Massacre of the innocent

Emily was not killed suddenly. She had reportedly been the victim of abuse for most of her short life. The police, responding to neighbours’ reports, had removed her from the wooden shack where she lived with her relatives on at least three occasions. But she was returned each time. Assistant Commissioner Winston Cooper, speaking in a television interview, asserted that this was because there are no places in Trinidad and Tobago where abused children can be cared for.

If this is indeed so, the authorities should hang their heads in shame. This is a country where the Government has started to construct an $850 million sporting complex; where the Government plans to spend millions more on official (and quite unnecessary) buildings; where even more millions are spent to pay unemployable youths to cut grass. And yet these politicians and public servants cannot find a few million to spend each year on a home for abused children? This truly proves that being Third World is defined not so much by a state of resources, but by a state of mind.

But the irresponsibility and heartlessness of officials are only a reflection of the common culture of this country. So the police were unable to keep the child. But they had a basis on which to remove Emily on at least three occasions. Why did they not arrest the person or persons against whom the complaint was made? Did the police not notify a social worker who might have been able to make arrangements for Emily to stay with a relative and access State support? If a social worker was notified, why did she/he not pursue the case properly? Was this inaction partly because, according to the child’s grandmother, Emily was “slow?” Emily reportedly spent five months in hospital. Did the doctors who treated her think it necessary to mandate that follow-ups be done?

The answer to all these questions appears to be a simple and callous “No.” So what is going to happen now? Will people drive for a day, as in the case of Sean Luke, with their headlights on? Will they call for mob justice? These are the responses of the ineffectual and the effete. In order to minimise the incidents of child abuse in the society, there has to be a concerted effort to put measures in place that will not only treat with such incidents effectively, but also create a mindset that will revere children.

Citizens must be educated on why corporal punishment neither helps to discipline nor to educate young people — for it is hollow for anyone to be appalled at a child’s torture and murder when they are in favour of beating children. Comprehensive sex education, and not merely abstinence-only clubs, must become an official and vigorous part of the school curriculum. Social workers must be held accountable for failure to perform. And the Draft Gender Policy must be put into effect, for empowering women is the best way of protecting children.

These are all relatively simple measures to implement. What is not simple is changing the attitudes which have so far prevented any of these things from happening. Such change must start at the top, but part of our Third World outlook is the unwillingness of our leaders to do anything that might be unpopular — even if such action might save a child’s life.