Committee on the Rights of the Child examines the report of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

GENEVA (27 January 2017) - The Committee on the Rights of the Child today concluded its consideration of the combined second and third periodic report of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on its implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Introducing the report, Frederick Stephenson, Minister of National Mobilization, Social Development, Family, Gender Affairs, Persons with Disabilities and Youth of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, said that abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect of children cut across all segments of the Vincentian society, irrespective of ethnicity, social status and religion, in homes, families, communities, schools and child care institutions.  Child care services had been incorporated into social welfare services and at times faced the challenge of under-performing in extending protection to children nationally, due to limited resources.  The national policy framework for child protection had been agreed on and financially supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund and presented to the Cabinet in April 2016.  The Child Development Division at the Ministry had been created to improve access to programmes that promoted the psycho-social development of children in abusive and conflict environments.

In the ensuring dialogue, Experts recognized the recent efforts to protect the rights of the child, including the ratification of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.  They took positive note of the new law on child care and adoption and urged Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to unify the definition of the child and ensure that all children under the age of 18 effectively enjoyed rights and protections granted by the Convention.  Experts were very concerned that the death penalty could be imposed on children starting the age of 16, and were also concerned about discrimination against homosexual children given that homosexuality as of 16 years of age was criminalized.  Corporal punishment was not prohibited in any setting, family or school, and was also used as a criminal punishment.  An issue of particular concern was the widespread sexual violence and abuse of children, including high rates of incest – what measures were being taken to protect children and fight sexual abuse?

In concluding remarks, Jorge Cardona Llorens, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, urged Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to address issues of concern such as sexual exploitation and abuse of children, treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children, and the inclusion of all children with disabilities in education.

Mr. Stephenson in his closing remarks reiterated the strides made in upgrading the laws and regulations to ensure that children and their rights were properly taken care of, and said that Saint Vincent and the Grenadines would continue to take the Committee’s comments on board for the improvement of the situation of children.

The delegation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines included representatives of the Ministry of National Mobilization, Social Development, Family, Gender Affairs, Persons with Disabilities and Youth.


The Committee will reconvene in public on Monday, 30 January at 10 a.m. to start the consideration of the combined third to fifth periodic report of Malawi under the Convention (CRC/C/MWI/3-5), and its initial reports under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/MWI/1) and the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC/C/OPSC/MWI/1).

Report

The combined second and third periodic report of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines can be read here: CRC/C/VCT/2-3.

Presentation of the Report

FREDERICK STEPHENSON, Minister of National Mobilization, Social Development, Family, Gender Affairs, Persons with Disabilities and Youth of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, started by saying that Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was an archipelagic State in the Caribbean region, comprising a main island, St. Vincent, as well as the Grenadines – a chain of 32 islands, islets and caves, of which only seven were inhabited, and with a population of 108,570.  A small island State, its economy suffered continuous external shocks, from the 2008 global recession, to natural disasters such as Hurricane Ivan in 2004, Tropical Storm Lili in 2009, and Hurricane Thomas in 2010, and the downturn in the arrival of tourists from the United States and Europe because of the economic and financial crises there. 

Abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect of children cut across all segments of the Vincentian society, irrespective of ethnicity, social status and religion, in homes, families, communities, schools and child care institutions.  Child care services had been incorporated into social welfare services and at times faced the challenge of under-performing in extending protection to children nationally, due to limited resources.  The law reform in the wake of the global economic crisis and the rationalization of services had paved the way for institutional reform and fostering greater prospects for effective coordination.  The national policy framework for child protection had been agreed on and financially supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund and presented to the Cabinet in April 2016. 

The Child Development Division at the Ministry of National Mobilization, Social Development, Family, Gender Affairs, Persons with Disabilities and Youth had been created to improve access to programmes that promoted psycho-social development of children in abusive and conflict environments, such as the behaviour modification programme aimed at altering the behavioural pattern of socially disadvantaged students through exposure to social activities and development of social skills.  Other programmes included “let’s empower and protect young people” which aimed to provide juveniles with programmes and interventions to facilitate their rehabilitation and help reduce or minimize their future criminal activity; the “connecting families in communities” campaign, a community-based initiative to sensitize communities about a myriad of issues, including child abuse and child justice; while the “parenting programme” provided guidance to parents in various issues. 

