Georgetown : A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) states that it has ‘no confidence’ in the capability of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports to administer the New Opportunity Corps (NOC). APNU re-issues its call that an independent commission of inquiry be convened to investigate the entire administration, organisation and management of the Corps.
APNU proposes, further, that responsibility for the Corps be transferred to another Ministry or Agency that possesses the requisite personnel and skills and is better prepared to administer the lives of juveniles sympathetically. It is evident that a new approach and a new agency are needed to curb the perpetration of abuses and inter-personal violence which are still occurring in the Corps.
APNU is concerned that the worst incident of violence in the entire history of the Corps occurred in August 2012 and involved about one-third of the juveniles in the Corps. The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, however, has been unable to present the Report of the Commission of Inquiry to the National Assembly after over twenty months. The absence of the Report, clearly, has resulted in the Ministry’s inability to comprehend the problem and to prevent the recurrence of abuses similar to those that are alleged to have triggered the August 2012 events. The last ‘escape’ occurred between 22nd and 24th March 2014 and involved 11 juveniles.
APNU has been disturbed, particularly, by new reports of sexual harassment and exploitation of juvenile girls by male staff members and older males; by repeated ‘escapes’ and by the criminalising of juveniles by subjecting them to arrest, detention and prosecution by the Guyana Police Force in the criminal justice system.
APNU calls on the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration to implement urgent measures to ensure the safety of all juveniles at the Corps. The Partnership also calls on the Ministries of Culture, Youth and Sport, Education, and Human Services to respond promptly and sympathetically to the needs of the young students, with the aim of preventing a recurrence of exploitation.
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