COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIESUNDER ARTICLE 44 OF THE CONVENTION

Second periodic reports of States parties due in 1999

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO * **

[29 July 2003]

* For the initial report submitted by Trinidad and Tobago, see CRC/C/11/Add.10; for its consideration by the Committee on 2 and 3 October 1997, see CRC/C/SR.414-416 and CRC/C/15/Add.82.

** In accordance with the information transmitted to States parties regarding the processing of their reports, the present document was not formally edited before being sent to the United Nations translation services.

GE.05-40670 (E) 270505

CONTENTS

Paragraphs Page

Introduction 1 - 94

I.GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION 10 - 2105

II.DEFINITION OF THE CHILD 211 - 29572

III.GENERAL PRINCIPLES 296 - 53996

IV. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS 540 - 649152

A.Name and nationality (art. 7) 540 - 569152

B.Preservation of identity (art. 8) 570 - 573161

C.Freedom of expression (art. 13) 574 - 579162

D.Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (art. 14) 580 - 586163

E.Freedom of association and peaceful assembly(art. 15) 587 - 594165

F.Protection of privacy (art. 16) 595 - 603166

G.Access to appropriate information (art. 17) 604 - 626168

H.The right not to be subjected to torture or othercruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment(art. 37 (a)) 627 - 649173

V. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVECARE 650 - 861178

A.Parental guidance (art. 5) 650 - 664178

B.Parental responsibilities (art. 18, paras. 1-2) 665 - 685181

C.Separation from parents (art. 9) 686 - 705187

D.Family reunification (art. 10) 706 - 714194

E.Illicit transfer and non-return of children (art. 11) 715 - 722196

F.Recovery of maintenance for the child(art. 27, para. 4) 723 - 735198

CONTENTS ( continued )

Paragraphs Page

G.Children deprived of their family environment(art. 20) 736 - 764203

H.Adoption (art. 21) 765 - 806208

I.Periodic review of placement (art. 25) 807 - 818222

J.Abuse and neglect (art. 19) 819 - 861225

VI.BASIC HEALTH AND WELFARE 862 - 976236

A.Disabled children (art. 23) 862 - 907236

B.Health and health services (art. 24) 908 - 960247

C.Social security and childcare services and facilities (art. 26 and art. 18, para. 3) 961 - 965270

D.Standard of living (art. 27, paras. 1-3) 966 - 976272

VII.EDUCATION, LEISURE AND CULTURALACTIVITIES 977 - 1154276

A.Education, including vocational training andguidance (art. 28) 977 - 1119276

B.Aims of education (art. 29) 1120 - 1143314

C.Leisure, recreation and cultural activities (art. 31) 1144 - 1154322

VIII. SPECIAL PROTECTION MEASURES 1155 - 1339325

A.Children in situations of emergency 1155 - 1173325

B.Children involved with the system of administrationof juvenile justice 1174 - 1252330

C.Children in situations of exploitation, includingphysical and psychological recovery and socialreintegration (art. 39) 1253 - 1326359

D.Children belonging to a minority or an indigenousgroup (art. 30) 1327 - 1339382

Introduction

1.This document is the Second Periodic Report of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago submitted in accordance with article 44, paragraph 1(b) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

2.It has been written in accordance with the general guidelines regarding the form and content of periodic reports which were adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child at its 343rd meeting (thirteenth session) on 11 October 1996 (CRC/C/58). To assist the reader in understanding the structure of the Report, the text of the 1996 guidelines has been incorporated into the Report.

3.Trinidad and Tobago ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter referred to as “the Convention”) on 5 December 1991 and it entered into force on the 4 January 1992. Trinidad and Tobago’s Initial Report which was due in 1994 was submitted in February 1996 (CRC/C/11/Add.10) (hereinafter referred to as “the Initial Report”). The Initial Report was submitted by the Ministry of Social Development after consultation with other Government and Non-Governmental Organisations working with children.

4.The Initial Report was considered by the Committee on the Rights of the Child during its sixteenth session at its 414th to 416th meetings, held on 2 and 3 October 1997. At that time, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago provided additional written information in response to the issues raised by the pre-sessional working group of the Committee on the Rights of the Child with regard to the initial report (CRC/C/Q/TRI/1).

5.In accordance with article 44(1) (b) of the Convention, Trinidad and Tobago’s Second Periodic Report covering the five-year period 1994 to 1999 should have been submitted in January 1999. However, given that the Initial Report and the supplementary information provided to the Committee on the Rights of the Child covered the period up to mid 1997, the Second Periodic Report covers the five-year period 1997 to 2002.

6.The Report provides information on the measures adopted by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to give effect to the rights enshrined in the Convention and on the progress made in the enjoyment of those rights.

7.This Second Periodic Report was compiled by the Human Rights Unit of the Ministry of the Attorney General. The Human Rights Unit which was formed in 1999 has been assigned responsibilityinter alia for preparing periodic reports due under international human rights instruments to which Trinidad and Tobago is a party.

8.The Human Rights Unit received information for the preparation of the Second Periodic Report from a thirteen member Cabinet appointed standing Inter Ministerial Committee called the Human Rights Consultative Committee. The Committee comprises representatives of key Government ministries and the Tobago House of Assembly. Members of this Committee are required to supply the Human Rights Unit with information from their respective Ministries for preparation of periodic reports in accordance with the relevant United Nations reporting guidelines. By establishing this Inter Ministerial Committee, the Government has created a mechanism to ensure that periodic reports contain accurate and up to date information on the legislative, administrative and other measures taken by the Government in accordance with the country’s obligations under international human rights treaties.

9.In an effort to ensure the objectivity of this report, the Human Rights Unit also invited written contributions and/or met with several NGOs and members of civil society working in the field to elicit their perspective on the progress made in the enjoyment of the rights contained in the Convention and any shortcomings and challenges in this regard.

I. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION

(articles 4, 42 and 44, para. 6 of the Convention)

10.“In the spirit of the World Conference on Human Rights, which encouraged States to consider reviewing any reservation with a view to withdrawing it, please indicate whether the Government considers it necessary to maintain the reservations it has made, if any, or has the intention of withdrawing them.” * Trinidad and Tobago has not registered any reservations to the Convention.

11. “State Parties are requested to provide relevant information pursuant to article 4 of the Convention, including information on the measures adopted to bring national legislation and practice into full conformity with the principles and provisions of the Convention, together with details of:

Any comprehensive review of the domestic legislation to ensure compliance with the Convention;

Any new laws or codes adopted, as well as amendments introduced into domestic legislation to ensure implementation of the Convention.”

In 1998, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago appointed an inter-ministerial Committee (comprising representatives of the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Social Development) to examine and review the existing laws relating to children and to prepare a comprehensive package of legislation to bring the national legislation into conformity with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The package (which consists of the following five pieces of legislation) was enacted by Parliament in October 2000. The Articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention) which correspond to the domestic statutes described below are identified in brackets.

(a)The Children’s Authority Act, No. 64 of 2000

12.This Act establishes a body corporate known as the Children’s Authority of Trinidad and Tobago. The Authority, when established, would be responsible for inter alia investigating complaints of staff, children and parents of children with respect to any child who is in the care of a community residence, foster home or nursery. [Article 19 (1)]

13.The Authority is authorised under the Act to issue, revoke and withdraw licences of community residences and nurseries and to investigate complaints or reports of mistreatment of children in their homes.

14.Section 11 of the Act provides that the Authority shall have a Co-ordinating Unit, an Administrative Unit, a Technical Unit and a Research Unit. The Technical Unit shall comprise an Intake Centre and a Reception Centre.

15.Section 22 of the Act empowers the Authority to receive a child into its care. [Article 20(1)] Section 14 (3) provides that the Reception Centre shall be responsible for the temporary care of children received by the Authority. The Authority shall also be the Central Authority for the purposes of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

16.The Authority shall be managed by a Board of Management consisting of eleven persons including: a child psychologist; a child psychiatrist; a qualified social worker; a public health specialist; an educator; a person under the age of twenty-five years (representing the youth) and a representative of an NGO which has as its objectives the promotion of the welfare and protection of children. These persons are to be appointed by the President. The Board is required to appoint a Director who shall be responsible for the day-to-day functions of the Authority.

17.This legislation has been enacted by Parliament, and will come into force by Presidential Proclamation once the necessary administrative and other arrangements for the Authority have been put into place.

(b) The Children’s Community Residences, Foster Homes and Nurseries Act, No. 65 of 2000

18.This Act provides that no person shall operate a community residence (which means a children’s Home or rehabilitation center and includes industrial schools and orphanages) without a residence licence issued by the Children’s Authority. Upon the coming into force of the Act, all existing community residences would be required to apply to the Authority for a residence licence.

19.The requirements for the grant of a residence licence are set out in S.6 of the Act. This section provides inter alia that the applicant must satisfy the Authority that the building has been approved by relevant Health and Building Authorities as to its fitness for the purpose; that it has adequate staff with a proper staff to child ratio and that the staff has adequate training and experience in child care. Residence licences would be valid under the Act for a period of one year. [Article 3(3)]

20.Section 28 of the Act provides for the establishment by the Minister of a system of foster care. Where a person wishes to become a foster parent he shall apply to the Minister for approval in the prescribed form. The Minister shall cause a Register of approved foster parents to be maintained. The Minister is required under S.31 to cause suitable foster parents to be trained in their roles, functions and duties. Section 42 of the Act provides that no person shall operate a nursery without a nursery licence issued by the Authority.

21.This Act (which has already been passed by Parliament) will come into force by Presidential Proclamation, once the required administrative and other mechanisms have been put into place.

(c)The Miscellaneous Provisions (Children) Act, No. 66 of 2000

22.This Act has amended the domestic statutes identified below (emphasis added). This Act came into force by Proclamation on November 6, 2000.

The Citizenship of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Act, Chap. 1:50. By S.6 of this Act, as amended, where an adoption order is made by a competent Court in respect of a person who has not attained the age of eighteen years and who is not a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, in the case of a joint adoption, if either of the adopters is a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, the minor shall become a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago as from the date of the order. Previously in the case of a joint adoption, citizenship only passed to the minor if the male adopter was a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago; [Article 2(1)]

The Summary Offences Act, Chap. 11:02. Section 5(1) of this Act has been amended to allow a Magistrate to impose a custodial sentence on any person found guilty of committing an assault or battery of an aggravated nature on a male child whose age does not exceed eighteen years. Previously the section only covered male children below fourteen years of age; [Article 3(2)]

The Corporal Punishment (Offenders Not Over Sixteen) Act, Chap. 13:03. This Act was repealed so that the Court is no longer empowered to impose corporal punishment as a penal sanction against children below sixteen years of age;

The Corporal Punishment (Offenders Over Sixteen) Act, Chap. 13:04. The title of this Act has been amended by deleting the word “Sixteen” and replacing it with the word “Eighteen”. The Court is thereby only empowered to impose corporal punishment as a penal sanction upon male offenders above the age of eighteen years;

The Young Offenders Detention Act, Chap. 13:05. Section 13 of this Act has now been repealed. This section permitted the Minister to commute to a term of imprisonment, any unexpired residue of the term of detention of an inmate of the Youth Training Centre, if such person was reported by the Commissioner of Prisons to be incorrigible or to be exercising a bad influence on the other inmates of the Centre;

The Defence Force Act, Chap. 14:01. Section 19 of this Act has been amended so that a person below the age of sixteen years can no longer be enlisted into the Defence Force. Further, persons between the ages of sixteen years and eighteen years can only be enlisted if parental consent is obtained. Previously any child below the age of eighteen years could be enlisted once parental consent was obtained; [Article 38 (3)]

The Age of Majority Act, Chap. 46:06. Section 5(5) of this Act has been repealed.Under S.5 the Court may make an order requiring either parent of a ward of Court to pay such weekly or other periodical sums towards the maintenance and education of the ward as the Court thinks reasonable. Subsection 5, which has been repealed, provided that no order could be made under S.5 at a time when the parents of the ward were residing together;

The Liquor Licences Act Chap. 84:01. Section 60 of the Act has been amended so that it is now an offence to sell intoxicating liquor to any child under the age of eighteen years. Previously intoxicating liquor could be sold to a child over sixteen years of age; (Article 33)

The Family Law (Guardianship of Minors, Domicile and Maintenance) Act, Chap.46:08. This Act has been amended as follows:

Section 16(3) provides that where a person has ceased to be a minor but has not attained the age of twenty one, the court may make an order requiring either parent to pay such periodical sums towards his maintenance as the court thinks reasonable. Section 16(4), which has now been repealed, prohibited the making of an order under subsection (3) if the parents of the person in question were residing together;

Section 19 of the Act has been amended by inserting additional criteria which the court may consider in making maintenance orders under specified sections of the Act. The new criteria introduced by the amendment are: (f) the manner in which the minor was educated or trained and the manner in which the parents expected him to be so educated or trained, and (g) the standard of living enjoyed by the family while the members of the family resided together;

Section 25(8) has been repealed and replaced with a new subsection which states that the term of an order for periodical payments or a lump sum, made by a Magistrate (upon application of either party to a marriage) under S.25 (1)(c) and (d) shall not extend beyond the death of the minor. The former S.25 (8) provided that such order should not extend beyond the death of either party to the marriage or on the remarriage of the party in whose favour it was made;

A new subsection 8A has been inserted after S.25 (8) to provide that if an order for periodical payments is made by a Magistrate under S.25 (1) and the marriage of the parties affected by the order is subsequently dissolved or annulled, the order shall cease to have effect on the remarriage of the party in whose favour it was made;

A new subsection 8B has been inserted after S.25 (8) which provides that where a Magistrate makes an order under S.25 (1) (c) for the payment to an applicant of periodic payments for the benefit of a minor, S.16 of the Act would apply, thereby allowing the Magistrate to require that such payments continue until the minor has attained the age of twenty one years.

(d)The Adoption of Children Act, No. 67 of 2000

23.This Act would repeal the existing Adoption of Children Act, Chap. 46:03. The long title of this Act states that it is an Act to make provision for the regulation of procedures governing the adoption of children and to give effect to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Act (which was passed by Parliament) will come into effect on a date to be proclaimed.

24.Section 3 establishes an Adoption Board which shall consist of a Chairman and eight other members to be appointed by the Minister. They shall include inter alia a member of the Children’s Authority; a psychologist; a professional social worker; a medical practitioner and an NGO which has as its main objective, the promotion of the welfare and protection of children.

25.Section 9 of the Act provides that no person other than the Board shall make arrangements for the adoption of a child. The Board, in making arrangements for the adoption of a child, is required by S.11 to have regard to all the circumstances and first consideration shall be given to the need to safeguard and to promote the welfare of the child.

26.So far as is practicable, the Board is also required to ascertain the wishes of the child and give due consideration to them, having regard to the age and understanding of the child. [Article 12 (2)]

27.In placing a child with adopters, the Board shall have regard to the wishes of the child’s parents or guardians as to the religious upbringing of the child. [Article 14(2)]

28.Section 14 of the Act provides that where a person has made representations to the Board to adopt a child and the Board is of the opinion that the adoption of the child by that person would not be in the best interests of the child, the Board shall notify the person accordingly and that person may appeal the decision of the Board to a Judge of the High Court. [Article 3(1)] (emphasis added)

29.Section 15(1) of the Act provides that where a person makes an application to the Board to adopt a child and the Board accepts that application, the Board shall apply to the Court for an order declaring that child available for adoption.

30.Section 18 of the Act provides that upon an application for an adoption order by any person, whether or not resident or domiciled in Trinidad and Tobago, the court may make an order authorising the applicant to adopt a child. [Article 21(b)] (emphasis added)

31.Section 33 of the Act requires the Registrar General to establish and maintain at his office a Register to be called the Adopted Children Register and every adoption order shall contain a direction to the Registrar General to make an entry recording the adoption in that Register.

(e)The Children (Amendment) Act, No. 68 of 2000

32.This Act hasamended a number of sections in the Children Act Chap. 46:01 to bring the legislation into conformity with provisions of the Convention. Some of the more notable amendments (emphasis added) are summarised below:

The definition of a child in S.2 of the Act has been amended so that a child is now defined as a person under the age of eighteen years instead of a person under the age of fourteen years, as was previously stipulated; (Article 1)

The definition of young person has been amended so that a young person means a child who is over the age of fourteen years and under the age of eighteen years. A young person was previously defined as a person between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years;

A new Section 2A has been introduced after section 2 of the Act. Section 2A (1) provides that guiding principles for parents in relation to their children are respectively contained in Parts A and B of the Second Schedule to the Act. Section 2A (2) provides that guiding principles describing the rights and responsibilities of children are respectively contained in Parts C and D of the Second Schedule to the Act; [Article 18(2)]

Section 12 has been amended in subsection (1) by providing that where a person having custody or care of a child has been convicted of an offence, the Court may order that the child or young person be committed to the care of a relative or some other fit person until he attains the age of eighteen years. Previously, a child could only be committed by the Court to a relative until he attained the age of sixteen years; [Article 9(1)] and [Article 5]

Section 18 has been amended so that where on the trial on indictment of a person for an offence of cruelty or any offence under the Schedule, the court is satisfied (by the evidence of a medical practitioner) that the attendance before the court of any child would involve serious danger to the life or physical, mental or psychological health of the child, any deposition of the child shall be admissible in evidence, if it purports to be signed by the Magistrate before whom it is taken. Previously, the section only applied in circumstances where there was danger to the life or health of the child; [Article 40(3) (b)]

Section 21 of the Act has been renumbered S.22 (1). Section 22(1) provides that nothing in this Part shall be construed to take away or affect the right of any parent, teacher or other person having the lawful control or charge of a child or young person to administer reasonable punishment to such child or young person. However, this amending Act has introduced a new S.22 (2) into the Act which provides that in respect of a teacher, reasonable punishment referred to in S.22 (1) does not include corporal punishment. By this amendment, teachers are prohibited from administering corporal punishment to school children; [Article 28(2)]

Section 24 of the Act has been amended so that it is an offence for a person to sell cigarettes to any child below the age of eighteen years. Previously only children below the age of sixteen were covered by this section. The penalties for contravention of this section have also been increased; (Article 33)

Section 61 has been amended so that a Magistrate is no longer empowered to direct the imprisonment of a youthful offender of the age of sixteen years or upwards, if he, being detained in a Rehabilitation Centre (previously called Industrial School), is found guilty of a serious and wilful breach of the rules of the school;

Section 62 has been amended by removing the power of a Magistrate to order the imprisonment for three months of a youthful offender of the age of sixteen years or upwards, who being detained in a Rehabilitation Centre, has escaped from the Centre. In lieu thereof, the Magistrate may send the offender to an Industrial Training Centre (established by the Young Offenders Detention Act, Chap.13:05) for a term of three months;

Section 78 of the Act has been amended to restrict its application to a child under the age of fourteen years. It now provides that a child under the age of fourteen shall not be sentenced to imprisonment for any offence or committed to prison in default of payment of a fine, damages or costs. By this amendment, the court is prohibited from sentencing a child below the age of fourteen years to imprisonment;

Section 83 of the Act has been amended by deleting subsections (g) and (l). Previously under this section, where a child charged with any offence was tried by any court and the court was satisfied of his or her guilt, the court was empowered inter alia (g) to order the offender to be whipped and (l) where the offender was a young person, to sentence him to imprisonment. A young person was previously defined as a person between the ages of fourteen to sixteen years. With the deletion of these subsections, a court, when trying an offender, is no longer authorised to order the whipping of a child below the age of eighteen years or to order the imprisonment of a young person between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years; [Article 40(1)]

The Act has been amended by deleting the words “school” and “certified school” wherever they occur and substituting the words “Community Residence”; by deleting the words “Industrial School” or “certified Industrial School” wherever they occur and substituting the words “Rehabilitation Centre”; by deleting the words “Orphanage” or “certified Orphanage” wherever they occur and substituting the words “Children’s Home” and by deleting the words “detention order”, “detention” and “detained” wherever they occur and substituting the words “placement order”, “placement” and “placed” respectively.

