Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, said on July 24, that the Anguilla Government was seeking to develop a National Plan to improve care and protection of children with particular focus on child abuse. He was at the time addressing a one-day workshop sponsored by the Anguilla Government in collaboration with the Child Protection Programme of the National Children’s Home in the United Kingdom, the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.

L-R: Governor George, Hon. Evans Rogers and Ena Trotman-Stobey

Mr. Rogers stated that the Action Plan was being developed by a multi-sectoral Child Protection Committee with the assistance of the National Children’s Home.

“There are innumerable social issues here on Anguilla which can negatively impact on children,” the Minister observed. “These include, but clearly are not limited to, physical and sexual abuse, juvenile justice, immigration, disability, child custody, visitation, maintenance and poor parenting. It is our intent to create an action plan in collaboration with our partners to mitigate against these ills.”

Some of the workshop participants

The Minister noted that in September 1994 the UK extended the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to the British Overseas Territories including Anguilla.

Governor Andrew George said children were a sacred and precious trust to all and it was the duty of every society to ensure that everything possible was done to enable children to develop to their full potential in safety and security.

Little singer, Laesha Hobson

He stated that all children were very much individuals, different from each other but that it was the duty of parents and the entire society to keep them safe, nurture them and create situations in which they could develop to their full potential.

“I think it is a very apt time in the development of Anguilla to be looking after these issues thoroughly,” he said. “Anguilla is going through a period of rapid change…and there are many changes going on in society in the way people live and relate to each other. I think therefore it is a very good time to be taking a thorough look at the kind of Anguilla that is being created…The meeting you are embarking on today seems to be an excellent time to look very comprehensively at the provisions that are to safeguard the future of children.”

Workshop Facilitator Ena Trotman-Stoby said: “This occasion is an important day in the calendar of the Government of Anguilla. It represents the start of an important process on Government’s compliance with the UK Convention on the Rights of the Child…

“The Convention speaks through its fifty-four articles of good practice, a legal requirement on how children throughout the world should be nurtured and protected from harm and various forms of exploitation and abuse, parents’ responsibility towards their children, the support of the state for parents and its own administrative, legal and judicial responsibilities and it speaks also of the children’s own responsibilities.”

Mrs. Trotman-Stobey said the Convention on the Rights of the Child represents an excellent model for nation-building, assisting children in reaching their full potential which in turn requires the allocation of resources to the maximum available extent.”

Evalie Bradley, Principal Assistant Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office said child protection issues had been given high priority on the international and regional agenda. “At this vulnerable time in our development, we cannot afford to be left behind,” she observed. “Our children are precious and sacred gifts and that fact must be recognised by the love, care and protection we give them.”

The workshop, held at Paradise Cove, was attended by various persons in the public and private sectors including a number of non-government organisations.

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