Luchmann, during a recent interview, described the passage of the Childcare and Protection Agency Bill, the Adoption of Children Bill and the Status of Children Bill as “groundbreaking.” He noted that “a legal framework is a groundbreaking and fundamental provision before any firm commitment and progress could be made to protect children against, violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation…”
While noting that UNICEF has been associated with the drafting and development of these bills, he said it was necessary to move on to the second step which is “service delivery – how are policies turned into action.”
Speaking about the establishment of the Childcare and Protection Agency, Luchmann said UNICEF provided funding to the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security to help with this particular initiative. The Deputy Country Representative declared that UNICEF will go out of its way to make the Agency a “success story,” ensuring that it functions “in the provision of quality social welfare services throughout the country.” He promised that the organization “will do whatever it takes to mobilise UNICEF expertise… [and] technical support to make this agency become successful.”
When asked if UNICEF had any concerns about the Sexual Offences Bill being sent to a parliamentary Select Committee thus delaying its implementation, Luchmann said that “UNICEF is not questioning the legislative process.” UNICEF had been instrumental in the nation-wide consultations for this bill. Recently, several local NGOS-including Red Thread and Every Child Guyana-have been picketing and calling for the urgent implementation of this bill.
The Sexual Offences Bill proposes a comprehensive overhaul of the current archaic law, to offer adequate protection to women and children who are victims of sexual abuse. The bill was tabled in the National Assembly by Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand on July 9 and subsequently sent to a Select Committee.
According to Luchmann, “no law that is half-heartedly baked and thrown out in the world has ever made the best impact for children.”
He opined that there may be cases in the society that are calling for laws and provisions to be made as “swiftly as possible.” He said that for these cases there were alternative measures available from the Human Services Ministry that victims may want to pursue.
However, he said that “unless laws like Sexual Offences Bill are in place there are significant gaps in the protective legal framework in any country.” He opined that this was a realisation that the government had taken cognisance of and said he believed that the bill will be enacted “in the soonest possible time.”
When he was asked if there were any other legislation UNICEF would like to see come into being in Guyana, Luchmann said that it was too early to say. According to him, this will be determined at the next review meeting scheduled for next year when the progress Guyana has made towards the implementation of the Conventions of the Rights of the Child will be assessed. “Guyana will present, as a state party, its state party report to the Committee of the Rights of the Child in Geneva and there, it will be determined where the most important shortfalls in terms of provisions for children are,” Luchmann said. “It will also be discussed what are the legal and policy provisions that should be put into place in dialogue with the representative of the state party.”
He said that he could not pre-empt this report but was told that it is in the final stages of being drafted.