33. “Please indicate the status of the Convention in domestic law:

With respect to recognition in the Constitution or other national legislation of the rights set forth in the Convention;

With respect to the possibility for the provisions of the Convention to be directly invoked before the courts and applied by the national authorities;

In the event of a conflict with national legislation.” […]

In Trinidad and Tobago, when the Government ratifies or accedes to a human rights treaty, or any other treaty, be it regional or international, that treaty is not automatically incorporated into municipal law. A treaty becomes part of the municipal law only when it is incorporated into domestic statute (approved by Parliament) or if the terms of the treaty represent binding rules of customary international law. The Government, upon ratification or accession of a treaty, therefore has an obligation under international law to take positive action to incorporate the terms of a treaty into municipal law.

34.Normally, the text of a treaty is not incorporated verbatim by Parliament in domestic statutes. Existing domestic statutes which are in breach of a treaty are usually amended, so as to be brought into conformity with the treaty. If there is no existing domestic statute which corresponds with a provision of the treaty, new legislation is enacted to transform that provision into municipal law.

35.The Government has made a concerted effort to give effect to a number of Articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, with the enactment of the comprehensive package of legislation described in response to question 12 of the Guidelines above.

36.The status of international conventions in the domestic law of Trinidad and Tobago was explained by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Darren Roger Thomas and Anor v. Cipriani Baptiste and Others [2000] Appeal Cases 1 at page 23 B as follows:

Their Lordships recognise the constitutional importance of the principle that international conventions do not alter domestic law except to the extent that they are incorporated into domestic law by legislation. The making of a treaty, in Trinidad and Tobago as in England, is an act of the executive government, not of the legislature. It follows that the terms of a treaty cannot effect any alteration to domestic law or deprive the subject of existing legal rights unless and until enacted into domestic law by or under authority of the legislature. When so enacted, the Courts give effect to the domestic legislation, not to the terms of the treaty. The many authoritative statements to this effect are too well known to need citation. It is sometimes argued that human rights treaties form an exception to this principle. It is also sometimes argued that a principle which is intended to afford the subject constitutional protection against the exercise of executive power cannot be invoked by the executive itself to escape from obligations which it has entered into for his protection. Their Lordships mention these arguments for completeness. They do not find it necessary to examine them further in the present case.

37.The rights under the Convention are therefore only justiciable in the Courts in so far as they have been incorporated by statute into domestic law or if the Courts accept the argument that these rights represent binding rules of customary international law.

38.The Courts give effect to the domestic legislation however, not to the terms of the treaty. In deciding matters pertaining to children, the Courts are free to take judicial notice of the Convention and of the country’s international obligations under the treaty. It is only if there is a conflict with domestic legislation that the domestic legislation will prevail.

39.The 1976 Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is the supreme written law and all domestic statutes must be passed in accordance with the Constitution (with the exception of any existing law saved upon the enactment of the Constitution). While the Convention is not expressly recognised in the Constitution, Chapter 1 of the Constitution is entitled “The Recognition and Protection of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms” and contains the following section:

S. 4 . It is hereby recognised and declared that in Trinidad and Tobago there have existed and shall continue to exist without discrimination by reason of race, origin, colour, religion or sex, the following fundamental human rights and freedoms, namely:

(a)the right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law;

(b)the right of the individual to equality before the law and the protection of the law;

(c) the right of the individual to respect for his private and family life;

(d)the right of the individual to equality of treatment from any public authority in the exercise of any functions;

(e) the right to join political parties and to express political views;

(f)the right of a parent or guardian to provide a school of his own choice for the education of his child or ward;

(g) freedom of movement;

(h) freedom of conscience and religious belief and observance;

(i) freedom of thought and expression;

(j) freedom of association and assembly; and

(k)freedom of the press.

40.Referring to the Trinidad and Tobago 1976 Constitution, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the Darrin Thomas case observed at page 17 F of their judgment as follows:

Their Lordships observe that the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution (though not section 4(a) which has an English and remoter ancestry) are framed in light of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1953).

41. “Please provide information on judicial decisions applying the principles and provisions of the Convention.” […]

The State has been unable to find any examples of judgments in which reference was made to the Convention. This can no doubt be attributed to a general lack of awareness on the part of legal practitioners and judges about the Convention. There are however, many instances when the Court has regarded the welfare of the child as of paramount importance. Three examples are described below:

(i)In Debbie De Gannes v. Rene De Gannes, (Unreported H.C.A. No. 426 of 1999), a custody case involving an infant, a High Court Judge stated at page 4 of her judgment as follows:

The Court is concerned with what is in the best interest of the child and while noting the emotional difficulty experienced by the Applicant, I cannot let that difficulty obscure what is the prime concern.… Access to both parents and the security of their loving ministrations to her will redound to the emotional well‑being of the infant …

(ii)In Colin Hamilton v. Marlene Wong Hamilton, (Unreported, H.C.A. No. M-967 of 1996), a custody case involving two children, it was observed by the High Court Judge at page 2 of his judgment as follows:

In resolving this dispute, I begin with my duty under Section 3 of the Family Law (Guardianship of Minors, Domicile and Maintenance) Act, Chap.46:08 to regard the welfare of the minor as the first and paramount consideration, disregarding whether from any other point of view, the father’s claim is superior to the mother’s or vice versa …

In this case, the Judge met and considered the views of the children before arriving at his decision.

(iii)In Marguerita Abraham v. Stephen Abraham (Unreported, HCA 242 of 1998), an application for custody of three children, the High Court Judge in his judgment observed:

…When marriages break up and an application for custody of the children is made, the welfare of those children is of paramount importance and the Court will act in a manner to ensure that the future interests of the children are best served having regard to all the circumstances.

…The term “welfare” is at the cornerstone of custody applications and must be given its widest possible meaning if the interests of the children are to be properly secured and protected.

42. “Please provide information on remedies available in cases of violation of the rights recognised by the Convention.” […]

The remedies for violation of Convention rights are contained in the Constitution and other domestic statutes which give effect to provisions of the Convention.

The fundamental rights and freedoms recognised in S.4 of the Constitution are guaranteed to all individuals including children without discrimination on the basis of race, origin, colour, religion or sex (Article 2). The protectedrights include:

the right to life; (Article 6)

freedom of expression; (Article 13)

freedom of thought, conscience and religious belief and observance; (Article 14)

freedom of association and assembly; and (Article 15)

the right not to be deprived of liberty except by due process of law. [Article 37(b)].

43.Section 5 of the Constitution recognises inter alia the following rights of the individual:

to be presumed innocent until proven guilty; [Article 40(2)(b)(i)]

to be informed promptly and with sufficient particularity of the reason for his arrest and detention;

to retain and instruct without delay a legal adviser; [ Article 40(2)(b)(ii)]

to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal; [Article 40(2)(b)(iii)] and

to the assistance of an interpreter. [Article 40(2)(b)(vi)]

44.If a child’s constitutional rights as aforesaid are violated, a constitutional motion can be filed on behalf of that child against the State, in accordance Section 14 of the Constitution. These cases are heard by the High Court on a priority basis and monetary compensation is routinely awarded when there are proven violations of an individual’s constitutional rights. The law provides a right of appeal to the Court of Appeal and to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

45.The Equal Opportunity Act, No. 69 of 2000 has been enacted by Parliament and will come into force on a date to be proclaimed. The Act seeks to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of a person’s status which is defined as: the sex, the race, the ethnicity, the origin (including geographical origin), the religion, the marital status or any disability of that person. It applies to discrimination in the fields of employment, education, the provision of goods and services and the provision of accommodation. Section 30 of the Act provides that a person who alleges that some other person has discriminated against him may lodge a written complaint with the Equal Opportunity Commission to be established under the Act. The Commission may initiate proceedings with the Equal Opportunity Tribunal, if the matter cannot be resolved by conciliation. There is a right of appeal to the Court of Appeal under this Act. The Equal Opportunity Commission and Tribunal have not yet been established. A Bill to effect certain amendments to the Act has been drafted, and is being considered by the Attorney General.

46.The Children’s Authority Act, No. 64 of 2000 will come into force on a date to be proclaimed. It provides in S.5 that the Authority shall have as one of its functions and duties to:

(c) Investigate complaints of-

staff;

children; and

parents or guardians of children,

with respect to any child who is in the care of a community residence, foster home or nursery, of the community residence’s, foster home’s or nursery’s failure to comply with requisite standards as prescribed under the Children Community Residences, Foster Homes and Nurseries Act, and any incidences of mistreatment of children in such places. [Article 3(3)]

Under S. 22 of the Act, the Authority may receive a child into its care inter alia in circumstances where a child has lost or has been and remains abandoned by his parents or guardians; is exposed to moral danger; or is ill-treated or neglected in a manner likely to cause him suffering or injury to health. [Article 20(1)]

47.The Adoption of Children Act, No. 67 of 2000 was enacted to repeal and replace the Adoption of Children Act Chap. 46:03. This new Act will come into effect on a date to be proclaimed. Section 9 (2) of the new Act provides:

For the purposes of this Act, a person who takes part in the arranging of an adoption or in the management or control of a body of persons other than the Board which exists wholly or in part for the purpose of making arrangements for the adoption of children is liable on summary conviction to a fine of ten thousand dollars or to imprisonment for two years. [Article 21 (a)]

48.The Sexual Offences Act, No. 27 of 1986 (as amended) protects persons, including children from all forms of sexual abuse. [Article 19(1)] Under S.6 of the Act, it is an offence punishable with imprisonment for life for a male person to have sexual intercourse with a female person who is not his wife and who is under the age of fourteen years, whether or not the female consented to the intercourse.

49.Under S.7(1) if a male person has sexual intercourse with a female between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, he would be liable on conviction to imprisonment for twelve years for a first offence and to imprisonment for fifteen years for a subsequent offence. Section 8 provides that where a female adult has sexual intercourse with a male person who is not her husband and who is under the age of sixteen years, she is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for five years.

50.Section 9(2) of the Act provides that a person who commits the offence of incest is liable on conviction to life imprisonment, and if committed between minors fourteen years of age or more, for two years. Section 31 of the Act now provides for mandatory reporting of suspected sexual offences to the police by parents, guardians, doctors, nurses and persons having temporary custody, care or control of a minor, including teachers. This is a penal section punishable by fines and/or imprisonment.

51. “Please indicate any steps taken or envisaged to adopt a comprehensive national strategy for children in the framework of the Convention, such as a national plan of action on children’s rights and relevant goals established.” […]

Subsequent to Trinidad and Tobago’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the World Declaration for the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, an Inter‑Ministerial Committee was convened in 1992 to formulate the National Plan of Action for the Survival, Protection and Development of Children (NPA). The NPA was accepted by Cabinet in 1993. A decision was taken by Cabinet in June 1995 to formally constitute an Inter‑Ministerial Committee, with the mandate to coordinate Inter-Ministerial and NGO efforts towards this end. Based on the recommendations of the NPA Committee, in July 1997, Cabinet agreed to the reconstitution and expansion of the Committee to include participation inter alia from the NGO sector and a member of the youth. The Committee was mandated inter alia to coordinate activities of Government and NGO agencies working towards implementation of the NPA. The last meeting of that NPA Committee took place in May 2000.

52.In October 2001 the NPA Committee was revived and reconstituted for a period of two years with effect from November 30, 2001. The Committee has been renamed The National Committee to monitor implementation of the National Plan of Action for Children and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter called the NPA Committee). The terms of reference of the reconstituted NPA Committee’s are listed below (emphasis added):

(a) Review of Trinidad and Tobago’s National Report on follow up to the World Summit for Children ;

(b) Review and comment on the Final Outcome Document “A World Fit for Children” to be submitted by the Preparatory Committee for the Special Session of the General Assembly on Children;

(c) Revise Trinidad and Tobago’s National Plan of Action (NPA) in the context of the anticipated global agenda and plan of action;

(d) Facilitate and monitor implementation of the NPA as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child ;

(e) Ensure integration of the NPA and CRC with national planning and budgetary allocation processes ;

(f) Ensure that a high priority is accorded to programmes for the well-being of children in sectoral plans, programmes and policies;

(g) Facilitate the participation of children, families, communities, local government agencies, non-governmental and community based organisations, social, cultural, religious, business and media related organisations in the implementation of the NPA;

(h) Facilitate the development of mechanisms for the regular and timely collection, analysis and publication of data to monitor social indicators relating to the well ‑being of children; and

(i) Submit to the now Minister of Social Development… an Interim Report and Plan of Action with respect to a), b) and c) above.

53.Cabinet has agreed that the reconstituted Committee be comprised as follows:

Chief Technical Officer of the now Ministry of Social Development –Chairperson;

Director, National Family Services of the now Office of the Prime Minister-Deputy Chairperson;

Coordinator, National Plan of Action of the now Ministry of Social Development (who serves as Secretary to the Committee);

Director, Gender Affairs Division of the now Ministry of Community Development and Gender Affairs;

Director, Planning and Research of the now Ministry of Labour, and Small and Micro Enterprise Development;

Senior Planning Officer, Ministry of Education;

Senior Economist, Monetary Fiscal and Trade Division, Ministry of Finance;

Senior Statistician, Central Statistical Office of the now Ministry of Planning and Development;

Senior Planning Officer, Ministry of Planning and Development;

Legal Officer, Ministry of Social Development;

Policy Analyst, Ministry of Health;

A representative of the Ministry of the Attorney General;

A representative of the Ministry of National Security (Community Police Division);

A representative of the Tobago House of Assembly;

A representative of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce;

A Youth Representative;

A representative of the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition for the Rights of the Child (NGO); and

A representative of SERVOL (NGO).

54.While the NPA Committee has been established to, inter alia, monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the implementation process is still piecemeal and has not been undertaken as a collaborative programme at the national level. The new National Plan of Action for Children is currently being drafted to reflect the goals set by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session for Children which was held in 2002. A consultation process has been employed to gain the input of the widest cross section of stakeholders. Stakeholder consultations are to be followed by a national consultation in 2003. It is envisioned that with the revision of the National Plan of Action a more holistic and integrated approach to promoting the goals and objectives of the CRC will be adopted.

55. “Please provide information on existing or planned mechanisms at the national, regional and local levels for ensuring implementation of the Convention, for coordinating policies relevant to children and for monitoring progress achieved, including information on:

The governmental departments competent in the areas covered by the Convention, the steps taken to ensure the effective coordination of their activities, as well as to monitor the progress made by them;” […]

The following government departments are competent in the areas covered by the Convention:

The Ministry of Social Development

56.Within the last five years, there have been a number of title changes to this Ministry, from the Ministry of Social Development to the Ministry of Social and Community Development, to the Ministry of Community Empowerment, Sport and Consumer Affairs in 2001. Over the years, the focus of the State has been to provide, through this Ministry, non‑contributory social security benefits, probation and legal aid services, family and adoption services and substance abuse rehabilitation.

57.In 2002, the Ministry reverted to its initial title of the Ministry of Social Development with a broad mandate of social sector policy planning and research and social sector development. The main difference between the old and the new is that the delivery aspect of its mandate was removed and placed under the ambit of Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery). With this shift, the Ministry of Social Development has assumed the role of the core social sector agency charged with the formulation of Government’s overall social development objectives. As regards children, the Ministry deliverables and other programmes and projects include:

Introduction of a comprehensive programme for adolescent mothers;

Establishment of a Children’s Authority;

Development of a National Plan of Action for Children and sensitisation of the population on the Convention on the Rights of the Child;

Establishment of a Remand Home for young male offenders at Aripo;

Follow up Study to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS);

Establishment of a Probation Hostel for young males at Centeno;

Development of a plan for addressing child poverty; and

Development in collaboration with the Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery) of a Central Registry for monitoring the status of Children in Need of Special Protection (CNSP Project).

58.It is envisaged that the new organisational structure of the Ministry will include a Social Investigations Division, a Policy and Programme Planning and Development Division, and a Monitoring and Evaluation Division among others. The Policy and Programme Planning Development Division will have overall responsibility for policy development in the social sector. One of the functions of this Division will be to monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery)

59.The delivery of social services has been placed under the ambit of Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery). Prior to 2002, the Ministry of Social Development was responsible for social services delivery. The following Divisions/Programmes fall under (Social Services Delivery):

National Family Services Division. This Division was established in 1991 in Trinidad and in 1995 in Tobago. The Division operates under the Division of Health and Social Services in Tobago. The authorised roles and functions of the Division are as follows:

Collects national information and data reflecting the present situation of families; prepares profiles of families and identifies family related issues and problems;

Maintains effective communication with national bodies and organisations concerned with family related issues such as the Police Juvenile Bureau and Counselling Centres;

Encourages incorporation of family programmes into national development strategies as integral and effective components;

Examines and monitors the care and safety of children housed at Government institutions (e.g. Industrial Schools and Orphanages) and at homes managed by private persons and organisations;

Counsels and makes referrals to various agencies and members of the public on request.

60.Since its establishment, the actual work done by the National Family Services Division has been as follows:

Providing counselling services to individuals, groups, families and communities on issues relating to family functioning‑abuse: including child and other abuse, domestic violence, rape, buggery; interpersonal relationship problems including conflict and anger management, self esteem, human sexuality and communication. Especially since the enactment of the new domestic violence legislation, survivors of domestic violence are routinely referred to the Division by the Court for counselling;

Monitoring groups and homes in communities that offer protection to children in need;

Coordinating and conducting public education programmes including distribution of booklets and pamphlets, training workshops for managers and caregivers of various types of community homes, seminars and lectures to groups and organisations on topics re: promoting and sustaining healthy family functioning, including human rights, sexuality and abuse, with priority on child abuse;

Assessing/evaluating organisations re: subventions to non governmental agencies that cater to different groups of vulnerable persons, with priority on children;

Conducting investigations, evaluations, making recommendations and doing follow‑up for regional and International Agencies with respect to the care of children of Trinidad and Tobago, who are in “at risk” situations revolving around migration;

Recommending grants for training courses to children affected by violence‑to equip them with skills for their future employment e.g. in the areas of computer and basic literacy, welding and hair dressing;

Foster Care Unit. This also falls under the portfolio of the National Family Services Division. A pilot project for formal fostering of children in Trinidad and Tobago was approved by Cabinet in 1994. However, numerous administrative and legislative issues constrained against placement until 2000. A system of voluntary placement, approved in 1999 has facilitated the formal fostering of 27 children, although more than 150 requests were received. At this time, further Cabinet approval is pending.