During the annual awareness and prevention month of activities in the 2010-2014 period, several awareness raising campaigns had been implemented, and one-day parenting workshops had taken place to highlight various issues.  A cycle of comprehensive awareness raising programmes, developed with the United Nations Children’s Fund to support the effective implementation of the national policy framework, had been adopted in 2017 to raise awareness on the protection of children of some 2,000 students and 12 communities every year.  A programme to train duty bearers and so equip institutions with the necessary tools to protect abused children had been launched in 2016. 

Questions from the Experts

JORGE CARDONA LLORENS, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, recognized the recent efforts to protect the rights of the child and the challenges that small States faced in keeping up with their reporting obligations, and welcomed the ratification of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

The Rapporteur took positive note of the 2010 law on adoption and asked about the status of other laws which needed to be harmonized with the Convention, such as the law on juvenile justice.

What was the content of the national policy framework for child protection, how was it being implemented, and what was the role of the Child Development Division?  It seemed that the policy and the Division were focused on child protection, but what about the promotion of children’s rights?

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines did not have a national human rights institution, or an institution specific to children – were there plans to set up a specialized body for children’s rights to receive complaints from children?

Mr. Cardona Llorens asked about the children’s rights coordination mechanism, budgeting for children’s programmes, and mechanisms in place to protect expenditure for children from the impact of the economic crisis.  What was being done to put in place a system for the collection of segregated data?

What was the intention to adopt norms and standards to protect children from the negative impact of tourism, such as child prostitution and labour exploitation, as it was expected that tourism would receive a major boost once the construction of an international airport was completed?  What was being done to protect children from labour exploitation in the agricultural sector?

There was a need to unify the definition of the child and ensure that all children under the age of 18 effectively enjoyed rights and protections granted by the Convention.

Homosexuality was illegal and criminalized as of the age of 16 – would this be changed in order to recognize the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of sexual identity?

The death penalty as of the age of 16 was legal and this was a great source of concern to the Committee, even if the death penalty had not been applied for a long time.  What would be done to repeal this legal provision immediately?

Corporal punishment was not prohibited in any setting, family or school, and was also used as a criminal punishment.  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines rejected the Universal Periodic Review recommendation to prohibit corporal punishment in all settings.  Would corporal punishment of children be prohibited in all settings, including in the family and school?

Child abuse protocols had been drafted, but were they adopted?  Was there a rise in instances of abuse of children, particularly physical abuse?  What specific functions did judges have in this regard?

Sexual abuse and violence against children were widespread problems in the country, with 47 per cent of girls and 20 per cent of boys reporting being forced into sexual relations.  There were also a high number of cases of incest.  Had a study into the sexual exploitation of children been conducted, as requested by the Committee during the last review in 2002?  What policies were in place to fight the sexual abuse of children?

JOSÉ ANGEL RODRÍGUEZ REYES, Committee Expert and Co-Rapporteur for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, recognized the good birth registration policies in place and asked whether there were any fees involved, including for issuing of birth certificates.  What system was in place to register children born on the islands, and also children born at home?

What was the process of registration of unaccompanied migrant children?

Were there any youth organizations in the country and how were they involved in policy making?  How free were children and youth in expressing their sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as their religion? 

What was the role of the media in promoting and protecting the rights of the child?

Another Expert inquired about the measures taken to disseminate the provisions of the Convention and train those directly working with children; about non-governmental organizations in the country and how involved they were in the promotion and protection of children’s rights; and about the system in place to obtain the views of children and how it influenced decisions taken, including in schools.

On the best interest of the child, an Expert noted that Saint Vincent and the Grenadines used the term “welfare of the child” which was a more narrow term, and asked about terminology used in the 2015 law on child care and adoption.

The Committee had previously voiced concern that police sometimes forced children to confess – was this still the case?  What steps were being taken to address police brutality, investigate complaints, prosecute perpetrators and compensate the victims?

Responses by the Delegation

Responding, the delegation confirmed that the child protection legislation had been adopted, and it was being implemented through the child protection policy framework, and specifically the Child Development Division at the Ministry of National Mobilization, Social Development, Family, Gender Affairs, Persons with Disabilities and Youth.  The Child Protection Unit handled child protection matters, while the adoption matters were managed by the Adoption Board.  Because of limited resources, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines partnered advocacy and awareness raising on children’s rights with protection work, including in awareness raising campaigns.

On a complaint mechanism available to children, the delegation explained that children could file a complaint through the Child Protection Unit, or through the Management Committee made up of State and non-State officials, which would then have direct responsibility for the coordination and investigation of that particular complaint.

