At the top of tonight's newscast, we told you about a 10 year old boy who had been raped in Dangriga. And, indeed, It seems like every week on the news, there is some new outrageous assault against a child. And that's why the National Committees for Families and children has organized the first ever state of the Nation's Children Conference.
The theme is Coordination the Child Protection System: Building Protective Environments and for three days, they will examine the issue from different angles.
Today was the opening where key government, civil society and community partners gathered to come up with priority actions.
At the top they pointed out that all those hideous crimes against children reported on the news - are just symptoms of a deeper problem. Minister of Human Development Eden Martinez keyed in on that in his address:..
Eden Martinez, Minister of Human Development
"In many ways it is the inability to fulfill other rights that makes our children vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and of coming in conflict with the law."
"We have very frequent reminders in the media, cases are reported in the news that bring into sharp relief just how difficult these matters can be and have highlighted just how unsafe our children are. Indeed the most recent cases of abuse highlighted in the news have demonstrated that in every sphere, in their homes, in their schools and in their communities at large children are victims of heinous acts perpetrated against them by those who should be protecting them, family members, family friends and others who have a direct responsibility to keep them safe."
Day two of the conference takes the dialogue out of the hands of the professional discussants and puts it in the hands of close to 500 children and teachers from standard VI and first forms from all over the country who will share their views and ideas on child protection.
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