Social Welfare Division

61.This Division provides grants of Old Age Pension, Public Assistance and Urgent Temporary Assistance. Old Age Pension: Although targeted at elderly persons 65 years or older who qualify, children in the care of elderly persons benefit indirectly from this social scheme. Since 1995, the Old Age pension has increased progressively. In 1997 it was raised from TT$356 to $420 per month. In 1998, it was raised to $520. In 1999, it was raised to $620. In 2000, it was raised to $720. The Government has agreed to a further increase in the Old Age Pension from $800 per month to $1,000 per month with effect from 1 January 2002. Public Assistance provides assistance to necessitous children where the head of the household is dead, living in an institution, has deserted the family and cannot be found or is not supporting in accordance with a court order.

Adoption Case/Work Section

62.Adoption requests are processed by the Adoption Board. The Board is responsible for screening persons who wish to give up their children for adoption. Pregnant women who wish to place their children up for adoption can approach any of the Adoption Board Offices for assistance.

Industrial Schools and Orphanages

63.Two certified Industrial Schools (St. Michael’s and St. Jude’s) and two certified Orphanages (St. Dominic’s and St. Mary’s) are completely funded by Government through the Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery). Access to children’s Homes is assigned by the courts. Persons who wish to have their children admitted to these Homes must see a Justice of the Peace who will arrange an appointment for the matter at the Magistrate Court in their district. The Court will decide whether or not to recommend admittance to one of the Homes. Industrial Schools are correctional institutions. The Courts assign admittance to these Schools. However, children can be placed in smaller children’s Homes without a court order.

Probation Department

64.The Probation Department makes available to the Courts the services of probation officers. There are legal obligations assigned to the Department under various domestic statutes. The main thrust of probation work is the supervision of offenders released on probation in lieu of a custodial sentence. Probation Officers are expected to make visits to homes, schools and places of employment as part of their supervision plan. The Department also prepares pre‑sentence reports which offer magistrates and judges a critical analysis of the offender’s circumstances, the risk of re‑offending and the steps which might be taken to lessen that risk. The Department also offers counselling for domestic violence, for juvenile delinquency and child abuse cases among others. The Court also requests social enquiry reports from the Department on matters before the Court. The Department also prepares reports on child abuse referrals, child custody matters, orphanage releases and mercy committee reports on condemned prisoners, among others.

Disability Affairs Unit

65.This Unit was formally established in August 1999 to serve as a resource and referral centre for persons with disabilities. It is a resource centre for documentation, materials and information pertaining to disability matters. It provides technical support and referral services for persons with disabilities, their families and interested persons. It networks with NGOs, the media and research offices to collect information on persons with disabilities. It also increases sensitisation and public awareness of the disabled. The Unit is about to embark on an intensive research agenda which would serve to guide the review of the National Policy on Persons with Disabilities and to inform programming in the area of disability.

The National Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Programme (NADAPP)

66.This programme facilitates the provision of information on drug abuse and alcohol prevention to schools, groups, organisations and members of the public. This is conducted via the setting up of displays, booths, brochures and pamphlets. NADAPP provides motivational lectures to schools and organisations on drug abuse and alcohol prevention. These lectures are provided on request and are conducted at the school or business organisation. NADAPP provides assistance and technical advice about treatment and rehabilitation for drugs and alcohol abuse to NGOs involved in these activities.

Change Management Unit for Poverty Eradication and Equity Building (CMU/PEEB)

67.Although not specific to children, the roles of this Unit (which was established in 1997) are: i) To bring about improved coordination and collaboration in the design and implementation of anti‑poverty initiatives across Ministries, sectors and agencies. ii) To ensure that all stakeholders including the poor themselves are full participants in the process of development and iii) To facilitate the formulation of a national poverty reduction framework which would underpin the above. The CMU has been identified as the implementing agency responsible for the European Commission sponsored Poverty Reduction Programme. An innovative and successful programme of this Unit has been the ‘Adopt a Community’ Programme which was launched in May 1998. The main strategy is the creation of a partnership between business organisations and poor communities to improve the quality of life and facilitate the sustainable development of these communities. As at the end of 2001 some 25 communities had benefited from corporate sponsorship in the areas of education and training, income generation programmes, social development, sport, culture and infrastructure.

Social Help and Rehabilitative Efforts (SHARE) Programme

68.This programme offers temporary emergency relief to poor and needy persons, through the distribution of food hampers (with a system of referral relevant to Government Ministries/Agencies that provide social rehabilitation programmes). Food hampers are distributed to household representatives between the ages of 18 and 65 years of age on a (six month) rotational basis. In 2002, the value of the hamper was increased from TT$150 to TT$200. The programme involves a rehabilitative component and is conducted in collaboration with a network of one hundred and twenty‑nine NGOs throughout the country. As at August 2001, eighty one hundred families benefited from the programme.

Relief Centres Programme

69.This programme provides hot meals to destitute persons at three Centres in Port of Spain. Approximately 22,000 hot meals are distributed to walk in clients on a monthly basis and a training component has been added to achieve Government’s thrust towards empowerment and sustainable development.

The Ministry of Education

70.The School Supervision Division contains the following Units:

Early Childhood Care and Education Unit: with overall responsibility for the provision and management of early childhood care and education;

Special Education Unit: responsible for the provision, organisation and management of special education;

Guidance Unit: with overall responsibility for the provision of guidance and counselling services within the school system.

The Curriculum Development Division

71.This Division is responsible for the design, development, implementation and evaluation of the curriculum for primary and secondary schools.

The Educational Services Division

72.This Division is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the operations of the following Units, among others:

The School Broadcasting Unit: which develops and delivers radio programmes in support of the school curriculum at the various levels;

The Publications Unit: which is responsible for publishing and printing educational and other material for dissemination to schools throughout the country.

The Division of Educational Research and Evaluation

73.This Division is responsible inter alia for developing and managing a system for the continuous assessment of the performance of students at all levels of the education system.

Technical and Vocational Education and Training Division

74.This Division is responsible for the provision and administration of all vocational education and training programmes in secondary schools. It inter alia monitors and supervises the implementation of technical and vocational education and training curriculum in schools, technical institutes, vocational centres and technical teacher education establishments.

Secondary Education Modernisation Programme Coordination Unit (SEMPCU)

75.The Unit is responsible for the management and implementation of projects under the Ministry of Education, the Inter American Development Bank and Secondary Education Modernisation Programme (SEMP). The duration of the programme is scheduled for seven years 1998‑2006.

The Education Project Co‑ordinating Unit (EPCU)

76.The Unit is responsible for the management of all activities connected with implementation of the Ministry of Education/International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) Fourth Basic Education Programme. The programme promotes school and community participation in the preparation, implementation and management of primary school improvement plans preparation, and encourages the increased involvement of principals, teachers, students, parents and other groups in sub‑projects designed to improve the schools in their communities.

The Ministry of Health

National AIDS Programme‑Reduction of Mother to Child Transmission Programme

77.This programme includes voluntary counselling and testing; anti‑retroviral therapy for HIV positive mothers; and anti‑retroviral treatment for newborn infants of HIV positive mothers. There is a Rap Port Youth Information and Counselling Centre located in Port of Spain. Emphasis is now being placed on the adolescent as regards service delivery.

Breast Feeding Programmes

78.These Programmes which have a major educational component are implemented through a National Committee, regional committees and various NGOs. The Sangre Grande Hospital recently achieved the status of a baby‑friendly hospital by UNICEF. Work is currently being undertaken in the other major hospitals with the objective of achieving the same status.

School Inspection

79.Inspections are done by a multi‑disciplinary health team. Emphasis is placed on the environment and on the personal hygiene of children. The teams concentrate (to a greater extent) on beginners and school leavers. School leavers are checked for STDs and drug use. The Public Health Inspectorate monitors the quality and food safety practices of the School Nutrition Programme. Water and chlorine content are also frequently monitored at all schools.

Vision Screening

80.The Eastern Regional Health Authority has accomplished total ‘vision and hearing’ screening in all schools in that region. However to date, the other Regional Health Authorities have only managed to accomplish this level of effort with the school beginners and leavers in their respective regions.

Expanded Immunisation Programme

81.Over 90 per cent coverage has been achieved to date. However, there have been no known cases of: polio since 1972; measles since 1991; rubella since 1999; and neonatal tetanus since 1997.

Nutrition and Metabolism

82.There is a system of surveillance which involves indicators in pregnancy. There are ‘well baby’ clinics in all hospitals and health centres which monitor inter alia the growth of infants between the ages of 0‑4 years. There are also established milk‑feeding programmes conducted by multidisciplinary teams. The data is collected to track trends in growth development, which would identify young children in need of milk supplements. Attempts are made by the State to meet the needs of such children. Special emphasis is placed on meeting the needs of children born to HIV positive parents as well as HIV positive children. The Ministry conducts (and is expected to conduct) surveys to access anthropometrics indices among primary school students. The last such survey was done in 1999 and included social and economic indices. A national survey is currently being conducted in secondary schools to evaluate the nutritional status of these students.

Maternal and Child Care

83.More than 90 per cent of the antenatal cases are seen at public institutions. Neo natal services are provided at the General Hospital, Port of Spain and the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex. There is also a new Paediatric Hospital at the Complex.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Information

84.Government Information Services is mandated inter alia to provide an enhanced public education facility. It comprises:

A Television Unit. This Unit produces television programmes and documentaries on national, social and cultural issues and provides coverage of Government activities;

A Radio Unit. The Radio Unit informs the public about Government’s activities, projects and policies and broadcasts features relating to national and international events. Its radio programmes are distributed to radio stations on a daily basis;

A Print and Photographic Unit;

A Research and Library Unit. This Unit is the repository for collected information and a source for reference material. It serves the needs of the Division, government agencies and members of the public. The Research arm of this Unit is responsible for producing magazines and other publications, pamphlets and leaflets, brochures, posters etc. of national interest to the public.

The Ministry of Community Development and Gender Affairs

85.The Gender Affairs Division provides:

Community Based Drop ‑In Information and Support Centres. There are nineteen (19) drop in centres in communities throughout Trinidad. This service offers victims the opportunity to discuss domestic violence matters with trained social workers/counsellors. At these centres, members of public can also access assistance including counselling and information on rape, sexual assault and family disputes within communities;

Male Support Programme. A Male Support Committee which was established in 2000 solicited male support in addressing issues of domestic violence, in re‑socialising men and boys, as well as in offering support to vulnerable men in society. The Committee evolved into a Male Support Programme headed by a male coordinator who operates out of the Gender Affairs Division. In January 2000, the Male Support Programme conducted gender‑based training with first form students in selected schools;

Domestic Violence Emergency Hotline. Help can also be accessed through this 24‑hour per day toll free hotline operated by the Unit (800‑SAVE) which is funded by the Government. The line is operated by a supervisor/counsellor and eight active listeners. This service networks with all social service agencies and the police. Counselling is given on request and accommodation arranged at safe houses, if deemed necessary;

National Youth Outreach Caravan. This re‑socialisation programme was embarked upon in seven primary schools in the year 2000 by the Gender Affairs Division. The programme was carried out in twelve primary schools in 2001. It seeks to investigate gender relations among young students about to enter secondary schools and uses theatre and drama techniques to enlighten students about non‑violent conflict resolution and alternative means of communication. The programme was not undertaken in 2002;

Public Awareness. The Division conducts public awareness programmes (which specifically target women and children) by the use of lectures, seminars/workshops, posters, brochures, booklets, newspaper supplements and art competitions.

The Community Development Division

86.The Division works closely with community‑based organisations, which are local groups with bases of operation in villages or regional communities. The Division provides:

Geriatric Adolescent Partnership Programme. This programme provides training to young persons between the ages of 17 to 25 (for three months) in geriatric skills at basic level. Advanced training is conducted for graduates of the basic level training. This programme provides a placement agency through which caregivers can be accessed to care for the elderly or the incapacitated elderly persons in private homes or institutions;

Community Development Division ‑Best Village Programme Development. This service provides for the implementation of the Best Village cultural programme (through which communities participate in a number of activities such as dance, drama and food presentation). These events are organised at the community level. Community Development Officers assist communities in organising their members to participate in these activities;

Community Education. The Division promotes non‑formal education to complement the activities of the formal education system managed by the Ministry of Education. The underlying objective of the Community Education Programme is to expose citizens to training, skills development activities and information to enhance their life chances. The Programme consists of four components including the Domestic Support Projects; Entrepreneurial Development Projects, Leadership and Management Training Courses and the Community Awareness and Sensitisation Project;

Community Development Building Programme. The Community Development Division constructs, maintains and refurbishes community centres. The centres (which are managed by the village council) are public venues designed to encourage communities to plan, organise and implement programmes for improving the quality of life of citizens. Programmes include: group and community meetings; seminars and conferences; educational activities (such as lectures on parenting); multiculturalism and civil responsibility; management and leadership training; health care programmes (aimed at preventing the onset of lifestyle diseases and improving the management of health related problems); indoor sports and recreational activities; vocational and handicraft training programmes; and homework assistance classes.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism

87.The Culture Division provides the following programmes for children:

Open School for the Arts Programme. This programme provides courses in visual arts (i.e. painting drawing, sculpture), wire bending, pan sinking, pan blending, songwriting, drama, dance, and music literacy. Young persons between the ages of twelve to twenty years participate in this programme;

“Bring Art and Come Project”. Young amateur artists are invited to bring out their art for advice and evaluation by a local professional artist. Young persons between the ages of 12‑20 participate in this programme;

Cultural Immersion Programme. The cultural heritage of Trinidad and Tobago is brought to both primary and secondary schools by the cultural experts in the Division of Culture. Children are exposed to the cultural heritage of Trinidad and Tobago including the Carnival Arts, Dance, Drama and Music (for instruments such as the sitar, pan, and drums including the tabla and African Drums). Children are encouraged to experiment in the various art forms and to explore their artistic talents.

The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs

88.The Youth Affairs Division provides:

Youth Services. This programme includes: youth group support; leadership development for group leaders and youth workers; skills training for young people in vocational skills; and entrepreneurship development activities;

Youth Group Leadership Training and Capacity Building. This programme helps young leaders acquire skills to enhance group performance;

Youth Community Projects/Community Service Programme. Young persons concerned about social issues can visit a district office and get information on how to develop a community project;

Youth Health/Information and Training. Information and training are provided on STDs, HIV/AIDS, drugs and other health related issues affecting youth;

Youth Exchange Programmes. This programme facilitates young persons interested in meeting people in Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean and internationally;

Youth Resource and Information Centre. Information is provided on careers, education and training, health, community issues, volunteering, parenting, the environment, leisure and the specially challenged;

Youth Development and Apprenticeship Centres/Youth Facilities and Trade Centres. These centres offer a variety of training programmes (residential and non residential; full time and part time) for young men and women between the ages of 15 to 25. Participants are offered Level I Craft Training;

Youth Placement Centres. Graduates of the Apprenticeship Centres, Trade Centres and Youth Facilities can benefit from placement services for young persons aged 17‑25 years. Placement officers liaise with the private and public sector to get information on employment opportunities;

Youth Development/Annual Special Programmes. These include: International Youth Day held in August; model CARICOM Programme held in July; Model United Nations Programme held in October and Recreational Vacation Camp held in July/August. These programmes are offered to school children between the ages of 13‑18 years old, youth groups and organisations. Model CARICOM is held every other year alternating with the Model United Nations Programme.

The Ministry of Legal Affairs

Legal Aid and Advisory Authority

89.Legal aid is provided to persons who are eligible under the Legal Aid and Advice Act. Matters for which legal aid is available include proceedings for and in relation to an application under the Status of Children Act 1981, the Family Law (Guardianship of Minors Domicile and Maintenance) Act 1981, the Domestic Violence Act 1999 and the Attachment of Maintenance Act, 1988. All persons below 18 years of age are treated as children.

The Ministry of National Security

Cadet Force Division

90.Youths age 12‑19 are recruited through the school system. The child’s parents and the school’s principal must give their consent for students to become cadets.

Youth Training Centre

91.Young male persons between the ages of sixteen years and eighteen years who have been convicted of an offence other than murder, which is punishable by a term of imprisonment in the case of an adult, may be sent to the Youth Training Centre (Y.T.C.), which is under the control of the Commissioner of Prisons. In December 2002, there were 218 inmates in YTC ranging from 14 to 22 years. Of this amount, 175 were convicted and 43 were remanded. Young persons at the Y.T.C. do not have any contact with adult offenders. The aims and objectives of the Institution are, inter alia, to provide secure custody and physical care, to foster mature development, to minimise the detrimental effects of being incarcerated and to provide constructive and satisfying activities, including academic instruction and technical training.

The Tobago House of Assembly

92.In Tobago, the Division of Health and Social Services of the Tobago House of Assembly is vested with overall responsibility for protecting the social welfare of children. This Division provides counselling and care for children through its Family Services Unit and protects children under the law through its Probation Unit. The Division of Health and Social Services also provides financial assistance through subventions to non‑governmental organisations and grants to necessitous patients to assist in the provision of services to children. The Division of Education is responsible for the provision of basic education in Tobago. The Gender Affairs Unit provides gender mainstreaming, gender socialisation and provides protection for women and children through the Domestic Violence Unit, the Domestic Violence hotline and drop‑in counselling centres. The Division of Health and Social Services is also vested with the responsibility for the provision of, inter alia health care to children.

(a)The steps taken to ensure effective coordination of activities between central, regional and local authorities

93.Trinidad and Tobago is a small island state with a highly centralised system of governance. The responsibility for ensuring implementation of the Convention, coordinating policies and activities relevant to children and monitoring progress achieved lies with the relevant Ministries of Central Government including Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery), Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education. Strategic planning and coordination of activities generally take place within the confines of the respective Ministries.

94.The National Plan of Action Committee (described in response to question 17 of the Guidelines) is responsible for ensuring effective coordination of activities among Ministries and NGOs concerned with the progressive realisation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Representatives of key Ministries are members of the Committee. In addition to the NPA, in 2002 Cabinet appointed a “Social Sector Coordinating Committee” which is chaired by the Prime Minister. The Committee comprises the Permanent Secretaries of the Social Sector Ministries. The Committee’s mandate is to examine all the programmes across the social sector Ministries with a view to eliminating duplication of programmes and strengthening their efficacy. The Committee includes representation from inter alia the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, the Ministry of Social Development, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Community Development and Gender Affairs as well as the Ministry of National Security.

