De Peiza comes under fire

Faith Marshall-Harris, the expert for the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has taken umbrage to statements recently made by Dennis de Peiza, general secretary of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) about children’s rights.

“I take strong issue with what I consider to be irresponsible statements recently made by Mr Dennis de Peiza, CTUSAB general secretary,” Marshall-Harris told the Sunday Sun.

“When Mr de Peiza suggests that the emphasis given to children’s rights is detrimental to society . . . when he suggests that we are giving children more rights than adults, I think he is misleading the public. I am not sure which country he is speaking of, but certainly in Barbados children’s rights have as much validity as the rights of any other sector – not more, not less, but as much as. And so it should be!”

Marshall-Harris pointed out that de Peiza made the comments during a press conference last Tuesday.

She said: “As I understand it, all right-thinking people in Barbados believe that children’s rights are human rights; that children are the subject of rights as every other human being is and that all rights are equal and that none should be placed above the other. There must be a balancing of rights.

“As far as I know no more emphasis is placed on children’s rights than any other sector, but what we must guard against and is implicit in his statements, that we should seek to lower the value of children in this community. They are not other and they should not be treated as other, or less than any other human beings.”

She stressed that children’s rights should not be diminished.

Specific rights

“We need to recognise that children, as all other humans, have rights but children have some specific rights attached to them because of their vulnerability and dependence. We have to remind persons often that children need to be protected from neglect, abuse, violence and exploitation. We must remind persons that children have a right to be guided and to be disciplined, but that discipline must be humane and should not violate their dignity, or sense of self. That in being disciplined they should

not be humiliated or belittled, and this must be so for every other human being. Children are not sub-human.

“Children’s rights do not supersede any other right, neither does the rights of adults supersede those of the children. Children, despite their small size and youthfulness, should also be treated with the dignity to be accorded to every human being.”

Addressing de Peiza’s statements, the child rights expert noted: “To speak about children’s rights in this broad and generalised fashion as Mr de Peiza has done is to ignore that what is being promoted is a child’s right to nutritious food, a child’s right to adequate shelter, a child’s right to be able to survive and thrive and grow up in a stable environment to be a productive human being. Those are the rights that we are promoting, and that is to the benefit of us all.

“And to go a stage further to suggest that the promotion of children’s rights leads to crime and violence is really a step too far. There is absolutely no intrinsic link between upholding children’s rights and crime and violence, as he suggests.”

She added: “As far as I am aware, there are no liberties given to children of school age which contribute to indiscipline. Neither do I know of extensive promotion of child rights which is leading to a disrespect for authority. Not in the Barbados in which I live. To be putting this out into the public domain is to sully the human rights record of Barbados, and I, for one, take exception to that.

“I would wish Mr de Peiza to think more deeply on the issue and withdraw those remarks, because they violate the basis on which Barbados, along with 195 countries of the world, uphold children’s rights and acknowledge the value that they have in the society.

“To be propounding these theories is to do a disservice, not just to the children, but to all those who work with and for children, those who have to teach them, those who have to guide them, those who have to care for them, because Mr de Peiza is encouraging and lending solidarity to that minority who would wish to see children’s rights degraded in this society.” (MB)

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