Information on the number of children in forced labour or children exposed to hazardous work was not available.  The number of children charged with drug offences during the 2012-2015 period was between 41 and 75 children per year.  During the period 2012 to 2016, the number of children sent to prison was between one and five per year.

The process of harmonization of the definition of the child in the law was on the legislative agenda for 2017; the debate was still ongoing whether the definition would be up to the age of 16 or to the age of 18 and this was not yet decided.

Homosexuality remained criminalized, and children were not discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity because the determining principle was the best interest of the child; they would be taken in treatment programmes through which they could express their views and have their voices heard.

In their follow-up questions, Experts asked about the age of marriage, which currently stood at the age of 15 for girls, and reminded Saint Vincent and the Grenadines of its obligation as a State party to the Convention to ensure that the age of marriage was 18 for boys and girls.  Was treatment really considered to be in the best interest of homosexual children, as stated by the delegation earlier?

Responding, the delegation said that the National Commission for the Rights of Children proposed the age of 18 as the legal age of marriage, which was only one of the issues to be addressed in the legal reform.  In the case of homosexual children, the Government could only provide them with psycho-social support and treatment, unless the matter was being addressed as a criminal issue by the police.  The delegation explained that children were not treated for homosexuality, which would be only one element in any given case, and each case was different.

Once reported, all cases of incest were investigated and taken to court.  There was however a great prevalence of unreported cases of child sexual abuse.  In some cases, perpetrators would claim they did not know the age of the girl, and this would then be taken into account.  The new law promoted the right of the child and prescribed that the evidence before the court pointing to sexual abuse would have to lead to a trial.

Committee Experts followed up on the replies by the delegation and asked about what could be done to support children victims of abuse in listening to them, taking statements in a child-friendly manner, and so reduce the number of children recanting statements.  Why were there so many cases of incest and sexual abuse of children in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines?  What more could be done to support children who reported violence and abuse?

The delegation explained that the new framework had introduced a figure of a councillor to the child to provide a child-friendly environment, and to ensure that issues were raised and that the information was obtained using different therapeutic measures.  As per the child protection procedure manual, every child victim of sexual violence and abuse was given an assessment, including medical examinations; the manual also called for the immediate removal of the child from the abusive home.  The new domestic violence act of 2015 determined the obligations of professionals to report ill-treatment, violence and abuse of a child.  Poverty was cited as a key cause of individuals using their bodies for financial gain.

Explaining the birth registration process, the delegation said for all births in hospitals, bedside registration would take place prior to the beginning of the official process.  As for the rural areas, policlinics, 24-hour health centres, or post offices were present in all rural communities, through which children born at home could be registered.

Questions from the Experts

JOSÉ ANGEL RODRÍGUEZ REYES, Committee Expert and Co-Rapporteur for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with regard to the family environment, asked if mothers could claim maintenance for a child of any age before the courts.  Did courts in their decision make a distinction between children born in marriage and outside of marriage?

Had Saint Vincent and the Grenadines signed the Hague Convention, which would enable claiming maintenance from a parent living abroad, or were there bilateral agreements on this issue with countries in which migrant workers from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines were employed?

Had a study been conducted into the impact of the migration of parents on children’s lives?

Could children access free help-lines staffed with professionals to provide support to children throughout the country?

Were up-to-date figures available on the rates of breastfeeding?

The rate of teenage pregnancies was the highest in the region – what steps were being taken to address the issue?

JORGE CARDONA LLORENS, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, remarked that the 2015 education law referred to children with physical disabilities and asked about children with intellectual and sensory disabilities, where were they and could they be discriminated against in accessing education?

What plans were there for the reform of education to ensure it was inclusive?  According to the 2015 education law, additional costs of education due to disabilities were shared between parents and the Government – what happened if the parents were not able to pay?

Primary education had been reformed and its quality had improved greatly, but this was not the case for secondary and tertiary education.  Hidden costs of education hindered access to education for children of poor parents – what was being done to tackle those barriers? 

On juvenile justice, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines said it would raise criminal responsibility to an acceptable age – what did that mean in practice?  Juvenile justice covered children up to the age of 16; what happened to children aged 16 to 18?  What was the situation with restorative justice?