(b)Any governmental institutions created to promote the rights of the child and monitor implementation, and how they relate to non‑governmental organisations

95.Upon establishment, the Children’s Authority (described in response to question 12 of the guidelines) will have such a role. The Authority will be a body corporate, the functions of which are set out in S. 5 of the Children’s Authority Act, No. 64 of 2000.

96.Section 5 provides:

5.The Authority may have and exercise such powers, functions and duties as are imposed on it by this Act and in particular‑

(a) advise the Minister on matters relating to the operation of this Act;

(b) monitor community residences, foster homes and nurseries and conduct periodic reviews to determine their compliance with such requirements as may be prescribed;

(c) investigate complaints of ‑

(i)staff;

(ii)children; and

(iii)parents or guardians of children,

with respect to any child who is in the care of a community residence, foster home or nursery, of the community residence’s foster home’s or nursery’s failure to comply with requisite standards as prescribed under the Children Community Residences, Foster Homes and Nurseries Act, and any incidences of mistreatment of children in such places;

(d) issue, revoke and withdraw licences of community residences and nurseries as provided under the Children Residences, Foster Care and Nurseries Act;

(e) monitor agencies which address children’s issues;

(f) investigate complaints or reports of mistreatment of children in their homes;

(g) act as an advocate for the rights of all children in Trinidad and Tobago; and

(h) do all such things as may be necessary or expedient for the proper performance of its duties.

97.According to S. 7 of the Act, the Authority shall be managed by a Board of Management which will be in charge of the administration of the Act. The Board shall consist of eleven persons, namely: a child psychologist; a child psychiatrist; a qualified social worker; a public health specialist; an educator; an accountant; an attorney at law; a person under the age of twenty‑five years representing the youth; a person nominated by the Tobago House of Assembly; a police officer who has experience in children issues and a representative of an NGO which has as its objectives the promotion of the welfare and protection of children.

98.The Ministry of Social Development is in the process of taking steps to have members of the Board of Management of the Authority appointed in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

99.At the present time, the Authority has not yet been operationalised in any way and it is expected that the operations of the Authority will become the responsibility of the Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery).

100.While there is no definite time frame for the establishment of the Children’s Authority, budgetary allocations have been made for it in 2003/2004 fiscal year. However, accommodation and other physical arrangements for the Authority still need to be finalised.

101.Section 5 A(1) of the Act provides that the Children’s Authority shall be the Central Authority for the purposes of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

102.The National Family Services Division of the Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery) is serving as the interim Central Authority for the purposes of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction until the establishment of the Children’s Authority.

(c)Any independent body established to promote and protect the rights of the child, such an Ombudsperson or a Commissioner

103.Part II of Chapter 6 of the 1976 Constitution establishes the Office of the Ombudsman in Trinidad and Tobago. Section 93 of the Constitution provides that the principal function of the Ombudsman shall be to investigate any decision or recommendation made, including any advice given or recommendation made to a Minister, or any act done or omitted by any department of Government. The Ombudsman Act, Chap. 2:52 makes provision for giving effect to Part II of Chapter 6 of the Constitution. The Ombudsman has a role with regard to children. For example, children who are detained at the Youth Training Centre which is run by the Prisons Division can send their written complaints to the Ombudsman who is empowered to investigate any violation of the rights of these children.

104.Some NGOs have expressed the view that there is a need for the appointment of an Ombudsman to specifically promote and protect the rights of the child. It should be mentioned however, that the Children’s Authority to be established will serve to register and investigate all complaints from and on behalf of children concerning violations of their rights under the law, primarily with respect to all forms of abuse.

(d)The measures taken to ensure the systematic gathering of data on children and their fundamental rights and to assess existing trends at the national, regional and local levels, as well as the steps taken to develop mechanisms for the identification and gathering of appropriate indicators, statistics, relevant research and other relevant information as a basis for policy‑making in the field of children’s rights

105.It was stated in paragraph 14 of the Initial Report under the Convention that no mechanisms existed for the continuous collection of statistical and other data to inform policy formulation. Related information was also provided in response to question 4 of the issues raised by the pre‑sessional working group with regard to the initial report.

106.The Central Statistical Office (which operates under the Ministry of Ministry of Planning and Development) is responsible for collecting and collating most of Government’s statistical data. Data on the situation of children is collected through traditional means such as the National Census (which is conducted every ten years) and the Survey of Living Conditions (which is conducted every five years). Data from the 1997/1998 Survey of Living Conditions is still being analysed and the report has not yet been published. Data from the 2000 National Census is also not yet available. One NGO has highlighted an urgent need for legislation governing the operations of the Central Statistical Office to be updated and for the Office to be provided with adequate funding and staffing.

107.Over the reporting period, the Government has taken the initiative to improve data collection with a view to informing policy decisions. The Government in the process of establishing two databases with respect to children, namely: the Child Indicator Monitoring System (CIMS) and the “Children in Need of Special Protection” (CNSP) Monitoring System.

The Child Indicator Monitoring System

108.The Central Statistical Office with technical and financial assistance from UNICEF embarked on a Child Indicator Monitoring System (CIMS) project in November 1999. The objective of CIMS is to provide comprehensive data and indicators for enabling the continuous assessment and review of the situation of children, from birth through their developmental stages, and enabling the updating of the National Plan of Action goals. While this project does not specifically address the areas covered by the Convention, it does seek to collect and analyse data on the goals of the 1990 World Summit for Children.

109.The basic areas of focus are:

Health;

Education;

Access to amenities;

Fulfilment of Basic Needs Requirement;

Disability;

Home Environment;

Living Standards;

Social Conditions;

Adult Literacy;

Early Childhood Development; and

Adolescence and Youth.

110.The project is being undertaken in different phases. In phase one, a consultant was engaged to conduct a capacity assessment of Government Ministries, Departments and Specialised Units responsible for the care and protection of children, and other non‑governmental and private organisations which also provide service, in order to determine the following:

The extent of existing data generation capacity and the nature of existing data gathering activities in relation to the CIMS;

Adequacy of data being produced, for the generation of indicators;

Ways of achieving improvement and efficiency through training;

Ways of sustaining activity for the servicing of the CIMS;

Identification of the need for capacity building and the training of personnel to operate and maintain the enhanced data systems; and

Reasons for the deficiencies in the existing systems that will need to be addressed.

111.In April 2002, the Central Statistical Office and UNICEF held a Workshop to present the findings of the consultant on the assessment phase of the CIMS project and to consider recommendations for proceeding to Phase II‑Planning and Implementation. The summary report of Phase I of CIMS concluded inter alia as follows:

Almost all of the data required for producing the indicators are generated in some form but, if the CIMS is to be serviced in the manner required, considerable work has to be done in harmonising existing systems and procedures, and eliminating overlaps in both data collection efforts and in the generation of statistics of the same nature.

112.Some of the activities in Phase II of the project include:

The recruitment of a consultant and system analyst/programmer;

To review of the system of indicators in Phase I;

To ascertain the training needs of the human resources;

To review, design and test existing databases;

To modify data collection instruments;

To design and test data flow system cycle; and

To prepare a report, including the data collected on the indicators.

113.Work is currently being done to ensure that all the necessary requirements for the activities in Phase II are met. This is to ensure the success of the CIMS project.

The CNSP Project

114.The now Ministry of Social Development has also finalised a proposal for undertaking, in collaboration with UNICEF, a project entitled “Children in Need of Special Protection (CNSP) Monitoring System”. The system involves the establishment of a computerised database to monitor in the first instance, the status of children in especially difficult circumstances. In its initial stages, the CNSP will collect and analyse data on four categories of children: abused and neglected children, institutionalised children, children with disabilities and children in conflict with the law. Data will be collected from Government agencies as well as from NGOs who already collect data on children living in especially difficult circumstances. The data from this project will serve to inform Government on policy development and the strategies to use in dealing with these issues. It will also serve to guide advocacy and public education activities.

115.The implementation of this project has been hindered by an inadequate budget and the unavailability of staff in the executing agency. The executing agency is the National Family Services Division of the Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery). The Ministry of Social Development has engaged in preliminary project activities (such as an assessment of the data collection capability of the agencies that will be participating in the project and the selection of a research programmer and a systems analyst).

116.Allocations were made for this project in the 2003/2004 National Budget and the Ministry of Social Development is awaiting the re‑release of UNICEF funding, following the close of the organisation’s financial year in November 2002.

Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey

117.The 2000 Trinidad and Tobago Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) is a nationally representative survey of households, women and children. The three primary objectives of the Trinidad and Tobago MICS are as follows:

To provide up‑to‑date and reliable information for assessing the situation of children and women in Trinidad and Tobago at the end of the decade and for looking forward to the next decade;

To furnish data needed for monitoring progress towards goals established at the World Summit for Children and as a basis for future action;

To contribute to the improvement of data and monitoring systems in Trinidad and Tobago and to strengthen technical expertise in the design, implementation and analysis of such systems; and

To establish an adequate baseline to be used as a reference for future child indicator monitoring.

118.The Trinidad and Tobago MICS was commissioned to cover a nationally representative sample of 4,500 households. The Central Statistical Office in collaboration with the now Ministry of Social Development conducted the Trinidad and Tobago MICS. The Central Statistical Office designated a senior official as the Technical Coordinator of MICS. The technical co‑coordinator was guided and supported by a Technical Committee which provided technical expertise in the planning and implementation of the Trinidad and Tobago MICS. The Technical Committee comprised representatives of the Ministries of Health and Education, the Central Statistical Office and the University of the West Indies. The Ministry of Social Development was also represented on the MICS Technical Committee. UNICEF provided the services of a demographer and a social policy consultant. The UNICEF Regional Office in Barbados and the UNDP provided technical support and funding for the entire exercise.

119.The Ministry of Finance has been mandated by Cabinet to provide funding for the implementation of the MICS final report (in the 2003/2004 budget). The projects emanating from the recommendations of the MICS report are related mainly to health and education. The results of the survey are set out in the pertinent sections of this report.

The 1997 Situational Analysis of Children and their Families

120.The study was commissioned by UNICEF, on behalf of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, for the purpose of informing programme planning for these vulnerable groups. The study was completed and addressed the broad areas identified by the 1990 World Summit for Children: Survival, Protection and Development of children. The findings were presented to key stakeholders at a Round Table Discussion to facilitate inputs and queries.

121.The document has not yet been finalised or formally launched since the Ministry of Education had a number of concerns that had to be addressed before the body of work could be published and made available to the Government and other stakeholders.

The Survey into the Nature and Extent of Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Sale of Children in Trinidad and Tobago

122.In 1996‑1997, Government commissioned an exploratory study “Survey into the Nature and Extent of Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Sale of Children in Trinidad and Tobago”. The study identified economic hardship and adverse social and domestic circumstances as the contributing factors for the involvement of persons under the age of eighteen years in commercial sexual activity. The survey findings indicated that there was no evidence of the sale of children.

123.In response to these findings, the Government devised a programme of action that includes the following measures:

The conduct of public awareness programmes on the existence of commercial sexual exploitation in Trinidad and Tobago (in the context of a human rights issue);

The stipulation that advertisements in the tourism industry should not in any way suggest Trinidad and Tobago is a destination for sex tourism;

The sensitisation of law enforcement agencies to the seriousness of the phenomena addressed by the survey as criminal activities and accordingly, the imposition of stiffer penalties for these offences; and

More in‑depth and expansive research into commercial sexual exploitation of children and the institution of systematic data collection and analysis systems to inform programme formulation in these areas.

Report on Commercial Sexual Exploitation

124.A country report on commercial sexual exploitation was prepared by the then Ministry of Community Empowerment, Sport and Consumer Affairs for submission to the Regional Governments Consultation scheduled to take place in Uruguay from November 7th to 9th 2001.

(e)The steps taken to ensure a periodic evaluation of progress in the implementation of the Convention at the national, regional and local levels, and where appropriate at the federal and provincial levels, including through the preparation of any periodic report by the Government to the Parliament

125.In April 1997, the Government in collaboration with UNICEF hosted a sensitisation workshop entitled “Toward a Collaborative Programme of Action for Children in Trinidad and Tobago” with a view to evaluating the progress made in the implementation of the Convention. The workshop targeted Government Ministries, NGOs, educational institutions and the youth. The session was conducted to disseminate information about the National Plan of Action for children and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as:

To examine the specific action being undertaken by NGOs and other groups to meet the goals outlined in the NPA and the CRC;

To examine the vision of agencies involved in the delivery of like services to facilitate greater collaboration and networking among these organisations; and

To develop a joint programme of action from which projects could be developed.

126.One of the mandates of the “National Committee to monitor implementation of the National Plan of Action for Children and the Convention on the Rights of the Child” is to ensure periodic evaluation of progress in the implementation of the Convention.

127.As a signatory to the Declaration for the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, Trinidad and Tobago has actively participated in Regional Ministerial Meetings on Children and Social Policy during the 1990s, culminating with the fifth meeting in October 2000. Periodic reviews on the attainment of the World Summit Goals have been facilitated through preparation of reports for the biennial Ministerial Meetings on Children and Social Policy in the Americas (1996, 1998, 2000) and the preparation of in June 2001 of the National Report on Follow‑up to the World Summit for Children.

The Ministry of Health

128.The Ministry of Health’s data collection system is structured to collect data based on local demographics and internationally tested WHO health indicators. The Ministry’s data collection network comprises the Health Policy and Planning Unit, County Medical Officers of Health Offices and Medical Records departments. As part of the Ministry’s Health Sector Reform initiative, a new Health Information/Technology System is being created to improve data quality, storage and retrieval.

129. “Please indicate any initiatives taken in cooperation with the civil society (for example, professional groups, non ‑governmental organisations) and any mechanisms developed to evaluate progress achieved.” […]

The Government through the National Family Services Division of (Social Services Delivery) Office of the Prime Minister provides subventions to organisations that work towards the

protection, survival and development of the child. Government funds 55 per cent  of the costs of large organisations, which provide homes for children, and 60 per cent  of the costs of smaller organisations. The following is a list of the Children’s Homes in receipt of Government subventions under Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery):

Islamic Home for Children;

Ferndean’s Place Children’s Home;

The Shelter for Women and Children;

National Home for Family Reconciliation;

Hope Centre;

Child Welfare League of Trinidad and Tobago;

Jayalakshmi Children’s Home;

Business and Professional Women’s Club Halfway House for Battered Women and Children;

Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA);

Ark of the Covenant Home for Distressed Children;

The Cyril Ross Nursery (for children living with HIV/AIDS); and

Social Establishment for the Welfare of All (SEWA).

130.The Government through the Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery) funds two projects which address the problem of street children, the Credo Drop‑in Centre for Socially Displaced Children (at Nelson Street) and the Credo Aylward House (at Gonzales). The latter is a transitional facility for homeless boys. The Centre at Nelson St. was formally opened in 1997 but Credo Foundation, an NGO, had been providing similar services since 1994 at another location. The Centre caters for homeless children under the age of fifteen years and provides counselling, remedial education, primary medical care, change of clothing and three meals per day. With financial assistance from the Government an additional wing was added in 1998 to cater for short‑term emergency residential accommodation for the children. At any given time there are some twenty children at the Centre, primarily boys. In 2001, the transitional facility was officially opened. Credo with Government funding is also in the process of establishing a programme for girls.

131.The now Ministry of Social Development has also celebrated Child Rights Month for the period 1999‑2002 in collaboration with NGOs, CBOs, the media and other Ministries of Government. The Trinidad and Tobago Coalition for the Rights of the Child in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Development, the Office of the Prime Minister, and the Young Men’s Christian Association have actively participated in the events organised during Child Rights Month as detailed later in the Report.

132. “Using indicators or target figures where necessary, please indicate the measures undertaken to ensure the implementation at the national, regional and local levels, of the economic, social and cultural rights of children to the maximum extent of available resources, including:

The steps undertaken to ensure coordination between economic and social policies;

The proportion of the budget devoted to social expenditures for children, including health, welfare and education, at the central, regional and local levels, and where appropriate at the federal and provincial levels;

The budget trends over the period covered by the report;

Arrangements for budgetary analysis enabling the amount and proportion spent on children to be clearly identified;” […]

While the Budget does not have a specific allocation for the enhancement and protection of the human rights of children, allocations are made through different Ministries for various initiatives and projects.

133.According to the Director of Budgets of the Ministry of Finance, the Central Government Budget is not structured in a way whereby information on expenditure for children can be easily extracted. While Government’s social policies encompass all sectors, moneys appropriated for a specific purpose are categorised along the lines of the Expenditure Estimates.

134.The format of the Estimates of Expenditure is according to economic classification and by Ministerial Head thus limiting any retrieval of data to specific items and not functional categories.

135.In providing the information, the Ministries of Education, Social Development and Sport and Youth Affairs were examined. In the case of the Ministry of Education expenditure incurred by this Ministry was largely interpreted as money spent on children. Data was extracted from line items under the other named Ministries and presented in the table appearing on the following three pages.

