T&T ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991. Article 18:1 of the Convention recognises that "parents have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of the child."
Article 18:2 of the Convention charges Governments with the responsibility to "render appropriate assistance to parents in their performance of their child-rearing responsibilities," and to "ensure the development of institutions, facilities and services for the care of children."
Article 18.3 specifies one such service. It places on government the clear responsibility to "take all appropriate measures to ensure that children of working parents have the right to benefit from child-care services and facilities for which they are eligible."
Section 6(1) � of the Children's Authority Act states that the Authority has the duty "to act as an advocate to promote the rights of all children in Trinidad and Tobago." Within the Authority's mandate is the responsibility to provide care and protection for children. This mandate, however, does not extend to provision of day-care centres.
Should we look then to the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services? To whom should a working parent turn when his children are not afforded the right to child-care services to which they are entitled and which that parent cannot afford to give? Who should be punished when the denial of that child's right has fatal consequences?
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, long ago, recommended that T&T have a Child Ombudsman. The Child Protection Task Force agreed.
Is it too late for the Minister of Finance to be creative and include in his budget, provision for child-care services in every village community centre? Will Government heed the recommendation of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and provide financing for the institution of the office of the Child Ombudsman, perhaps to save costs, within the existing Ombudsman's Office?
Hazel Thompson-Ahye
Child rights advocate