Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr Vindhya Persaud yesterday said that her ministry has taken note of a serious allegation made against a government official by a 16-year-old girl and the matter is being investigated.
In a brief statement on her Facebook page, Persaud said that the Child Care and Protection Agency is carrying out a full investigation.
“All support will be provided to the young lady. Our women and girls must be safe and no one is above the law”, she said.
The allegations were published on social media platforms and in the form of an open letter to President Irfaan Ali.
The matter was also addressed yesterday by Minister of Education Priya Manickchand on her Facebook page. She said that after being made aware of the matter she passed on the information to the Chief Education Officer (CEO), Saddam Hussain who made contact with the girl who is a student and “full support” was offered to her.
Manickchand said that the girl chose a date on which she would avail herself of the support that was offered and continues to be offered.
“She gave reasons for the date she chose. That date has not yet arrived. The Ministry of Education will offer whatever support is needed/requested, if any at all, and will act only in the best interest of this child and in accordance with her wishes as we are mandated by law to do”, Manickchand said.
She said that on Thursday morning just as she was about to enter a CXC meeting of Education Ministers of the Region on exam papers going missing in another jurisdiction, a member of the media sent her the screenshots of a statement by the girl.
“That statement that I was only able at that time to quickly browse, contained disturbing allegations of rape, sex assault and abuse of power made by someone who said she was a school girl. No contact information was given to me so I did what we do whenever we receive similar information. I immediately passed the information on to the Chief Education Officer (who has statutory responsibility for learners in the country) with a request that he find the child and offer our full support to her. I am told and I believe that the CEO made contact with the school named in the statement and through said school made contact with the student”, she related.
Manickchand said that she has always treated complaints of rape and sex assault urgently. “Even more so when a child is involved. And I always will. I piloted the Sex Offences Act and when we passed that into law in 2010, as a country we were clear: we want better treatment of complainants and better conviction rates. That hasn’t changed”, she added.
The minister also sounded a caution about social media.
“Social media has given everyone a voice. That has its own beauty and value in various struggles. But there are also inherent dangers. Identifying children should never be a resort regardless of how much more attractive our statements /position/advocacy will be. Denigrating designated bodies who are mandated (statutorily or otherwise) to help must never be easily done or the result could end up leaving the victim alone without that help. And most dangerous of all is that children or women, who are victims looking on and who want to come forward, who desperately need help could decide not to avail themselves of same for fear of the exposure and out of mistrust carelessly promoted for the bodies/institutions designated to help. Use your pages consciously”.
