Youth Minister condemns violence against children

Jamaica's Child Development Agency (CDA) has deployed a team of first responders to communities where incidents of  violence against children have occurred in recent days, while the Minister of Youth has condemned the perpetrators of these crimes.

The CDA will provide grief counselling and other emotional support to the families of the deceased.

Youth Minister Lisa Hanna, in condemning the perpetrators of violence against the nation's children, said on Friday that the CDA had already done preliminary interventions.                

She said, however, that over the next two weeks, the Ministry, through the CDA, will be partnering with the Office of  the Children’s Registry and other supporting agencies to host parenting sensitisation sessions in the communities as well as in the schools the children attended.

The most recent incidents to grab national attention involve 14-year-old Santoya Campbell of  Frome in Westmoreland and three-year-old Crystal Coleman of  St Mary who were reportedly murdered, as well as 14-year-old Treshauna Henry, also from St Mary, whose cause of  death is still unknown.

Ms. Hanna added that the discovery of  a new born baby in a garbage bin in Ocho Rios, St Ann was also horrifying and called for Jamaicans to exercise greater levels of  care for the nation’s children and be more vigilant in safeguarding their lives.