Budget Division [Statistics] - extracted data 1992-2002

Expenditure for children

Description	Actual 1992	Actual 1993	Actual 1994	Actual 1995	Actual 1996	Actual 1997	Actual Jan.-Sept. 1998	Actual 1999	Actual 2000	Actual 2001	Budget 2002
$	$	$	$	$	$	$	$	$	$	$
Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs	16 853 720	16 587 586	3 949 538	5 912 931	5 219 149	4 890 882	2 274 962	17 242 169	19 601 062	20 679 675	27 837 100
Youth Affairs [personnel expenditure]	11 366 910	11 860 252	1 406 904	1 393 160	1 591 953	1 457 900	1 109 209	1 418 976	1 286 978	1 537 711	3 409 600
Youth Affairs [goods and services]	150 713	243 323	175 655	335 602	238 983	228 971	178 689	304 844	350 034	324 906	316 000
Youth Affairs [minor equipment purchases]	51 959	16 000	0	10 494	1 680	165 301	0	0	0	0	65 000
Youth Camps	2 495 617	2 438 289	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Trade Centres	98 264	28 971	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Youth Centres	419 661	288 502	359 049	292 798	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
National Youth Apprenticeship Development Centres [personnel expenditure]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11 380 787	11 366 241	11 966 452	15 944 500
National Youth Apprenticeship Development Centres [goods and services]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1 852 830	2 393 261	2 236 460	3 009 000
National Youth Apprenticeship Development Centres [minor equipment purchases]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	113 269	0	100 000
Youth Centres [goods and services]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	201 724	459 874	408 342	276 000
President’s Award Scheme	24 380	24 380	24 380	24 380	24 380	0	0	24 380	24 380	0	630 000
National Youth Conference	2 700	2 700	2 700	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Youth Centres	326 281	341 825	338 898	340 060	352 138	333 679	287 183	910 783	1 749 804	1 820 802	1 587 000
Youth Training	953 012	746 868	706 157	1 292 439	969 728	1 429 604	510 836	841 150	1 115 113	1 201 426	1 000 000
Boy Scouts Association	5 000	10 000	10 000	10 000	10 000	0	0	10 000	10 000	0	0
Girl Guides Association	2 000	3 000	3 000	3 000	3 000	0	0	3 000	3 000	0	0
National Service	957 223	583 476	922 795	2 210 998	2 027 287	1 275 427	189 045	293 695	729 108	1 183 576	1 500 000

Table ( continued)
Description	Actual 1992	Actual 1993	Actual 1994	Actual 1995	Actual 1996	Actual 1997	Actual Jan.-Sept. 1998	Actual 1999	Actual 2000	Actual 2001	Budget 2002
$	$	$	$	$	$	$	$	$	$	$
Ministry of Human Development, Youth and Culture	0	0	27 479 066	36 003 661	18 000 000	22 900 000	15 320 000	0	15 000 000	21 185 000	16 000 000
The Integrated Civilian Conservation Corps/Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme	0	0	27 479 066	36 003 661	18 000 000	22 900 000	15 320 000	0	15 000 000	21 185 000	16 000 000
Ministry of Health	6 046 130	5 758 317	5 926 445	6 438 816	6 973 326	6 922 615	5 671 298	7 905 491	9 266 685	8 836 301	11 214 450
Christ Child Convalescent Home	255 500	255 500	255 500	255 000	253 000	253 000	184 000	239 950	266 050	0	0
Princess Elizabeth Home for Handicapped	2 169 866	2 095 136	2 092 251	2 224 870	2 449 866	2 511 050	2 187 100	3 023 502	3 996 183	3 496 000	4 682 750
Trinidad and Tobago Home for Retarded	3 294 700	3 106 875	3 274 800	3 637 953	3 956 700	3 826 365	2 997 740	4 199 254	5 004 632	5 340 301	6 531 700
Tobago Council for Handicapped	326 064	300 806	303 894	320 493	313 760	332 200	302 458	442 785	0	0	0
Ministry of Education (total)	811 152 046	835 761 827	1 005 922 761	1 128 047 927	1 123 639 097	1 192 775 316	928 373 315	1 194 362 032	1 415 873 178	1 821 889 104	2 072 117 525
Ministry of Education [recurrent]	772 379 040	805 170 352	911 719 804	984 761 144	1 031 593 832	1 067 968 305	876 214 782	1 151 430 395	1 207 844 872	1 686 129 082	1 897 687 525
of which School Feeding Programme	20 143 903	28 942 746	59 525 615	65 740 484	66 969 782	67 406 141	42 220 679	64 857 281	68 452 743	80 198 321	97 100 000
of which Statutory Boards	319 653	294 863	240 013	319 376	309 914	346 175	458 676	536 497	578 674	762 954	1 153 260
Board of Industrial Training	286 215	263 088	209 705	267 193	237 049	225 665	185 956	270 207	278 833	223 856	563 260
UNESCO	33 438	31 775	30 308	52 183	72 865	120 510	272 720	266 290	299 841	539 098	590 000
Ministry of Education [Development Programme]	38 773 006	30 591 475	94 202 957	143 286 783	92 045 265	124 807 011	52 158 533	42 931 637	208 028 306	135 760 022	174 430 000
Ministry of Social Development	223 195	232 620	232 620	237 620	222 620	316 600
Nursery Association	32 920	32 920	32 920	32 920	32 920	32 900
Child Welfare League	42 000	42 000	42 000	42 000	42 000	76 000
Servol	28 275	37 700	37 700	37 700	37 700	37 700
Islamic Home for Children	40 000	40 000	40 000	40 000	20 000	60 000
Sai Krishna Children’s Home	40 000	40 000	40 000	45 000	60 000	60 000
Ferdean’s Place Children’s Home	40 000	40 000	40 000	40 000	30 000	50 000
Ministry of Community Empowerment, Sport and Consumer Aff.							6 064 404 *	472 196	389 204	14 809 976 *	30 000 000
Nursery Association							*	24 690	32 920	*	*
Child Welfare League							*	219 806	278 584	*	*
Servol							*	37 700	37 700	*	*
Islamic Home for Children							*	40 000	0	*	*
Sai Krishna Children’s Home							*	60 000	0	*	*
Ferdean’s Place Children’s Home							*	90 000	40 000	*	*
Industrial schools and orphanages	12 854 058	11 226 340	11 488 200	12 426 590	15 257 000	15 657 000	14 247 250	18 580 000	19 698 000	22 816 300	23 153 330
St. Michael’s School for Boys	2 408 460	2 114 000	2 375 860	2 527 140	3 300 000	3 400 000	3 363 000	3 730 000	3 886 000	4 435 300	4 547 670
St. Jude’s Home for Girls	1 431 926	1 286 605	1 286 605	1 355 790	2 000 000	2 100 000	1 923 500	3 039 000	3 200 000	3 826 000	3 726 545
St. Mary’s Children’s Home	3 697 284	3 500 000	3 500 000	3 692 300	4 670 000	4 770 000	4 295 750	5 925 000	6 220 000	7 034 000	7 184 000
St. Dominic’s Children’s Home	5 316 388	4 325 735	4 325 735	4 851 360	5 287 000	5 387 000	4 665 000	5 886 000	6 392 000	7 521 000	7 695 115
Grand total	847 129 149	869 566 690	1 054 998 630	1 189 067 545	1 169 311 192	1 243 462 413	971 951 229	1 238 561 888	1 479 828 309	1 910 216 356	2 180 322 405

* Average expenditure $300,000 per annum for total items as listed by asterisks.

(a)The steps taken to ensure that all competent national, regional and local authorities are guided by the best interests of the child in their budgetary decisions and evaluate the priority given to children in their policy‑making

136.While there are no known mechanisms in place to ensure that competent authorities are guided by the best interests of the child in their budgetary decisions, the Government has always accorded the highest priority to the well-being of children, as evidenced by the fact that budgetary allocations during the period of structural adjustment were either maintained or increased across the social sector, specifically in the areas of health, education and social protection.

137.This issue will be specifically addressed when the reconstituted National Committee to monitor implementation of the National Plan of Action for Children and the Convention on the Rights of the Child reviews the current National Plan of Action for Children. The terms of reference of 2001 NPA Committee include ensuring the integration of the National Plan of Action and the Convention on the Rights of the Child with national planning and budgetary allocation processes and ensuring that a high priority is accorded to programmes for the well‑being of children in sectoral plans, programmes and policies.

(b)The measures taken to ensure that disparities between different regions and groups of children are bridged in relation to the provision of social services

138.During the period 1997 to 2000, attempts were made by the National Family Services Division to extend social services to rural areas. Initially clinics were set up in the outlying regions of Pt. Fortin, Siparia, Rio Claro and Caroni.

139.Efforts to decentralise (Social Services Delivery) were intensified in the year 2000, with the introduction of seven offices across the seven counties within Trinidad. Each of the counties is provided with an office that is serviced by a community based family caseworker/child care officer with training in Social Work. Efforts are being made to house all social service offices in one building within each county, as has been piloted in the Couva community where the full range of services are offered in one building. At present however, some citizens still experience problems accessing social services in one region and have to go to different regions depending on the service they require.

(c)The measures taken to ensure that children, particularly those belonging to the most disadvantaged groups, are protected against the adverse effects of economic policies, including the reduction of budgetary allocations in the social sector

140.Attempts have been made to mitigate the circumstances of the poor by increasing the quantum of assistance provided under existing social welfare programmes and by enhancing the level of efficiency in the delivery of social services through targeted programmes and identification of recipients. Focus has also been placed on the skills training, rehabilitation of vulnerable groups, job creation and the financing of small-scale ventures. These provisions directly and indirectly impact on the lives of children. These mechanisms include:

Grants to Necessitous Children.

Education Grant: This grant is for the children of welfare recipients and other needy families whose household income is less than $500.00 per month. The grant is for children who are attending secondary school.

Type of Grant	Existing Maximum Rate	New Maximum Rate (With effect from 2003)
One child (Education Grant)	$80 per month	$140 per month (per child) (maximum of four children)
Two (2) children	$120 per month
Three or more children	$150 per month

Special Child Grant: A parent with a child who is physically or mentally handicapped and who is under eighteen years of age and living under needy circumstances may apply for this grant.

Type of Grant	Existing Maximum Rate	New Maximum Rate (With effect from 2003)
Supply and services for children with disabilities	One child:$80 per month	$300 (maximum of four children)
This grant targets mentally and physically challenged children to assist with transport arrangements to and from schools, and other special requirements.	Two children: $120 per month Three children: $150 per month

Uniform Grant. Reserved for victims of disasters and necessitous persons (maximum of four children). Each application is dealt with on its merits. The grant is a new one introduced in 2003 with a new maximum rate of $200.

Education: Book Grant. This grant is to assist with the purchase of schoolbooks in extenuating circumstances, for children attending primary or secondary school. This grant seeks only to assist students in dire need, where books may have been destroyed by fire, flood or other disaster. The existing maximum rate is $500 per child to a maximum of four children. Government in the fiscal year commencing September 2002 also implemented a Book Grant Scheme for all secondary level students by providing to the parent/guardian of each student a book grant of $1000. The Government has also agreed to provide free schoolbooks to all primary school students at an estimated cost of $37.6 million.

School Nutrition Programme: This programme provides daily nutritionally balanced lunches to students who so request at pre-school, primary and secondary schools. There is also a breakfast programme introduced on a pilot basis in January 2001 and formalised in September 2002. Breakfast meals are served under this programme to children in primary schools.

CHOICES Programme: The Child Welfare League in collaboration with the Ministry of Health set up a programme for pregnant teenagers in 1994 called CHOICES (Choices, Happiness, Organisation, Ideals, Communication, Education and Self-Awareness). This project targets at risk teenaged girls and adolescent mothers between the ages of thirteen and nineteen years. Day care facilities for teenaged mothers and their babies are available at three CHOICES Centres located in La Horquetta, Sangre Grande and Woodbrook. On September 06, 2002 the Ministry of Social Development in conjunction with the Child Welfare League also launched an Adolescent Mothers Programme. This initiative entails the expansion of the existing CHOICES Programme. The expanded programme would increase the number of centers from (3) to (10) and would include a preventative component as well as target young men and fathers.

Hearing Aids Grant: The Government in its 2001-2002 Budget promised “to provide hearing aids, free of charge to all hearing impaired persons who are so assessed by Diagnostic Research Educational and Therapeutic Centre for the Hearing Impaired (DRETCHI). As at July 2002, a total of 767 persons were tested for hearing deficiencies by DRETCHI and 336 persons were fitted with hearing aids. According to the Government’s 2002-2003 Budget Presentation, 122 children have received hearing aids. The Government has allocated $3 million to this programme.

Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme (YTEPP) Limited: The YTEPP programme has three (3) components: Career Enhancement Training; Vocational Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development and Support Services. The programme provides part time training and supervised work experience for school leavers and unemployed youths between the ages of 15 to 25. As at August 2000, two cycles of training of approximately 6,000 trainees had been completed at the pre-craft level in a variety of areas including auto maintenance and repair, beauty culture, metal design and fabrication, food preparation, garment construction and secretarial and business support.

Relief Centres: In 1995, the Government created three Relief Centres in Cocorite, Port of Spain (North), South and in John-John, Laventille. These centres have been renamed Transformation and Development Centres. To date more than one million meals have been served to the needy and 14,000 people have benefited from training at the centers. The Government in its 2002-2003 Budget presentation has stated its intention to add twenty one relief centres throughout Trinidad and Tobago. Seventeen of these centres will be located in Trinidad and four will be located in Tobago.

Public Assistance: This is governed by the Public Assistance Act, Chap. 32:03. The public assistance grant is paid monthly to needy individuals and families. The grant is usually given to the head of a family, whose needs are deemed to include those of the dependant. Public Assistance is also paid to necessitous children where the head of household is dead, living in an institution, has deserted and cannot be found or is in breach of a court order for child support. An individual under the current system receives $222 per month while the maximum payment a family can receive is $720. A review of the Programme has been conducted and the quantum of the various grants is being increased in keeping with the current cost of living. The Government proposes to implement the following increases in the grant in 2003:

Household Size	Current Benefit (since 2000)	Proposed Benefit
1 person	$222	$320
2 persons	$428	$560
3 persons	$625	$770
4 persons	$720	$940

Social Help and Rehabilitation Efforts (SHARE): This Government programme has made a significant contribution towards filling the gap in the system by targeting needy persons between the ages of eighteen (18) and (65) who do not receive Public Assistance or Old Age Pension. According to the Budget Statement for 2002-2003, presented on October 21, 2002, the Government intends to “increase the number of food hampers distributed to needy households from 8,000 to 15,000 hampers per month. In addition, each eligible household will receive one food hamper per month for six months instead of three months” The Government has allocated TT$23 million to the SHARE programme in the 2003 fiscal year. The SHARE programme also facilitates training for its clients via links with other Government agencies. This programme no doubt indirectly benefits children.

Emergency Cases Fund (ECF)

Type of Grant	Existing MaximumRate $T.T.	Existing Rate
Household Help for Disaster Victims	1 500	3 500
Housing Repairs	3 000	5 000
Medical Equipment (wheelchairs etc.)	1 500	5 000
Home Help	200	350 (for a period of no more than 3 months)
Dietary Grant	100	115 (per month)
Clothing (Reserved for disaster victims and necessitous persons)	200 per person (to a maximum of 3 persons $400)	200 per person (to a maximum of 4 persons)

No. of recipients of welfare by type of programme - 1998 to 2002
Year	Old-Age Pension	Public Assistance	Grants to Necessitous Children	Special Child Grant	Emergency Cases Fund Grant	Urgent Temporary Assistance
1997	59 112	30 460	64	16	481	245
1998	59 634	27 611	86	40	436	105
1999	60 474	27 629	78	70	605	123
2000	61 190	24 991	116	87	641	109
2001	62 027	25 246	77	49	448	116
2002	63 221	24 889	93	84	279	137

Expenditure on welfare ($T.T.) by type of programme - 1997 to 2002
Social Welfare Programme	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Old Age Pension	267 490 650	331 515 893	439 207 089	473 373 632	547 754 017	639 543 738
Public Assistance	54 601 057	53 340 437	57 741 864	91 541 889	107 595 216	105 417 155
Disability Assistance	48 280	17 551 793	36 056 279	47 321 751	50 253 137	60 601 500
Food Subsidy		95 566 819	39 682 786	-	-	-
Dietary Grants	2 400	7 500	5 300	6 600	2 900	3 200
Special Child Grants	46 836	21 440	47 680	71 580	110 480	176 400
Education Grant	37 240	28 240	29 340	55 400	95 640	130 680
Emergency Cases Fund	749 940	396 077	810 252	703 369	830 665	542 664
Other Urgent Temporary Assistance	21 036	14 631	18 870	26 980	17 183	19 243

141.“Please indicate the extent to which international cooperation relevant to the State party is designed to foster the implementation of the Convention, including economic, social and cultural rights of children. Please indicate the proportion of international aid at the multilateral and bilateral levels allocated to programmes for children and the promotion of their rights and, where appropriate, the assistance received from regional and international financial institutions. Please also indicate the percentage of international cooperation contributed during the reporting period in the total government budget, as well as the percentages of such cooperation respectively allocated to the health sector, to the education sector, to the social sector and to other sectors. Please further indicate any relevant measures adopted as a follow-up to the Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development. […]”

Tables 1-3 below illustrate the quantum of international funding provided to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago during the period 1997-2002:

Table 1

Financing the Public Sector Investment Programme: 1997 and 1998-1999

Sources of finance	1997 TT$Mn.	% of Total PSIP	1998-1999 TT$Mn.	% of Total PSIP
Central Government Programme	1 696.98	95.6	1 097.1	100.00
External Sources	599.26	33.8	424.7	38.7
Loans	520.11	29.3	352.6	32.1
IDB			213.7	19.5
IBRD			114.4	10.4
Caribbean Dev. Bank			24.5	2.2
Grants	79.14	4.5	72.0	6.5
IDB			1.3	0.1
European Community			64.1	5.8
Other External Agencies			6.6	0.6
Domestic Sources	1 097.72	61.8	672.4	61.3
Loans	24.88	1.7	5.0	0.5
Republic Fin. & Merchant Bank			5.0	0.5
General Revenues	1 042.32	60.1	642.4	58.5
Government of T&T			642.4	58.5
Roads Fund			25.0	2.3
Government of T&T			25.0	2.3
State Enterprise Programme	78.08	4.4
External Sources	32.58	1.8
Loans
Domestic Sources	45.50	2.6
Internally Generated Funds	45.50	2.6
General Revenues	0	0
Grand total	1 775.06	100.0	1 097.1	100.0

Table 2

Financing the Public Sector Investment Programme: 1999-2000 and 2001

Sources of financing	1999-2000 TT$Mn.	% of Total PSIP	2001TT$Mn.	% of Total PSIP
Central Government Programme	1 552.485	99.043
External Sources	479.397	30.584
Loans	435.044	27.754	307.2	31.28
IDB	282.753	18.039	195.1	19.87
IBRD	103.641	6.612	80.1	8.16
Caribbean Dev. Bank	48.65	3.104	25.0	2.54
People’s Republic of China			7.0	0.71
Grants	44.353	2.830	15.7	1.59
IDB	3.928	0.251	6.6	0.68
IBRD	3.090	0.197	0.5	0.05
European Community	35.095	2.239	8.5	0.87
Other External Agencies	2.240	0.143
Domestic Sources	1 073.088	68.459	658.9	67.12
Loans	131.890	8.400	0.5	0.05
Republic Fin. & Merchant Bank	131.890	8.400
General Revenues	916.198	58.450	633.5	64.53
Government of T&T	916.198	58.450
Roads Fund	25.000	1.595	25.0	2.55
Government of T&T	25.000	1.595
State Enterprise Programme	15.000	0.957
Domestic Sources	15.000	0.957
General Revenues	15.000	0.957
Government of T&T	15.000	0.957
Grand total	1 567.485	100.000	981.8	100.00

Table 3

Financing the Public Sector Investment Programme: 2002

Sources of financing	2002 TT$Mn.	% of Total PSIP
External Sources
Loans	404.644	30.2
IDB	265.464	19.8
IBRD	78.790	5.9
Caribbean Development Bank	53.390	4.0
People’s Republic of China	7.000	0.5
Grants	23.255	1.7
IDB	8.665	0.6
IBRD	0.000	0.0
European Community	14.590	1.1
Domestic Sources	912.096	68.1
Loans	1.000	0.1
General Revenues	886.096	66.1
Roads Fund	25.000	1.9
Grand total	1 339.995	100.0

142.The 1997 PSIP Report illustrates that the World Bank funded the Basic Primary Education Project, by a loan of US $51 million. Additionally, in that same year, the World Bank funded the continuation of the Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme (YTEPP), (with an allocation of $20 million). In respect of health, The Health Sector Reform Programme advanced significantly in 1997, with commencement of loan funding from the Inter American Development Bank. The entire programme is estimated to cost a total of US$ 192 million, and is to be expended over a period of seven (7) years.

