Hundreds of children turned up for "a walk against child abuse" in Diego Martin, yesterday.Organised by the Covigne and Environs and Patna/River Estate Community Action Council, the walk entitled A Walk against Child Abuse–Peace Walk 2013 saw the two communities merging to fight physical, sexual or emotional mistreatment or neglect of children.
The walk, which began at two locations in Diego Martin and ended at the Diego Martin Central Government Secondary School, was held in collaboration with the YWCA and the Citizen Security Programme.Council member Keisha Cruickshank confirmed that the walk attracted hundreds of people, many of whom were children and the elderly.
"The two communities decided to work together to fight child abuse. The communities feel very strongly that this intervention must be supported by education and an outreach effort," Cruickshank said.Flyers about child abuse were also distributed to residents, motorists and pedestrians.
Cruickshank said they were alarmed by manager of the Police Service's Victim and Witness Support Unit Margaret Sampson-Browne's recent revelation that there were over 200 reported cases of incest, rape and sexual abuse in central Trinidad alone for this year.Overall, Sampson-Browne said, there were 800 child abuse reports coming from Central, Chaguanas, Couva.