Another Expert raised a series of questions about children in care, and asked about residential homes and how many children were housed there; the process by which children were taken into care; their right to contact their parents and the support provided to parents to accelerate a child’s reintegration into the family; complaint mechanisms available to children in care; and the monitoring of the care review of the situation of the child to make sure it was adequate.

The delegation was asked about the adoption procedure – was a judge involved, how was the view of the child obtained, control over prospective adoptive parents, and measures in place to exclude the sale of children under the adoption mechanism?

Was education free and compulsory and if so, until which age?  Corporal punishment was violence against children – when would it be prohibited in schools? Nearly 50 per cent of women had their first child between 15 and 19 years of age, often leading to many girls dropping-out from school.  What effective measures had been adopted to encourage adolescents to return to school after the pregnancy; more details were requested on the teen mothers return to school programme?

What was being done to improve the quality of education?  How did the curriculum reflect the cultural diversity of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – it seemed that it tended to address more the European rather than the Caribbean culture at the moment?

On special protection measures, the delegation was asked about measures taken to combat child trafficking, including through identifying victims, bringing proceedings against traffickers, and supervising private companies suspected of human trafficking.  When would the registration procedure be set up for refugees and migrants, which would take into account the specificities of children? 

A number of children ended up living in the street as a result of poverty or family breakdown – how was this situation being addressed? 

Which procedures were in place to protect children giving testimony in court as victims or witnesses?

Responses by the Delegation

Answering questions raised about freedom of expression, the delegation said that there were youth organizations in the country that were actively involved in policy creation.  This year, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines would start with the implementation of the Youth Parliament Programme, to further strengthen the voice of children and their participation in public life.  All children had the freedom to express their religion in all settings, including in school settings.
 
The media participated in all programmes of the Government on the promotion of children’s rights, and there were radio and television programmes as well as talk shows dedicated to children and their rights.  The national policy for child protection listed every non-governmental organization and government agency associated with children’s rights and they were all involved in the execution of that policy.

The delegation confirmed that the best interest of the child was enshrined in the new law on child care.  It was taken into consideration in every facet of the child’s life, and the welfare of the child was only one part.  Duty bearers were trained in the best interest of the child.

With regard to police brutality against children, the delegation said that children, like any other members of the public, could lodge a complaint through the police’s public office.  All cases were investigated, and victims were awarded compensation.

In follow-up questions, JOSÉ ANGEL RODRÍGUEZ REYES, Committee Expert and Co-Rapporteur for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, asked whether manuals for parents, which were being drafted to strengthen the role of parents, particularly fathers, took into account the diversity of families in the country. 

Another Expert asked the delegation to provide information on complaints about police brutality, the number of convictions, and remedy provided to victims.

The delegation said that Saint Vincent and the Grenadines had adopted the regional Caribbean Parenting Manual that was developed in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund; the Manual had been developed on the Caribbean context of families and encompassed all types of families in the country.

Data on the outcome of cases of police brutality was not available at the moment.

All children, regardless of whether they were born in our outside of wedlock, had the right to child maintenance.  Child maintenance was decided on the basis of the father’s ability to pay, the age of the child, and whether the child, particularly a teenage child, was in school.  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was not a signatory to the Hague Convention in relation to recovery of child maintenance from parents working abroad, but it was a party to a similar regional instrument of the Caribbean Community.

Children with disabilities, which the school and social authorities had identified to be in need of special education services, could access additional financial support by the Government.  The children also received schoolbooks free of charge.

Follow-up Questions and Answers

Committee Experts asked about the support provided to pregnant teenage girls, and to increase access to contraceptives by adolescents.  Abortion was illegal – what was being done to address the many backstreet and clandestine abortions taking place which drove maternal mortality rates up?  The delegation had cited poverty as a key factor for sexual abuse, but was it really poverty that drove parents to have sexual relations with their children?

It seemed that a foreign child with disability could be refused entry, even if she or he was coming for the purposes of family reunification – was this indeed the case?

The new law on education prohibited discrimination on the grounds of physical disability – did that mean that discrimination on the grounds of any other disability was permitted?  Would Saint Vincent and the Grenadines adopt a policy for inclusive education for children affected by all types of disabilities, including psychological and sensory disability?

On early pregnancies, the delegation explained that the number of 354 births to teenage mothers referred to in the State party report encompassed girls aged 12 to 19; half of those were births to mothers aged 18 and 19, and another half accounted for births given by girls aged 12 to 18.  Some 95 girls were re-integrated into schools annually, while others who did not have an interest to go back to school received different support.