143.In 1998, an allocation of $210.70 million (or 13 percent of the total PSIP) was made for the furtherance of the goals and objectives of education and training in Trinidad and Tobago. This allocation is inclusive of financing received from international agencies. The major component for the investment programme (1998) was the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) Fourth Education Programme. The total sum budgeted for the programme was $78.9 million. Of an allocation of $67.3 million to the Ministry of Education, approximately $31 million was actually spent by the end of the shortened fiscal year. Progress was made in the construction of six primary schools at Valencia South, Bamboo Settlement, Carapichaima, Cedros, Beetham Estate, and Gran Couva.

144.Of a total allocation of $36 million for construction works under the World Bank’s Education Programme, approximately $20 million was utilised in the 1998 fiscal year. Components of the World Bank Programme included:

The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme (the completion of seven new centres at Frederick Settlement, Gran Couva, Penal, Pt. Fortin, Rose Hill, Tableland and Barrackpore and the upgrading of five other centres at Rancho Quemado, Arima, Cumana, La Pastora and Tabaquite);

The introduction of the Bachelor of Education programme at the University of the West Indies (successfully completed in June 1998);

The Assessment and Testing Reform programme (with some advancement made in the implementation of the Continuous Assessment Programme);

Preparation of designs for over twenty Primary and Secondary schools; and

The completion of final designs and working drawings for the Mason Hall Secondary School in Tobago.

145.Despite the above, other components of the World Bank programme did not achieve similar rates of progress in 1998. These include: the provision of library books and textbooks (due to the non-approval of titles) and the provision of Instructional Materials and the School‑Based Management Programme (in which 4 School Improvement Plans, out of ten, had been approved for implementation under the Accelerated Pilot Programme).

146.In 1998, the Ministry of Health was allocated $127.25 million to continue implementation of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) assisted Health Sector Reform Programme (HSRP). The main areas of focus were: Human Resource Support (including provision for an initial injection of $50 million for the Pension Fund); Technical Support and Training; and Physical Infrastructure. At the close of 1998, expenditure on the programme amounted to $14 million.

147.The following activities were advanced:

Appointment of the Health Sector Reform Advisor;

Completion of a Draft of Trust Deed/Rules for the Pension Plan;

Finalisation of a priority list of 1998 physical works submitted to NIPDEC to facilitate the procurement process;

Continuation of Phase I Upgrade works in the North West Region;

Hosting of several Health promotion fairs throughout the country;

Start-up of Population Registration System Operations to be completed by December 1998;

Development of the Curriculum for Certificate in Health Systems Management tenable at the Institute of Business, UWI;

Finalisation of Quality 2001 Stately and establishment of a Health Service Accreditation Steering Team; and

Delivery of 13 ambulances.

148.The preparation for the physical infrastructure component of the programme was advanced under the IDB assisted Multi-Sectoral Pre-Investment Programme. Work commenced on the preparation of design specifications and costing for 11 district health facilities and enhanced health centres with an allocation of $4.4 million.

149.For the period 1999-2000, one major area of focus was the IDB-assisted Community Development Fund (CDF), which was allocated a total of $26.3 million. The number of social programmes being executed by the CDF had been expanded to include new components. One new component is the Community Care Project, to which was allocated the sum of $2 million to assist NGOs to expand or refurbish their existing buildings. Additionally, within this period, the YTEPP Community-based Programme was supported by the CDF (whereby an amount of $3.1 million had been provided to conduct fifty (50) skills training courses for 1500 young persons in low-income communities). In this same year, the World Bank-assisted Fourth Basic Education Programme was the main focus of Government’s investment in education and training, with an allocation of $118.8 million.

150.In respect of health, the IDB-assisted Health Sector Reform Programme (HSRP) had been allocated a total sum of $156.5 million in the 1999-2000 period to continue the activities started in the previous fiscal year.

151.In the period 2001, the implementation of the World Bank-assisted Fourth Basic Education Programme became a significant focus of the investment programme in education, with an allocation of $73.0 million. Additionally, the IDB-assisted Secondary Education Modernisation Programme (SEMP) had been advanced through an allocation of $23.5 million, the benefits of which will have an impact throughout the secondary education sub-sector. In respect of health, the implementation of the IDB-funded HSRP had been significantly advanced with an allocation of $139.1 million in the 2001 fiscal year. A total of $61.0 million(or 44 per cent of the resources provided to the health sector) had been allocated to the Regional Health Authorities to undertake activities related to the construction and upgrading of physical facilities. With regard to social and community services, the IDB-assisted Community Development Fund (CDF) continued its programme of assistance to low-income communities, with an allocation of $10.4 million.

152.In 2002, the World Bank-assisted Fourth Basic Education Programme received a provision of $108.7 million for investment purposes. Additionally, under the IDB-assisted SEMP programme, construction of 12 secondary schools commenced in 2002. In respect of health, the 2002 PSIP allocated a total of $179.8 million (or 13.4 per cent of the total PSIP) for investment in the health sector. Of this amount the largest proportion ($147.7 million) was made to the HSRP, co-funded by the IDB.

153.In 2002, the European Union funded the Poverty Alleviation Programme, which utilised TT$4.4 million to support the Government in formulating and implementing a National Poverty Reduction Strategy, including decentralisation of the delivery system to enable it to become more responsive to the needs of the most vulnerable groups of the population. Furthermore, the non-traditional training for women project will continue to train low-income women in specialised skill areas (such as automotive repairs, masonry, tiling, bricklaying, cabinet-making, joinery and carpentry). This product is partially funded by the IDB, and a total provision of $1.2 million had been made to fund the activities scheduled for 2002.

154.With respect to the Social, Cultural and Community Services, the IDB-assisted Community Development Fund (CDF) continued its programme of activities in 2002 with a total allocation of $11.5 million. Of this allocation, the sum of $4.0 million had been provided to the National Commission for Self Help Ltd. (NCSHL) to continue/complete community-based infrastructure projects throughout the country.

155.Government’s efforts in the prevention and reduction of drug abuse were advanced with resources totaling $3.2 million from United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) European Development Fund (EDF). Phase II of the National Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Programme involved the launching of the School Prevention and Public Education Programmes. Five Communities: Couva; Pt. Fortin; Toco/Matelot; Laventille; and Tobago, have been selected for research on the profile of drug users. A basic survey was completed and information was processed as a pre-cursor to other interventions into this problem. Government approved the establishment of a Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Farm Project at Piparo as another vehicle to be employed in the strategy to address the long-term treatment of victims of substance abuse.

156.The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) continued to be the main source of external loan financing in Fiscal Year 2002, accounting for approximately 20 per cent or $265.5 million of financial resources being accessed from that source. These resources were utilised to finance on-going and new programmes.

157.Among the main areas being supported by IDB funds were main roads and highways, agriculture, education, health, settlements, squatter regularisation community development and poverty alleviation.

158.Loans amounting to $79 million were provided by the World Bank in support of the 2002 PSIP.3 These resources were used to finance activities geared towards enhancing the quality of and access to primary education under the Fourth Basic Education Programme, and supporting reforms in the Postal Sector.

159.Approximately $53.4 million of loan resources were sourced from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to fund the 2002 PSIP. Resources from the CDB continue to support the Southern Roads Development Project, involving the extension of the Solomon Hochoy Highway from Tarouba to Cipero Road, as well as the establishment of the Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Technology (TTIT).

160.The Government of the People’s Republic of China also provided a loan in the sum of TT$7 million to support the small business sector.

161.The European Union continues to be the main source of grant funds for on-going projects such as the Small Business Development Programme, support to Caribbean Business Services Ltd, the Rural Electrification Programme, the establishment of a CARIFORUM Cultural Centre and poverty alleviation. Another source of grant funds is the IDB.

162. “States are requested to describe the measures that have been taken or are foreseen, pursuant to article 42 of the Convention, to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike. In this regard, reports should also indicate:

The extent to which the Convention has been translated into the national, local, minority or indigenous languages. In this connection, an indication should be given of the number of languages into which the Convention has been translated and the number of copies translated into the minority languages during the reporting period;

The specific steps taken to make the Convention widely known to children and the extent to which it has been reflected in the school curricula and considered in parents’ education campaigns. An indication should be given of the number of copies of the Convention distributed in the educational system and to the public at large during the reporting period;” […]

Over the period 1997 to 2000, approximately 10,000 brochures on the Convention on the Rights of the Child were produced by the then Ministry of Social and Community Development. The brochures contain a summary of the Articles of the Convention extracted from the UNICEF publication “Convention on the Rights of the Child”. The brochures were distributed as follows:

Between 1998-1999, 1000 brochures were distributed via community workshops. Parents, caregivers and children in the communities of Chaguanas, Cedros, Carenage and Maloney participated in these workshops. The community workshops were conducted under a programme entitled “Promotion of Child Rights in Communities” with funding from UNICEF. Information dissemination was also done through interactive drama and panel discussions. A workshop was also conducted in Tobago;

7,500 brochures were distributed to primary and secondary schools between 1997‑2000;

1,000 brochures were distributed in Tobago over the period 1998-1999 as part of a youth outreach programme focusing on sensitising young people to the Convention.

163.The School Publications Department of the Ministry of Education prepared and printed 6,000 copies of a booklet dated October 2001 entitled “Convention on the Rights of the Child”. This illustrated booklet summarises each Article of the Convention in simple language. These booklets were distributed in all eight of the educational districts in Trinidad and Tobago at a ratio of two for every five teachers at primary and secondary schools.

164.UNICEF has also distributed a pamphlet entitled “Children’s rights in plain English” and “The Convention on the Rights of the Child-Questions Parents Ask”. No information is available on the extent of distribution.

165.For those schools participating in the National Certificate of Secondary Education (N.C.S.E.) Programme, the Ministry of Education has developed an Instructional Strategies Booklet, entitled “Lesson Plans and Literature in the Module-Rights of the Child”. Included in the Booklet are data and excerpts from documents produced by UNICEF. The contents of the Booklet include:

What are Rights/Responsibilities?

What are Human Rights?

What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

What is the Convention on the Rights of the Child?

What are the Rights of the Child as stated in the Convention?

(a) “The measures adopted to publicise the Convention and create widespread awareness of its principles and provisions. In this connection, an indication should be given of the number of meetings (such as parliamentary or governmental conferences, workshops, seminars) held, the number of programmes broadcast on radio or television and the number of publications issued explaining the Convention on the Rights of the Child during the reporting period;

The steps taken to promote understanding of the principles and provisions of the Convention by the mass media and by information and publishing agencies;

The involvement of non-governmental organisations in awareness and advocacy campaigns on the Convention, as well as any support provided to them. In this connection, an indication should be given of the number of non-governmental organisations who participated in such events during the reporting period;

The participation of children in any of these activities.

The measures adopted to provide education on the Convention to public officials, as well as to train professional groups working with and for children, such as teachers, law enforcement officials, including police, immigration officers, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, defence forces, medical doctors, health workers and social workers;”

Child Rights Week, 1997

166.In commemoration of the Convention, the first ever “Child Rights Week” was celebrated in November 1997. The National Family Services Division of the then Ministry of Social Development, the NPA Coordinator and the YMCA, Port of Spain coordinated the event. The objectives were:

To disseminate information on the Convention on the Rights of the Child to the general public;

To involve children in activities which promote self-expression; and

To promote Child Rights among children, and out of school youth by disseminating information to schools and other programmes that serve youth.

167.The activities held in 1997 were as follows:

November 16 Television Address to the Nation by the then Minister of Social Development.

Newspaper supplement on Child Rights Week published in the Sunday Express.

November 17 Dateline (local television talk show)-UNICEF Representative: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Child Rights Jamboree”- Queen’s Park Savannah.

November 18Dateline - Discussion on Youth Forum.

November 19Youth Forum - Speak Your Rights, City Hall, Port of Spain.

Issues Live (local television talk show) - ‘Corporal Punishment in Schools’.

Dateline: NGOs helping children.

November 20Morning Edition (local television programme): Government agencies helping children - Family Services and the Probation Division.

Dateline - Children’s Perspective.

November 21Dateline - Towards the future.

168.The week started with a Children’s Jamboree where children presented depictions of the right they determined to be most important. The “right to play” was the most popular. A cultural performance followed, after which children were exposed to information concerning their rights. Display booths were mounted by various organisations which offer services to children and Popular Theatre productions highlighted some child rights issues.

169.On November 19, primary and secondary school children came together at a Youth Forum: Speak Your Rights. The participants included children from primary and secondary schools, children’s institutions, special groups and well as community youth groups. The topics discussed were “How should the family and schools help protect Children’s Rights” for the primary age group and “Rights come with responsibilities. What should children’s responsibilities be?” for the secondary age group. The objectives of the forum were to initiate dialogue between children and the authorities about the CRC and to start the process of youth empowerment and their involvement in the decision making process.

170.An Essay Writing Competition was also held on the following topics:

How should families and schools help protect Children’s Rights?

How can children help other children protect their rights?

Rights come with responsibilities. What should children’s responsibilities be?

171.Information on the Convention was disseminated to all the schools including Early Childhood Care and Education Centres in Trinidad and Tobago through the Ministry of Education.

Child Rights Week, 1998

172.Child Rights Week, 1998 was hosted by the then Ministry of Social and Community Development in collaboration with UNICEF, UNIGEM, and YMCA, Port of Spain, from November 15-21. The theme for the week was “No Excuse for Child Abuse” with a focus on Article 19 of the Convention.

173.During the week, fourth to sixth form secondary school students and children from institutions were invited to participate in a Youth Forum at City Hall conducted by UNIGEM, a youth organisation on the topic: Teenage Sexuality/HIV/AIDS. It included film, lectures, discussion and interactive drama.

174.Children from selected primary schools and institutions were invited on November 20 to take part in another youth forum organised at the Rudranath Capildeo Learning Centre in Couva on the topic of child abuse.

175.An art competition was organised by the National Family Services Division of the then Ministry of Social and Community Development for children under the age of eighteen years. Children were invited to submit drawings, paintings, collages or mosaics depicting ways in which Children’s Rights may be implemented to stop Child Abuse.

176.The week ended with an intergenerational Walk for Child Rights around the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, on November 21. Programmes were featured daily on the local television programme, Dateline as follows:

17 November - UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: UNICEF Representative from the Caribbean Area, Barbados;

18 November - The Youth Forum ‘Speak Your Rights’ - Mr. Gregory Sloane Seale, YMCA, Port of Spain and Ms. Sharon Marriott, NPA Coordinator, Ministry of Social Development;

19 November - Child Welfare League, the oldest NGO serving the needs of children in Trinidad and Tobago. Ms. Gay, President and Ms. Baptiste, Coordinator of CHOICES Programme for teenage mothers. Ms. Maureen Bowen, Families in Action;

20 November - The Children’s Perspective. Two Youth Representatives;

21 November - Towards the Future: Ms. Eunice Gittens, Ministry of Social Development; Ms. Christine Norton, UNICEF and Ms. Pat Hinds, Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs.

177.A newspaper supplement was also published in the Sunday Express newspaper on November 15, 1998. Some of the featured articles included “The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child”, a “Message from UNICEF Caribbean Office” and “Solutions to ensure the Rights of the Child”-an excerpt from the 1996 Caribbean Conference on the Rights of the Child.

Child Rights Month, 1999

178.Following the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention by the General Assembly of the United Nations, Child Rights Week was extended to a month long celebration designated as “Child Rights Month” in 1999. The theme of Child Rights Month 1999 was “Listen to me: It’s my right” with a focus on Articles 12, 13 and 14 of the Convention.

179.Numerous events were coordinated during the month by a “Child Rights Committee” spearheaded by the then Ministry of Social and Community Development. The Committee comprised representatives of the following:

Family Services Division of the Ministry of Social and Community Development (as it then was);

The Trinidad and Tobago Coalition for the Rights of the Child (TTCRC) an NGO;

UNICEF;

YMCA, Port of Spain;

Community Policing, Ministry of National Security;

Families in Action;

Ministry of Education, Guidance Unit;

Ministry of Culture and Gender Affairs (as it then was);

Probation Department;

The Rape Crisis Society of Trinidad and Tobago;

Ministry of Information.

180.The objectives of the month of activities were to:

Sensitise the national community to children’s rights;

Give children the opportunity to voice their feelings and opinions about current concerns and situations affecting them;

Give children and youth the opportunity to be involved in planning, implementing, evaluating events and disseminating information on child rights;

Empower children and youth by educating them about their rights, responsibilities and proactive strategies which may be used to protect their rights;

Sensitise the media about children’s rights so that they may become child rights advocates.

181.Some of the activities undertaken in 1999 were as follows:

The month started with a breakfast launch, to which members of the media and corporate citizens were invited. Activities for the month were covered in newspaper articles. A Sunday newspaper supplement commemorating the month was also published. It featured articles such as “A message from UNICEF”, “Discipline-A Parent’s Guide”, “Let’s Start the Healing” and “The art of really listening”. Radio call-in programmes stimulated public debate on children’s issues. Two Morning Edition shows (a local television talk show) were aired by TV 6. The first dealt with corporal punishment in the Trinidad and Tobago context and the second gave an overview of the CRC by a UNICEF representative;

Four community youth Talk Shops were conducted at three different venues: Port of Spain, Point Fortin and Arima. A total of three hundred and fifty students participated in the Talk Shops. Areas of discussion included: laws affecting children; age of consent and criminal responsibility; the role of the police in ensuring the rights of the child; access to education and keeping children off the streets; parenting education, counselling and family support, and the role of the church in promoting child rights. Primary and secondary schools from the communities were invited to send youth representatives to these sessions; out of school youth were also invited. Professionals in the field were invited as panelists to make short presentations and address questions;

Arts in Action, an experienced interactive drama group, was contracted to conceptualise and perform vignettes which examined the rights of children according to articles 12, 13 and 14. The group was featured inter alia on TTT’s Issues Live, a call in television show;

A pamphlet explaining Articles 12, 13 and 14 of the Convention was published for distribution to schoolchildren. In the pamphlet, teachers were asked to work with children to raise and discuss any issues connected with child rights. Schools were invited to create and perform a fifteen-minute skit/drama on the theme;

A Youth Rally was held at the Queen’s Park Savannah on November 26 1999. This event marked the end of the month’s activities and took the form of exhibits from organisations which serve the needs of children, dramatic presentations addressing the month’s theme and cultural performances by children and youth. Schools from all sectors of the educational system, including special schools were in attendance- a total of seven hundred children. The purpose of the rally was to disseminate information on child rights and display some of the talent of the nation’s children in a festive atmosphere.

