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Contact:
Rose Marie Harris
Tuesday, April 01, 2003 – Saint Lucians resident in Toronto Canada are
being called upon to assist in the development of Saint Lucia. Addressing a
Saint Lucian gathering, in observance of Saint Lucia’s 24th Anniversary of
Independence, Governor General Dame Pearlette Louisy urged the gathering in
their own spheres of endeavour to engage in some intelligence gathering and
analysis on behalf of Saint Lucians back home. According to Dame Pearelette,
“Not the cloak and dagger stuff or the James Bond stuff of international
espionage, but the sourcing of information on areas like educational
opportunities and institutions for example, or sharing information generated in
Canada in the area of entrepreneurial development.”
The Governor General explained “We do have commendable profile of achievements
to our credit. During the past year, we have been particularly proud of the
National Television Network and the strides it has made in public service
broadcasting; of the National Skills Development Centre and its provision of
training and skills development opportunities, of the establishment of the
Cultural Development Foundation; of the Programme for the Regularisation of
Unplanned Developments which has resulted in the transfer of land title to
long-established illegal occupants of Public Lands and of the improvements that
the Poverty Reduction Fund is making in the quality of life of many of our rural
communities.”
The Governor General said what Saint Lucia is not proud of is the escalation in
the crime rate, and the increase in the incidence of child abuse, neglect and
abandonment. Dame Pearlette indicated that to reduce the level of crime, the
National Crime Commission was launched last month to form civic partnerships
with the police who have had some success in particularly difficult areas with
their community policing programmes. It is hoped that the Commission’s theme
“Crime is everybody’s business” strikes that kind of chord in the consciousness
of every peace-loving Saint Lucian to motivate them to become personally engaged
in the building of a safer nation for all through cooperation and affection for
one another.
Dame Pearlette lamented that she was not sure where “we” went wrong, “but our
children, the future of our country, feel that they are not sufficiently loved
or adequately cared for by the adults in society. This was revealed during the
course of a Children’s Forum that was convened in preparation for the Special
Session on Children held at the United Nations General Assembly in May last
year. In fact, our records show that the incidence of physical and sexual abuse,
neglect and abandonment of children at home in Saint Lucia has increased four
hundred percent during the past five years.”
This has been attributed to the migration of mothers, the loss of the support of
the extended family, early adolescent pregnancy and unemployment. When one adds
this to the alarming rate of HIV/AIDS infection among children (14% of the cases
recorded in Saint Lucia last year were children under the age of 20) we know
that we are courting disaster. Following upon the launch of the national chapter
of the Global Movement for Children, the year 2003 has been declared by the
government of Saint Lucia as The Year of the Child. We hope to make a
significant impact on this sensitive issue,” the Governor General ended.
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