All gaps in the legal protection of children with disabilities from discrimination would be addressed in the harmonization process.  In terms of inclusive education, it was noted that the focus at this stage of the process was to integrate children with physical disabilities into mainstream schools; inclusion in the true meaning of the word was a very costly process, which Saint Vincent and the Grenadines would start at a later stage.

Abortion was indeed illegal, and it was not possible to say whether it would be decriminalized any time soon.  Discussions on the prohibition of corporal punishment had been brought to the fore, especially in the context of the child protection policy; the consultations were ongoing with the stakeholders, including parents and children, who were expressing both support for and opposition to corporal punishment in schools and homes.  The whole harmonization process of the laws was moving forward with or without the decision of corporal punishment in schools and families, while corporal punishment in juvenile justice institutions would be abolished.

Committee Experts reminded the delegation that as a State party to the Convention, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines had an obligation to prohibit all forms of violence against children, including corporal punishment.  What was the position of lawmakers concerning the prohibition, and what was being done to change the mentality of teachers and introduce positive methods in place?

JOSÉ ANGEL RODRÍGUEZ REYES, Committee Expert and Co-Rapporteur for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, noted that in 2015, the food security and nutrition plan had started in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, as a part of the zero hunger policy – what was the specific focus on children in this plan?  What policies were in place that were geared to the most vulnerable children in situations of extreme poverty?  What was being done to combat child obesity?

What was being done to combat the high abortion rates, and to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child?  In the context of climate change, what policies were in place to mitigate the impact of climate change, particularly in terms of access to safe drinking water?

Responding, the delegation said that a comprehensive programme executed with the Ministry of Health was in place to address child obesity.  To change attitudes to corporal punishment, all students of teacher training colleges, as well as parents attending parenting programmes, were taught about positive discipline.  The climate change policy was in place; children were involved and consulted, particularly in the “helping hands” programme, which taught children and communities to protect themselves in time of disasters.

JORGE CARDONA LLORENS, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, reiterated that the Committee’s concern, rather than the jobs, was the quality of secondary education – what measures were there to improve the quality of education? 

On juvenile justice, there was still a possibility for a child who did not commit a crime, to be deprived of liberty only because of his or her behaviour.  Where were juvenile offenders deprived of liberty held, only in juvenile facilities or could they be mixed with the adult population?  Were the children held in protection mixed with juvenile offenders?  Could a child be sentenced to death and was there a possibility of indefinite sentencing?

In order to address the issue of the quality of secondary education, the delegation said the Government had started in 2016 the rollout of a new programme under which children were assessed twice a year and not only at the end, while the content of some subjects had been revised.  The continuity between primary and secondary levels had been established as well.

From 2012, the secure housing of children placed in the justice system was being applied.  The model for the juvenile justice reform process was present in the proposed child justice bill which limited the sentence to 2.5 years regardless of the offence, established access to educational services, and provided for greater rehabilitation support.  Although the law had not been passed yet, it was already being implemented.  As a result, the separation of children in detention facilities was already in place, and schools were becoming more active in dealing with low-risk children.  There were no death or life sentences for children, and no indefinite sentences were given.

As soon as child abuse was reported, the child was removed from the home immediately, and placed in one of the foster homes, where they could stay up to three months, until all the assessments had been conducted.  Once a trial started, care order would be issued and the child protection agency would develop a plan of action for care which had to be used throughout the process, for each child, regardless of where the child was placed.  Parents were supported throughout the process as well, and there were programmes geared to foster parents and parents of children in transit care.

All children in prostitution were immediately removed into a protective environment, while legal proceedings against parents would be started if they were involved at all.  A care plan of action would then be developed for the child.

Concluding Remarks

JORGE CARDONA LLORENS, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, thanked the delegation for the efforts undertaken and urged Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to address issues of concern such as sexual exploitation and abuse of children, treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children, and the inclusion of all children with disabilities in education.

FREDERICK STEPHENSON, Minister of National Mobilization, Social Development, Family, Gender Affairs, Persons with Disabilities and Youth of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, said that Saint Vincent and the Grenadines had made strides in trying to upgrade the laws and regulations to ensure that children and their rights were properly taken care of.  The country would continue to take the Committee’s comments on board for the improvement of the situation of children.

BENYAM DAWIT MEZMUR, Committee Chairperson, thanked the delegation and said that additional information could be sent to the Committee in a written form.

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