.jpg)
Children's Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison - file photo
.png)
Diahann Gordon Harrison
The Office of the Children's Advocate has said the number of children detained under the state of emergency in St. James is fewer than was reported by the Office of the Public Defender.
The Public Defender had told a Parliamentary committee that the security forces have detained 105 children since the measure was imposed in the western parish in January.
However, Children's Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison has revealed that about half of the number of people the Public Defender described as children were in fact adults.
"To date, I can confirm that 58 of the numbers that were said to be children are all in fact persons who are 18 years, which means technically that they fall certainly outside the remit of the OCA because they would not be children based on our legal definition of who a child is," she revealed.
Mrs. Gordon Harrison said her office is continuing its probe in relation to the children who were detained.
"We need to get further and better particulars as to the circumstances surrounding their detention and also their own individual accounts and positions as to what may have occurred whilst they were in custody," she said.
comments powered by Disqus
All feeds
