Amid growing concerns over the safety and security of the nation’s children, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck is calling on Jamaicans to support efforts to tackle the issue of child abuse.

Chuck made this call during the opening of a child-friendly space at the Victim’s Services Branch of the Ministry of Justice in Manchester on Friday, July 18.

“Daily our children are being violated and it is important that we send the message not only to communities and families but all Jamaicans. Far too many of our children are suffering in silence, it is absolutely important, where neighbours know that a child is being violated, brutalised and abused next door that they inform the authorities so that these children can in fact be protected,” Chuck said.

The justice minister noted that there is general consensus among many Jamaican parents that the only way to correct a child is through brutalisation. However, Chuck noted that this creates an atmosphere for violence.

“We have other services where children are out of order or they are going a stray. We have Child Diversion, which is another area of our social policy programme and we are prepared to offer the counselling, the psychological support to children who have got out of hand and, indeed, the Government only recently passed amendments to the Child Care and Protection Act and to be fair, UNICEF and many other partners indicated that court should be the last resort where the child is an offender and we literally agreed and so you can see how democracy is at work,” the justice minister said.

“We are able to communicate and consult in parliament and after we hear from the different voices we modified the cat to say instead of the first resort being to the court, the child will be taken to Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), or to the Child Care and Protection Office (CPFSA), maybe to victims services or child diversion so that that’s the first area to counsel the child but in any instance, we have to take them to court,” he added.

The child-friendly space was launched through a partnership between the Government and the U.S. Embassy and is geared toward providing a safe space for children who are victims of abuse to interact with law officers, social workers and healthcare workers.