Tobago

182.The Tobago Coalition for the Rights of the Child also organised activities for Child Rights Month, 1999 as follows:

November 8-19All Schools in Tobago preparing for Logo, Essay and Debating Competition;

November 22-23Judging of all competitions;

November 17Presentation on the Rights of the Child at Fairfield Complex during National Public Servant Awareness Week;

November 19A Booth Promoting Child Rights at 1st Citizen Mall Scarborough, Tobago at the National Public Servants Awareness Week activities;

November 20Presentation on the Rights of the Child at the Scarborough Seventh Day Adventist Church;

November 25Culmination of Activities of Child Rights Month at Roxborough Cultural Complex- for Tobago Windward;

November 26Culmination of Activities of Child Rights Month for the Leeward District of Tobago at Shaw Park Cultural Complex, Scarborough, Tobago.

Child Rights Month 2000

183.The Trinidad and Tobago Coalition for the Rights of the Child held the following workshops:

Caregivers’ Workshop

A total of twenty-one caregivers from governmental and private Children’s Institutions registered for this workshop. In his Opening Remarks, participants were addressed on the importance of spreading the message of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and getting Children’s Institutions to use its articles in their daily operations. The UNICEF Representative brought greetings from her organisation, which sponsored the commemoration of Child Rights Month 2000. She spoke of what she thought was the plight of children in Trinidad and Tobago and UNICEF’s initiative in getting the articles of the Convention observed on a day- to-day basis. The audience was given an opportunity to express their opinion and concerns about their work environment in Children’s Institutions. Many spoke of lack of training and therefore lack of understanding of the psychological condition of children coming into care. They spoke of long work hours and the child to care ratio. The topics covered in the workshop included “Caring For Yourself”, “The Rights and Responsibilities of Caregivers” and “Psychological Profile of a Child in Care”.

Legal Sensitisation Workshop

This was a half-day workshop to sensitise legal professionals about the Convention on the Rights of the Child particularly as it pertains to children facing the juvenile justice system. A total of twenty-two participants which included lawyers, probation officers, welfare officers and social workers registered for the workshop. In her welcome address, then Senator Diana Mahabir Wyatt discussed the newly amended Children Act and the upcoming Children’s Authority. In his Opening Remarks, Gregory Sloane Seale stressed the importance of using the articles of the Convention to guide the treatment of children as they face the legal system. The topics discussed included the following:

Articles of the Convention that focus on children’s rights in the judicial process‑H.W. Halcyon Yorke Young, a Magistrate discussed the types of issues facing her and other Magistrates such as the lack of options when sentencing a juvenile and poor rehabilitative care programmes. She stated that having a child centred approach to dealing with cases that involved young people was a personal decision and Magistrates are not necessarily trained to handle children differently from adults;

A representative of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel’s Department of the Ministry of the Attorney General, took the participants through all of the changes in the amended Children Act and answered questions and concerns from the audience. She also explained the function of the Children’s Authority and how it will affect the operations of the childcare system in Trinidad and Tobago. It was observed that most of the participants did not have any idea of the Convention and the new laws;

Garnet Lake, a young man, described his journey from the time he left home at 6 years of age to life on the streets to youth detention and ultimately to prison. He discussed the police brutality he faced and the many ways his rights were infringed by his family, the society and the juvenile justice system.

CRC-365- Youth Workshop

CRC-365 was held on December 12, 2000. The workshop was designed to get young people interested and active in the implementation of the CRC throughout their communities. Sixteen fourth to sixth form students from various secondary schools across the country attended the workshop. The whole-day workshop included a Video Presentation that informed participants about the CRC. The group was given pamphlets with the articles of the CRC. The audience was then divided into four groups. Each group was given a poster to look at and to determine which rights were being violated in the posters. The participants then discussed Children’s Rights within a local context and examined the major issues facing Trinidad and Tobago.

Child Rights Month, 2001

184.The Trinidad and Tobago Coalition on the Rights of the Child (TTCRC), in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and the then Ministry of Community Empowerment observed Child Rights Month in November 2001 with a theme of “Education is of Life/Living”. A newspaper article entitled “Child Rights Month to focus on education” was published in a daily newspaper explaining Article 29 of the Convention.

185.To commemorate Child Rights Month 2001, TTCRC together with UNICEF invited children below the age of 18 years to participate in a mural painting competition, the theme of which was “Children’s Rights and Responsibilities”. The mural was to be painted by children on a school wall or prominent wall in the community with the assistance of teachers and or members of their art community. A photograph of the completed mural was to be submitted to the Coalition by November 9 for judging.

186.During the month, the Newsday daily newspaper published a Child Rights Supplement with articles such as Human Rights for Children, How can I be involved in my child’s education? and What should young children be learning?

187.In November 2001, the Child Welfare League, an NGO and the Education Committee of the Arima Corporation hosted a one-day workshop for children from primary schools in the Arima district to discuss a child’s right to education. Ninety students from fifteen schools attended the workshop which was led by the children.

Government Information Services

188.Government Information Services of the Ministry of Public Administration and Information disseminates information about the Government’s activities including the work of Ministries, the Cabinet, the President and the Judiciary. It also covers issues of regional and international interest as well as issues of a national interest affecting children, women and the disabled among others. There is a Radio Unit, a Television Unit, a Print and Photographic Unit and a Research and Library Unit. The material is usually presented in a manner that can be easily understood by children.

189.While not specific to the Convention, the Government Information Services produced the following children’s television programmes for the period 2000 to 2002:

43 Linkages of 2 to 3 minutes duration including school feeding and nutrition, environmental awareness, the use of art and craft as methods of learning and training in schools;

15 Fifteen minute programmes in the area of culture; calypso, steel band and parang. Sports and skills training in school; and

9 Half hour programmes including culture; carnival, calypso, steel band, music festivals and drama used in learning.

190.Some of the programmes relating to children and their rights which were produced by Government Information Services for January 1997- December 10, 2002 on Radio (AM and FM) are listed below:

1997

JanuaryCarnival, Aids and the Teenager: #1,2&3- Family Life Educator; Medical Social Worker; Students.

Let’s Rap-Deviant Behaviour Among Youth-St. Francois Girls’ College.

Let’s Rap-Censorship-Students of Hillview College talk about censorship.

FebruaryLet’s Rap-Adolescence and AIDS-San Fernando Government Secondary School.

Let’s Rap-Role of the Media in a Developing Society-Students from Q.R.C., St. Joseph’s Convent, Hillview College, St. Francois Girls’.

MarchLet’s Rap: Role of the Media in Nation Building-Students from Holy Name Convent, Q.R.C, Hillview College, St. Joseph’s Convent, Bishops.

On the Labour Scene: Equipping our Youth for the 21st century: Excerpts from Youth Employment Seminar.

AprilLet’s Rap:Youth Day-Panel Discussion on issues pertaining to youth including-National Youth Day Celebrations, Tourism and Youth Symposium.

MayLet’s Rap: National Unity- A Youth Perspective.

JulyTrinidadian Youth Group wins U.N.E.P. award.

AugustLet’s rap: Emancipation Special-Kwame Ture talks to young people at National Heritage Library.

Let’s rap: (Youth) Tips on interviews and workplace ethics: Feature on a young achiever.

1999

November 9, 10Child Rights Month: Care for the Future Generation.

November 11Child Rights: What rights?

November 13Let’s rap: Rights of the Child (Talk-shop).

November 16Child Rights Month: Excerpts of President Robinson’s Address at Youth Forum.

November 25Child Rights Month: The Voice of Youth.

December 8, 10An act to amend the law relating to children: Attorney General (R.L. Maharaj).

2000

January 3, 5, 7Senate Debate: Maintenance Orders Bill.

February 24Youth Speaks Out: Excerpts of Youth Workshop on Human Rights, Freedoms and Responsibilities.

March 20Monday’s Child: Excerpts from the formal launch of the year of the Child.

August 2It’s your right: Late Registration of Births.

August 15-16Late Registration of Births: Protecting the Rights of the Child (Infomercial).

AugustExcerpts from the Consultation on the Draft National Youth Policy.

September 19Act Now: Late registration of births.

November 6Child Rights Month: Protecting the Meek.

November 9Child Rights Month: Freedom for all.

November 10Child Rights Month: A better life for our children.

2001

JanuaryThe Law and You: The Constitution and the Law-then Attorney General, Ramesh Maharaj speaks with students at Diego Martin Secondary Government School.

May 7The Children’s Act: Corporal Punishment-thenA.G.- R.L. Maharaj.

The Children’s Act: Street Children and Adoption-thenA.G.-R.L.Maharaj.

November 5Civil Society 21st century: Media, gender equity and the rights of the child.

November 11Info Sound Round Table: Child Rights Month-Education for Life, “Speak up child, the people are listening”-Children discuss issues of the day-YMCA, UN Youth Representatives, CAFRA(NGO), Primary Schools Students.

November 16Child Rights Month: Creating the Future, today.

November 23Child Rights Month: Families-The Building Blocks of Nations.

November 25Say Yes for Children-Rights and Responsibilities: National Family Services, Diana Mahabir Wyatt, National Coalition on the Convention on the Rights of the Child; Gregory Sloane Seale. YMCA; 3 young persons.

DecemberInfo Sound Round Table: Youth at the Controls (International Day of Children’s Broadcasting)-Secondary and Primary School Representatives; Marionettes Youth Chorale; Woodbrook Government Secondary Performers; St. Joseph’s Boys’ R.C. School Parang Group.

2002

JanuaryOn 1 Level: Youth Speak Out and Sports Plans-Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs.

FebruaryOn 1 Level: Youth Speak Out-Five young persons representing schools and NGOs discuss issues impacting their lives.

On 1 Level: Youth Speak Out: Youth icons, Brian Lara and others talk to students at schools across the nation.

February 14“Valentine’s Heart Beat”-When a child hurts.

February 28The Global Movement for Children: The role of all stakeholders in providing a better world for children.

March 2On 1 Level: Youth speak out-Ezekiel Yorke, young calypsonian “A Child’s Right”; Joan French, UNICEF Regional Coordinator; Gregory Sloane Steele, YMCA; Ministry of Social Development Representative.

May 12Building a beautiful family culture in a turbulent world.

May 15The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families.

May 16Looking up in T&T: Child Nutrition-A Lifetime Investment.

JuneMy Health, My Responsibility: Excerpts from Youth Forum Prize Giving Ceremony.

July 8, 9A place to call home: excerpts from seminar on “adoption”.

SeptemberZing ta la la: The National Youth Folk Festival.

Training for Life: National Re-training Programme-Masonry trainees.

OctoberShine on: Interview with Scholarship winner from St. George’s College.

Shine on: Interview with Scholarship winner from St. Joseph’s College.

NovemberYouth Platform: Peer Counselling and Youth Expressions-Families in Action Representative: Various Youth Songs and Words.

Pan in the classroom project: Pan to be phased in as instrument of choice in school curriculum-Features Views of Students.

DecemberOur Fragile World: Secondary Schools Students talk about protecting and conserving our environment.

The extent to which the principles and provisions of the Convention have been incorporated in professional training curricula and codes of conduct or regulations;

191.With the exception of the training mentioned during Child Rights Month 2000 by the Coalition on the Rights of the Child, the training of professionals by the Government and NGOs, specifically with regard to the Convention has been extremely limited, occurring infrequently on an ad hoc basis.

192.The training for police officers includes a component entitled “Human Rights & International Humanitarian Law” although the Convention is not covered as a separate topic.

193.In July and August 2002, the Ministry of Social Development conducted three sector consultations with stakeholders including the police, immigration officers, lawyers, health and social workers, Ministry officials, members of NGOs and representatives of the youth.

194.The discussions were on the following topics:

Providing quality education;

Promoting healthy lives;

Protecting against abuse, exploitation and violence; and

Combating HIV/AIDS.

195.Participants at these sector consultations were sensitised about the Articles of the Convention with a view to devising strategies for implementation. These sector consultations are intended to assist in the formulation of a new National Plan of Action for Children consistent with the dictates of the United Nation’s General Assembly Special Session on Children outcome document and the specific needs of children in Trinidad and Tobago.

196.There is admittedly a need, as emphasised by some NGOs, for targeted training of teachers, the police, judges, prosecutors, lawyers and other professionals on the principles and provisions of the Convention.

197. “States are also requested to describe the measures undertaken or foreseen, pursuant to article 44, paragraph 6, to make their reports widely available to the public at large in their own countries. In this regard, please indicate:

The process of preparation of the present report, in particular the extent to which governmental departments, at the central, regional and local levels participated, and non-governmental organisations were involved. An indication should also be given of the number of non ‑governmental organisations which participated in the preparation of the report;” […]

A Human Rights Unit was formed in July 1999 within the Ministry of the Attorney General. The Human Rights Unit is responsible for the preparation of all periodic reports due for submission to the United Nations under international human rights instruments. When the Unit was formed there was a backlog of periodic reports to be completed. The Unit has completed the following reports (which have already been examined by the relevant international human rights bodies):

Third and Fourth Periodic Reports under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

Second Periodic Report under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;

Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Periodic Reports under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; and

Initial, Second and Third Periodic Reports under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

198.The Second Periodic Report under the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the only outstanding periodic report of Trinidad and Tobago due under international human rights instruments. When completed, Trinidad and Tobago will be fully up to date in its reporting obligations.

199.The Human Rights Unit has been assisted in its work by a Standing Human Rights Consultative Committee. This Committee which is chaired by the Human Rights Unit comprises representatives of some thirteen Ministries and the Tobago House of Assembly. Representatives of the various Ministries on the Committee are responsible for supplying the Human Rights Unit with data from their respective Ministries for preparation of periodic reports.

200.Much of the information contained in this report was obtained from the pertinent Ministries of Government via their representatives on the Human Rights Consultative Committee.

201.The Human Rights Unit of the Ministry of the Attorney General also consulted with more than a dozen NGOs in the preparation of this report: On December 1, 2000 the Human Rights Unit hosted a consultation with NGOs working in the field. In attendance at the meeting were representatives of the Child Welfare League of Trinidad and Tobago, the Credo Centre, the Association for Early Childhood Education, the Trinidad and Tobago Association for Retarded Children and the Lady Hochoy Home for Children among others.

202.In the preparation of this Report, the Human Rights Unit also made written requests to NGOs for information. However, only a few of these NGOs responded to the requests. Some written information was provided inter alia by the Child Welfare League, The Association for Early Childhood Education, The Association for Retarded Children and The Association for Developmental Education.

203.Members of staff of the Human Rights Unit also met with representatives and/or received information on the work of NGOs such as SERVOL, the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition on the Rights of the Child and the Credo Drop-in and Developmental Centre.

204.In December 2002, a representative of the Human Rights Unit interviewed Mr. Gregory Sloane Seale and Ms. Diana Mahabir Wyatt, two prominent child rights activists and representatives of NGO organisations.

(a) “The steps taken to publicise the report, to translate and disseminate it in the national, local, minority or indigenous languages. An indication should be given of the number of meetings (such as parliamentary and governmental conferences, workshops, seminars) held, the number of programmes broadcast on radio or television, the number of publications issued explaining the report and the number of non governmental organisations which participated in such events during the reporting period.

The measures adopted or foreseen to ensure wide dissemination and consideration of the summary records and the concluding observations adopted by the Committee in relation to the State party’s report, including any parliamentary hearing or media coverage. Please indicate the events undertaken to publicise the concluding observations and summary records of the previous report, including the number of meetings (such as parliamentary or governmental conferences, workshops, seminars) held, the number of programmes broadcast on radio or television, the number of publications issued explaining the concluding observations and summary records, and the number of non ‑governmental organisations which participated in such events during the reporting period.”

205.As regards efforts to publicise the Initial Report, these appear to have been very limited in scope. The Concluding Observations were also not widely circulated by the Government as recommended. It may be noted that before the consideration of the initial report under the Convention, an NGO representative reported to the Committee on the Rights of the Child giving the perspective of some twenty-five (25) NGOs on the situation of children in Trinidad and Tobago. However, NGO efforts to publicise the Concluding Observations and Summary Records of the Initial Report also appear to have been limited.

206.In 2000, the Human Rights Unit circulated the Concluding Observations of the Initial Report to all the Ministries represented on the Human Rights Consultative Committee, as well as to NGOs who participated in the consultations with the Human Rights Unit. Representatives of the relevant Ministries were asked to report on the implementation of the Committee’s recommendations. Many of these comments have been incorporated into this Report.

207.Once approved by Cabinet, it is expected that this Second Periodic Report under the Convention will be launched at a ceremony to be hosted by the Attorney General. NGOs, Government representatives as well as members of media will be invited to the launch of the Report.

208.With Cabinet’s approval, the Report will be printed and laid in Parliament by the Attorney General. All members of Parliament will be provided with a copy of the Report. A statement will also be read by the Attorney General upon the laying of the report in Parliament, explaining the Convention and summarising the Report.

209.A copy of the report will be published shortly thereafter on the Government’s website and the soon to be established website of the Ministry of the Attorney General.

210.Upon consideration of the report by the Committee, the Ministry of the Attorney General in consultation with the relevant Ministries intends to take steps to convene a public meeting to discuss the report and the Concluding Observations of the Committee.

II. DEFINITION OF THE CHILD (art. 1)

211. “Under this section, States parties are requested to provide relevant information with respect to article 1 of the Convention, including on:

Any differences between national legislation and the Convention on the definition of the child;” […]

There are varying definitions of a child under different domestic statutes as follows:

S.2 of the Children Act, Chap. 46:01 provides:

“child” means a person under the age of fourteen years.

“young person” means a person who is fourteen years of age or upwards and under the age of sixteen years.

212.The Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, Chap. 11:18 provides that “child” and “young person” have the meanings assigned to them by section 2 of the Children Act.

213.The Children (Amendment) Act, No. 68 of 2000 has amended the definition of “child” in the Children Act, by deleting the word “fourteen” and substituting the word “eighteen”. The upper age limit of a child has accordingly been raised from fourteen to eighteen years, in conformity with the definition of a child under the Convention.

214.The Children (Amendment) Act, No. 68 of 2000 has also deleted the definition of “young person” set out above, and substituted the following definition:

“young person” means a child who is over the age of fourteen years of age and under the age of eighteen years.

215.The Children (Amendment) Act, No. 68 of 2000 is part of the package of legislation described in response to question 12 of the reporting guidelines. This legislation (although passed by Parliament) requires Presidential Proclamation to come into force. The legislation is expected to be proclaimed as soon as the Children’s Authority has been established. Until this amending legislation is proclaimed however, a “child” continues to be defined under the Children Act as “a person under the age of fourteen years”.

216.The Adoption of Children Act, Chap. 46:03 defines a child as “a person under the age of eighteen years who has never been married”. A new Adoption of Children Act, No. 67 of 2000 has been enacted to replace this Act. The new Act also defines a child as “a person under the age of eighteen years who has never been married”. The new Act also requires Presidential Proclamation to come into force.

