DR RADICA MAHASE
In February 2016, Trinidad and Tobago had its first case of Zika. Later that year, the Ministry of Health confirmed the first case of microcephaly caused by the Zika virus and noted that the number of cases might increase. The government announced that these babies would be given the support they needed to help them develop.
Seven years later, parents are still waiting for government to offer support. Can you imagine, a parent actually has to take legal action against the government in order to get help for her child?
Even worse, can you imagine that when that parent has made a successful case against the government, the government is planning to appeal?
This Zika issue is only one case where the TT government has demonstrated a lack of responsibility towards our nation’s children. We have cases where children are being abused in children’s homes, as seen in the Judith Jones report – the government did not take immediate steps to protect the children and remove them from abusive situations. Instead, the homes continue to receive government funding, with the claim that things are being put in place to bring them up to standard.
Meanwhile children remain in abusive environments.
There is also the issue of children with special needs and all disabilities who continue to be treated as second-class citizens, turned away from schools, cannot access grants and have little or no opportunity for development.
Interestingly, while the government continues to treat our children in such an apathetic manner, it boasts of putting in place guidelines such as the National Child Policy, Inclusive Education Policy and the National Policy for Persons with Disabilities.
This Zika win in court clearly demonstrates that these policies are just there to make the government look as if it is actually doing something for those who are vulnerable. In this case the judge noted that there is no evidence that the guidelines or the national policy for the treatment of babies infected with Zika were implemented.
What is even worse is that this parent had to file a Freedom of Information Act request, only to find out the policy was only in the draft stage and was never implemented. Was it ever developed as a full policy?
In this Zika case, the judge noted that this “constituted a breach of the country’s international obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”
This is significant, as the failure to provide for the development of Zika children is similar to the failure to provide for other children with developmental issues (disabilities/special needs). Is TT therefore not committing this breach every time a government school does not accept a child with a disability, or every time a disability grant is not approved for a child with a disability? Is that not also a breach of the child’s constitutional rights?
[caption id="attachment_1019654" align="alignnone" width="1024"] We need to change our mentality towards children.P
