Dear Editor,
The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security have given some data about girls who have experienced abuse. Kaieteur News has reported that in Parliament, the Ministry of Home Affairs says the Guyana Police Force handled 124 cases of domestic and family violence, while the Ministry of Human Services reported that 532 girls entered into emergency care between 2020 and 2025. MP Amanza Walton had asked about data for girls experiencing domestic violence.
It is unfortunate that the two Ministries seem to be operating in silos with their data and operations as it relates to child abuse.
Should the nation assume that only 23% of the cases of abuse against girls ever reached the police? How many of those 124 cases reached the court system? How many of the cases resulted in conviction? How many of those cases included Sexual Offences? Who in the Government is tracking the cases across the different agencies, and who is responsible for sharing this data so that the public can use it to help with the prevention efforts?
What happened to the perpetrators of the abuse of the 408 girls that the Ministry of Human Services had in care? What will the Parliament do now about justice for those children, when their cases do not hit the justice system?
Yours sincerely,
Vidyaratha Kissoon
Discussion