By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

OFFICIALS from the Department of Gender and Family Affairs said more resources are needed to address suspected cases of child abuse and neglect.

They also said there are a number of issues facing mothers and minors, such as lack of access to reproductive health services and a strong family court system.

The comments came after police reported that a mother stabbed her boyfriend at their residence, who is suspected of sexually assaulting her 12-year-old daughter. The man has been taken into custody and the girl admitted to hospital for examination for the alleged assault.

Speaking at a joint press conference yesterday, Dr Calae Philippe, director of the department, said that “we do not have a gender-based violence policy” in The Bahamas.

“That’s going to be significant and we really need the communities to support that,” she said. “Two, on the books currently, unlawful sexual intercourse happens according to the law under 16 and so the concern is now that a 16-year-old can consent to sexual intercourse, but is unable to access health services.

“. . .We do not have a strong family court system. We need that so that mothers, fathers when they have an issue, it can be addressed. We have the sexually suspected child abuse and neglect unit. It’s very small to address the issue. We do not have enough persons on the ground to address these issues. We do not have child care, so if you are a single parent and you have to go to work, you have to choose between work and finding a place for your child to be and if someone who’s of the opposite sex, that’s only person you can find, you are caught between a rock and a hard place.”

Marisa Mason-Smith of the Zonta Club said that there is a lack of awareness about these issues.

She added: “What we want to see is when persons make a complaint (of abuse) to the police that they allow the process to go through. Many times what we’re seeing is persons put it in and because that person is the breadwinner, they don’t want to hurt their source of living, so they (retract) the complaint against that person. So we’ve seen a lot of that. So I think more education awareness. We need more rights in terms of safety for our women, safety for our girls, safety for our environment.”

Dr Philippe also noted that there are not enough safe houses for victims of abuse.

“We also have the challenge where you go to a safe house and it’s supposed to be safe and you calling the person (who abused you) and you’re exposing the safe house so it’s a whole culture if we’re going to have the safe house.

“Even then, it’s only about two weeks that you can stay in a safe house. Where are you going if you’re financially dependent on this person? Who is going to pay your salary - the government? Who is going to take care of the child? The safe house is only a gap, only a time period then we must figure out what’s the next step.

“There’s prevention, there’s intervention, and then there’s rehabilitation. We have to think, how do we prevent this from happening? Because young women do not have access to sexual reproductive health services, they cannot go to a clinic and get protection so they are at risk.”

This news comes after the death of four-year-old Bella Walker. Police confirmed the child - who has been officially identified as D’Onya Bella Walker - died as a result of blunt force trauma to the body which resulted in multiple fractures. It was reported that neighbours expressed guilt and remorse at not doing enough to get the relevant authorities to intervene on the child’s behalf.

Dr Philippe made a plea for people to speak up.

“We just lost a young child because of violence. Because we did not intervene and so we want to call to action everyone in their community do not be afraid to speak up. Do not be afraid to call the hotlines if you see something wrong,” she pleaded.

The press conference for “Healing The Bahamas Through Healthy Relationships” highlighted the activities and causes of International Men’s Day on November 19, National Women’s Week designated for November 24-30, and 16 Days of Activism – which run from November 25 to December 10.