawn opposition from young people, who disliked being considered as "children" once they were over 16, which was also the age at which they could drive and marry. It was likely the issue would come up again. Although children between 16 and 18 were treated as "adults" by the courts in an official sense, in fact there was discretion exercised by the authorities -- they were not treated as persons aged 25 were treated, for example. However, there were persons between 16 and 18 in the prisons, mostly for lack of an alternative, although a task force had developed a series of alternatives that now would be considered by the Government. As for the age of criminal responsibility, a new penal reform act had raised the minimum age from 7 years to 11 years. Persons und
er age 16 were always entitled to legal aid.

Anyone under age 15 was not given employment, except perhaps for helping parents in agricultural activities, the delegation said, and in that case not to such an extent that it interfered with schoolwork. Hence child labour was not a problem in Barbados -- at least, not yet. Persons between ages 15 and 18 who worked usually did so under apprenticeship schemes, which were carefully monitored.

Marriage at age 16 did not occur very often, but that was in fact the legal age for marriage for both sexes. As for the sale of liquor, a license was required in all cases; "unlicensed premises" referred to illegal parties at which liquor was sold; police had become very vigilant about these activities. The Government did not have control over what happened in private homes but did carry out extensive public-education campaigns about the dangers of alcohol.

A family life, education, and peer-counselling programme had been set up by the Barbados Family Planning Association, the delegation said; the programme was an example of a non-governmental organization activity that received funding and support from the Government. Among the activities of the Child Care Board was pursuit and investigation of child-abuse cases, especially in situations where family members were reluctant to testify.

Barbados and other Caribbean countries had adopted a policy of referring to the "rights and responsibilities" of children in public-information campaigns, the delegation said; the two terms were always connected, as there had been many complaints from parents that children were becoming too fixated on the idea of rights without expressing a comparable conviction about responsibilities.

Responding to further questions, the delegation said that efforts to persuade the society to respect the rights of children were ongoing; radio and television carried panel discussions on the topic from time to time and figures such as clergy were enlisted to campaign on behalf of children's rights.

Corporal punishment, it was true, was allowed, but in fact was rarely used in the schools, the delegation said; in any case, it was not to be administered by anyone but a high-ranking school official, usually the headmaster, and its use was heavily regulated; in general corporal punishment was not regarded as the best way to discipline a child. There had been some violence in the schools and among young people in general; the Government was very conscious of it, and the Ministry of Education and a non-governmental organization (NGO) had devised a programme on conflict resolution which was being carried out at all levels of the school system; furthermore, efforts were being made to evaluate and when advisable provide counselling for children found to be prone to violent behaviour.

Parents were legally responsible for supporting their children through age 18, the Barbadian delegation said; there was perhaps some conflict between that standard and the apparent right of children to leave home, to be considered "adults" in court, and to marry at age 16; however, in practice it did not work out that way.

Education in Barbados was known to be good, the delegation said; as a result, and because it was free, there was a pattern in which parents of children of islands near Barbados sent children there illegally to attend school -- that was the reason why free education was barred for non-citizens who did not have permanent residency; a "green card" establishing identity and carrying a record of immunizations had to be presented when a child began public education; in practice, children who were discovered not to be strictly "legally" present in the schools often were allowed to continue, sometimes as far as university.

Physical punishment by parents of children was something the Government discouraged, the delegation said; there was perhaps some religious component to the occurrence of such punishment -- a belief in "spare the rod, spoil the child"; it was hoped that such attitudes could be changed, but it would take time.

Flogging in prisons was still theoretically allowed by legislation governing prison procedures, the delegation said, but the practice had been discussed in law courts and termed cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment and hence was illegal. Flogging had not been used recently.

Teen-aged or adolescent mothers were allowed to continue in school after giving birth, the delegation said, and could pursue their education as far as they wished; a number of NGOs worked to prevent teen-age parenthood, often in cooperation with the Government; tremendous emphasis was being placed on educational programmes to reduce the incidence of teen-age pregnancy; an adolescent-parenting programme was made available to teen-aged mothers and fathers, with nursery services provided while the courses were under way; in recent years, there had been a persistent reduction in teen-age births.

A National Men's Forum was one of several efforts to improve gender equality and increase male participation in family affairs and child care, the delegation said. The Barbadian representatives also described national systems for foster care and child protection, including investigation of complaints of child abuse; and the operation of the family and juvenile courts.