Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

An apparent resurgence in births to teen mothers has prompted child advocates to agitate for more effective educational campaigns on the Child Care and Protection Act, and for courts to take more seriously cases of sexual abuse.

Data accessed from the Registrar General's Department show that teenage pregnancies went up in total by more than four per cent in 2005, after a consistent decline from 2001. The incidence went up highest among girls under 15, with an eight per cent increase over the previous year.

Pre-teen pregnancies were highest in the Corporate Area where 95 cases were found. But, most alarming was the high incidence of pregnancies in some of the country's least populated and developed parishes such as St. Thomas and Hanover. These were second and fourth, respectively, to the Corporate Area in the number of teenage pregnancies. Pre-teen pregnancies were particularly high in these parishes, accounting for over 20 per cent of the total under-15 age group.

Some of the teenage pregnancies are occurring among girls in places of safety and juvenile facilities, a professional reports. This is especially so in the parish of St. Ann, which has the sixth-highest number of pregnancies. Only recently, it was reported in the pages of this newspaper that the Windsor Girls' Home in that parish was being targeted by rapists, who cut holes in the fence of the institution and lured girls away.

lack of sex education

Executive director of the Women's Centre Foundation of Jamaica, Beryl Weir, while acknowledging that there are several issues that could be contributing to the rise in teenage pregnancies, suggests that the lack of sex education at home and school is a major factor. Girls in particular, she says, are not good at negotiating sex because many, while they understand the mechanics of sex, are not prepared to weigh the consequences.

"You need to understand that if you have sex you can become pregnant and get an STI (sexually transmitted infection) or HIV," she states.

"The knowledge about the age of consent and the laws that govern reproductive and sexual health are not known to the persons who are victims," Weir adds. She argues that the level of public education that was needed to support the Child Care and Protection Act when it was implemented in 2004 was inadequate.

"These laws were there before, but persons are not aware of them because we do not teach them in our schools," she says.

Inter-American Human Rights Court judge and children's rights advocate, Margarette Macaulay, agrees. She argues further that perpetrators do not seriously believe they will be punished for their actions, a belief that is sometimes validated by the judicial process.

reluctance

"There are people who are (genuinely) not aware of the laws, but you also see a reluctance in jurors to convict people accused of this kind of offence," she says. She adds that judges, too, are not taking the matter seriously, pointing to at least three cases this year where judges have handed down judge-ments to perpetrators that were only a mere slap on the wrist.

One case in point is the suspended sentence handed down by Justice Marjorie Cole Smith to KLAS Sports radio producer Floyd Wright after he was convicted for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.

"It is clear that they (judges, court officials) need specialised training to appreciate what happens to these young girls. It is clear that they do not know what they are dealing with. They need to be able to say what is in the best interest of the child. And how are they going to be able to do that if they are not specially trained to do so?" questions Macaulay.

However, legal officer in the Office of the Children's Advocate, Norman Mills, does not think it is entirely fair to accuse the island's courts of not taking carnal abuse cases seriously. He opines that often it is not easy to secure convictions in court because of the lack of evidence or the ineffectiveness of laws that need to be amended.

"In the case of a child of tender years, where it is a sexual offence, the accused person cannot be convicted on the evidence (of) the child; the evidence must be corroborated by an independent witness," Mills pointed. "So, many times, if it's the child's word alone, it may not stand up in court," said Mills.

He also notes that not many children are able to stand up to the scrutiny of the defence counsel's re-examination which is also a process required under law.

"The court has to hear what the child has to say before the court can act. If the child breaks down when she sees her abuser, and she is unable to speak, the court will not act on sympathy," Mills points out.

Children's rights advocates say they have unsuccessfully pushed for the reform of these laws from as far back as 12 years ago.