217.The Children’s Authority Act, No. 64 of 2000 (which will come into force on a date to be proclaimed) defines a child as “a person under the age of eighteen years”.

218.The Status of Children Act, Chap. 46:01 (which is an Act to remove the legal disabilities of children born out of wedlock) defines a child as including “a person who has not attained the age of eighteen years”.

219.The Family Law (Guardianship of Minors, Domicile and Maintenance) Act, Chap. 46:08 (which is an Act to define and regulate the authority of parents as guardians of their minor children, whether or not born in wedlock, their power to appoint guardians, and the powers of Courts in relation to the guardianship, custody and maintenance of minors) defines a “minor” as a person under the age of eighteen years.

220.The Factories Ordinance, Chap. 30. No. 2, in S.3(1) (which applies to persons employed in factories) defines a “child” as “a person who has not attained the age of fourteen years” and a young person as “a person who has attained the age of fourteen and has not attained the age of eighteen years”.

221.The Occupational Health and Safety Bill (which has been drafted to replace the Factories Ordinance, and when enacted, would apply to all persons at work) defines a young person in clause 4 (1) as “a person who has attained the age of fourteen but has not attained the age of eighteen years”.

222.By virtue S. 2 (1) of the Age of Majority Act, Chap. 46:06, a person shall attain full age on attaining the age of eighteen instead of on attaining the age of twenty-one.

223.This subsection applied for the purposes of any rule of law, and in the absence of a definition or of any indication of a contrary intention, for the construction of “full age”, “infant”, “infancy”, “minor” and “minority”.

(a)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Legal and medical counselling without parental consent”

224.The law does not regulate the age at which a child may seek legal counselling without parental consent. Children below the age of eighteen years do not have legal capacity to sue and can only bring an action through a “next friend”, such as a parent. Accordingly, legal counselling is normally only provided to children below the age of eighteen years on condition that parental consent is given.

225.There is no domestic statute which prescribes a minimum legal age at which a child may seek medical counselling without parental consent. In practice, parental consent is required for medical counselling and/or treatment of a child or minor.

226.If parental consent cannot be obtained, the medical practitioner or the attending physician is normally guided by the principles enunciated in the British House of Lords case of Gillick v. West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority & Anor. [1986] A.C. 112. The main question in this appeal was whether a doctor could lawfully prescribe contraception for a girl under 16 years of age, without the consent of her parents. At page 188 H-189A Lord Scarman stated:

… I would hold that as a matter of law the parental right to determine whether or not their minor child below the age of 16 will have medical treatment terminates if and when the child achieves a sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what is proposed. It will be a question of fact whether a child seeking advice has sufficient understanding of what is involved to give a consent valid in law. Until the child achieves the capacity to consent, the parental right to make the decision continues, save only in exceptional circumstances. Emergency, parental neglect, abandonment of the child, or inability to find the parent are examples of exceptional situations justifying the doctor proceeding to treat the child without parental knowledge and consent: but there will arise, no doubt other exceptional situations in which it will be reasonable for the doctor to proceed without the parent’s consent.

227.It was held that a girl under the age of 16 years had the legal capacity to consent to medical examination and treatment, including contraceptive treatment, if she had sufficient maturity and intelligence to understand the nature and implications of the proposed treatment.

228.In Trinidad and Tobago, when a female under the age of sixteen years seeks medical treatment, it is the practice for a female member of staff to be present when the patient is being examined or treated. However, this is not usually done in the case of youthful males unless specifically requested by the patient.

229.In the case of a medical emergency, the practice is to obtain written parental consent. If such consent cannot be reasonably obtained and where in the opinion of the physician the life of the child is at risk, the practice has been to tend to the medical needs of the child, whether male or female, without parental consent. This includes surgical intervention.

(b)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following:Medical treatment or surgery without parental consent”

230.With respect to surgery, the established practice of the medical profession, at both private and public health institutions, has been to seek written parental consent at all times where surgery is required for persons under the age of 16 years. The consent is required by statute in private health institutions. The Private Hospitals Regulations Chap. 29:03 provides:

S.10(1)Subject to subregulation (2), no surgical operation shall be performed on any patient in a private hospital without the written consent of that patient. In the case of a patient who is a minor the written consent of his parent or guardian is required. Consents shall be in the form set out in the Schedule.

(c)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: End of compulsory education”

231.In Trinidad and Tobago the age of compulsory schooling is regulated by the Education Act, Chap. 39:01 which provides in S.76 as follows:

S.76(1)In this Act the expression “a compulsory school age” means any age between six and twelve years and accordingly a person shall be deemed to be of compulsory school age if he has attained the age of six years and has not attained the age of twelve years, and a person shall be deemed to be over the compulsory school age as soon as he has attained the age of twelve years.

(d)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Admission to employment or work, including hazardous work, part-time and full‑time work”

232.The Children Act, Chap. 46:01, regulates the employment of children. The minimum age of employment of children is twelve years but the employment of children between the ages of twelve and eighteen is regulated by the Act. The relevant sections of the Act are quoted below:

S.90(1) An employer who employs a person under the age of eighteen years at night in any public or private industrial undertaking, or any branch thereof; other than an undertaking in which only members of the family of the proprietor or owner are employed…is guilty of an offence.

S.90(2) Persons over the age of sixteen years may be employed during the night in the following industrial undertakings on work which by reason of the nature of the process, is required to be carried on continuously day and night:

(a) manufacture of raw sugar;

(b) any other undertaking which may be declared to come under the exception created by this subsection by Order of the President.

S.91(1) Children under the age of fourteen years shall not be employed or work in any public or private industrial undertaking, or in any branch thereof, other than an undertaking in which only members of the same family are employed; and any person who employs such child or permits him to work in contravention of this section is guilty of an offence.

S.93(1) Children under the age of fourteen years shall not be employed or work on any vessel other than a vessel upon which only members of the same family are employed; and any person who employs any such child or permits him to work in contravention of this section is guilty of an offence.

S.94(1) A child under the age of twelve shall not be employed.

233.The following provisions of domestic statutes also regulate the employment of children as follows:

The Shipping Act, No. 24 of 1987

S.108(1) No person under the age of sixteen years, shall be employed in any Trinidad and Tobago ship, except-

(a) upon work approved by the Director on board a school-ship or training ship;

(b) where the Director certifies that he is satisfied, having due regard to the

health and physical condition of the person and to the prospective and immediate benefit to him of the employment, that the employment will be beneficial to him.

(ii)The Industrial Training Act, Chap. 39:54

S.2 In this Act-

“apprentice” means any boy or girl, being under the age of eighteen years, employed in or in connection with any trade or craft mentioned in the Schedule, with the object or purpose of learning or acquiring any skill, dexterity, cunning, process, or method therein, and whether such boy or girl is or is not bound to any master by contract or agreement.

S.11.(1) It shall be lawful for the father or the mother of any boy or girl above the age of thirteen and under the age of eighteen years…to bind such boy or girl, with the approval of the Board, for any term not exceeding five years to be an apprentice in any of the trades mentioned in the Schedule … and every such contract shall be as effectual to all intents and purposes as if such boy or girl, being of full age, by deed of covenant had bound himself.

(iii) The Factories Ordinance Chap. 30 No. 2

S.32. A young person shall not be employed to lift, carry or move any load so heavy as to be likely to cause injury to him.

S.43. No child shall be employed in any factory, or in the business of a factory outside the factory, or in any business, trade or process, ancillary to the business of a factory.

The Recruiting of Workers Act, Chap. 88:10

Section 6 of this Act allows for the recruitment of a child between the ages of fourteen and eighteen provided that:

(a) The consent of the parent or guardian was acquired;

(b) The conditions of employment are stated in writing and approved by the Magistrate of the district in which the person is recruited or to be employed; and

(c) The Magistrate satisfies himself that the work is suitable and that the welfare of the juvenile is sufficiently safeguarded.

This Act does not apply to the recruiting of workers within Trinidad and Tobago for employment therein. It also does not apply to the recruiting of personal or domestic servants or non-manual workers for employment in Trinidad and Tobago.

(e)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Marriage”

234.In recognition of the religious diversity of the population, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has enacted domestic statutes to give legal recognition to marriages performed under Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Orisa rites respectively. However, there is no uniform minimum age of marriage under the various marriage laws. The minimum age at which a marriage can be contracted under each of these statutes differs as a result of the traditional attitudes and beliefs of the respective religious groups. There are also disparities in the minimum age of marriage based on gender.

The Marriage Act, Chap. 45:01

235.Under this Act, consent is required for the marriage of a minor from his or her parents. Males must be at least fourteen (14) years of age and females at least twelve (12) years (which are the minimum ages of capacity for marriage at common law).

The Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act, Chap. 45:02, Act No. 7 of 1961

236.Under this Act, the age at which a person, being a member of the Muslim community, is capable of contracting marriage is sixteen (16) years in the case of males and twelve (12) years in the case of females.

The Hindu Marriage Act, Chap. 45:03, Act No. 13 of 1945

237.Under this Act, the age at which a person being of the Hindu faith, is capable of contracting a marriage shall be eighteen (18) years in the case of males and fourteen (14) years in the case of females.

The Orisa Marriage Act, No. 22 of 1999

238.Under this Act, the age at which a person, being a member of the Orisa faith or religion, is capable of contracting marriage shall be eighteen (18) years in the case of males and sixteen years (16) in the case of females.

Committee to Review Marriage Laws

239.In 1998, the Government agreed to the establishment of a Committee to review all existing marriage laws (namely, The Marriage Act, The Hindu Marriage Act, The Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act and the then proposed Orisa Marriage Bill which was enacted on August 16 1999) and to make recommendations for their harmonisation. The Committee was mandated to address four main areas: age, registration, consent and notice. A Committee comprising representatives of all the major religions, the relevant Ministries and other interested parties was formed. That Committee had its first meeting in November 1998. Out of that meeting, a legal sub-committee was appointed to review the present marriage laws. The report of the legal sub-committee (which was submitted in March 1999) recommended inter alia that:

The laws relating to marriage be harmonised into one Marriage Act;

There be uniformity in the divisions of the marriage districts;

The age of capacity for a female to marry be raised to 16 years for all religions; and

De facto guardians should be recognised as persons capable of giving consent for minors to marry.

240.The full Committee held its second meeting in April 1999, and the report of the legal sub‑committee was adopted as a working paper and the starting point of the Committee’s deliberations on the topic. It was evident from the ensuing discussions at that meeting that the members of the Committee had very strong views with respect to certain issues that were raised in the report’s recommendations. These included the minimum permissible age for marriage, minimum age of consent and the notice requirement of intended marriages. The Committee felt that further consultations on these areas were needed.

241.As a result, consultations were held at three venues in Trinidad and Tobago from June 24 to July 6, 1999. One of the issues which remained contentious following these consultations was the proposed harmonisation of the minimum age of marriage under the different statutes. The official position of representatives of the Muslim and Hindu groups was that the minimum ages represented in the Muslim and Hindu Marriage Acts should not be altered, largely because of their traditional beliefs.

242.A further consultation was convened in 2000 by the (then) Attorney General with representatives of the main religious groups to try to achieve consensus. However, thus far the Government has not been able to achieve harmonisation of the minimum age of marriage under the various domestic statutes with the Convention because of the official position which the Hindu and Muslim groups (who represent a significant percentage of the population) continue to take.

243.The table below sets out the number of persons below 18 years of age who were married during the period 1997-1999:

Year	Age	Male	Female	Total
1997	<15	-	15	15
	15	29	190	219
	16	29	191	220
	17	29	191	220
Sub-Total		87	587	674
1998	<15	-	16	16
	15	22	187	209
	16	23	188	211
	17	23	188	211
Sub-Total		68	579	647
1999	<15	-	7	7
	15	29	180	209
	16	29	181	210
	17	30	181	211
Sub-Total		88	549	637

(f)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Sexual consent”

244.Under the Sexual Offences Act, No. 27 of 1986 (as amended) the age of sexual consent is sixteen years for both males and females. This minimum age does not apply if the parties are lawfully married. The following provisions of the Act are relevant:

S.6(1) Where a person has sexual intercourse with a female person who is not his wife and who is under the age of fourteen years, he is guilty of an offence, whether or not the female person consented to the intercourse and whether or not at the time of the intercourse he believed her to be fourteen years of age or more, and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life.

S.7(1)Where a male person has sexual intercourse with a female person who is not his wife with her consent and who has attained the age of fourteen years but has not attained the age of sixteen years, he is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for twelve years for a first offence and to imprisonment for fifteen years for a subsequent offence.

S.7(2)A male person is not guilty of an offence under subsection (1)-

(a) if he honestly believed that the female person was sixteen years of age or more; or

(b) if the male person is not more than three years older than the female person and the court is of the opinion that the evidence discloses that as between the male person and the female person, the male person is not wholly or chiefly to blame.

S.8(1)Where a female adult has sexual intercourse with a male person who is not her husband and who is under the age of sixteen years, she is guilty of an offence, whether or not the male person consented to the intercourse, and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for five years.

S.8(2)A female adult is not guilty of an offence under subsection (1)-

(a) if she honestly believed that the male person was sixteen years of age or more; or

(b) if the female adult is not more than three years older than the male person and the court is of the opinion that the evidence discloses that as between the female adult and the male person, the female adult is not wholly or chiefly to blame.

(g)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Voluntary enlistment in the armed forces”

245.The minimum legal age for the voluntary enlistment of persons into the armed forces is sixteen years. However, a person between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years can only beenlisted if parental consent is obtained in accordance with S.19 of the Defence Act, Chap. 14:01 (which was recently amended by the Miscellaneous Provisions (Children) Act, No. 66 of 2000). The section provides:

S.19(1) A recruiting officer shall give to a person offering to enlist in the Force a notice in the prescribed form and shall not enlist any person in the Force unless he is satisfied-

by that person that he has been given such a notice, understands it, and wishes to be enlisted;

subject to subsection (2), that that person has attained the age of sixteen years.

S.19(2) A recruiting officer shall not enlist a person between the ages of sixteen years and eighteen years unless consent to the enlistment has been given in writing-

(a) if the person offering to enlist is living with both or one of his parents, by the parents or parent;

(b)if he is not living with both or one of his parents, by any person (whether a parent or not) whose where-abouts are known or can after reasonable enquiry be ascertained and who has parental rights and powers in respect of him, by that person;

(c) if there is no such person as is mentioned in paragraph (b) or if after reasonable enquiry it cannot be ascertained whether there is any such person, by any person in whose care (whether in law or in fact) the person offering to enlist may be.

(h)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Conscription into the armed forces”

246.There are no provisions in the domestic legislation for the compulsory enlistment of persons into the military service.

(i)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Participation in hostilities”

247.The domestic law is silent as to the minimum age for participation in hostilities. Once recruited and trained, it appears that a person can be assigned to participate in hostilities. The Defence (Enlistment and Service) Regulations in its First Schedule sets out the Notice which must be given to all recruits. The Notice provides inter alia:

You will be required to engage to serve the State in the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force …You will be liable to serve in part of Trinidad and Tobago and may be ordered to serve outside Trinidad and Tobago.

(j)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Criminal responsibility”

248.The age of criminal responsibility is not defined by domestic statute. The minimum age is seven years, which is the original common law position. Children below the age of seven years are considered incapable of forming criminal intent.

249.The common law further elaborated on the position in respect of children between the ages of 10 and 14. As extensively reviewed in C. (A Minor) v. DPP [1996] 1 A.C. 1, H.L., their Lordships held that:

(a) There is a presumption that a child between these ages is doli incapax;

(b) This presumption can only be rebutted by clear positive evidence that the child knew that his act was seriously wrong (as opposed to mere naughtiness or childish mischief) at the time when he did it;

(c) Mere proof of the doing of the act charged, however horrifying or obviously wrong that act might have been, cannot establish the requisite guilty knowledge and rebut the presumption;

(d) Interviews with the child are capable of providing the necessary insight into the mental function of the child, from which inferences might be drawn to rebut the presumption;

(e) The conduct of the child before or after the act might go to prove his guilty mind; and

(f) The older the child was at the relevant time, and the more obviously wrong the act, the easier it will generally be to prove guilty knowledge.

250.Any presumption of incapacity of children to commit crime ceases upon them attaining the age of 14 years. At 14 years, a child is presumed by the law to be capable of distinguishing good from evil.

(k)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Deprivation of liberty, including by arrest, detention and imprisonment, inter aliain the areas of administration of justice, asylum seeking and placement of children in welfare and health institutions”

Detention upon arrest

251.Children of the age of criminal responsibility (ie. seven years and older) are subject to arrest and some form of detention. In general, the law makes special, less punitive provisions for the trial and detention of a person under eighteen unless he or she is charged with homicide.

252.A juvenile who is detained in a police station must be kept separate from adults. Even before and after court attendance, he must be prevented from associating with adult prisoners. The Children Act, Chap. 46:01 provides:

S.73 The Commissioner of Police shall make arrangements for preventing, as far as practicable, a child or young person while being detained in a Police Station from associating with an adult, other than a relative, charged with an offence.

S.71 Where a person apparently under the age of sixteen years is apprehended with or without warrant, and cannot be brought forthwith before a Magistrate, the officer in charge of the Police Station to which such person is brought shall enquire into the case and may, in any case, and shall-

(a) unless the charge is one of homicide or other grave crime;

(b) unless it is necessary in the interest of such person to remove him from association with any reputed criminal or prostitute;

(c) unless the officer has reason to believe that the release of such person would defeat the ends of justice;

release such person on bail in accordance with the Bail Act, 1994, subject to a duty to appear before a Magistrate’s Court at such time and place as the officer appoints.

253.If the offence is not a homicide, a child can be released into the care of his parents or guardians until the trial. If a juvenile is not released on bail, he must be remanded in a place of detention that is not a prison such as the Youth Training Centre. Remandees awaiting trial who are detained at the Youth Training Centre are not eligible for any of the rehabilitation educational programmes conducted at the Institution. Remandees may however, participate in spiritual transformation programmes conducted at the Centre. The Children Act, Chap. 46:01 provides:

S.72 Where a person apparently under the age of sixteen years, having been apprehended is not so released as aforesaid, the officer in charge of the Police Station to which such person is brought shall cause him to be detained in a place of detention provided under this Part until he can be brought before a Magistrate, unless the officer certifies-

(a) that it is impracticable to do so;

(b) that he is of so unruly a character that he cannot be safely so detained; or

(c) that by reason of his state of health or his mental or bodily condition, it is inadvisable so to detain him;

and the certificate shall be produced to the Magistrate before whom the person is brought.

S.74(1) A Magistrate, on remanding or committing for trial a child or young person who is not released on bail, shall, instead of committing him to prison , commit him to custody in a place of detention provided under this Part…and there to be detained for the period for which he is remanded…However, in the case of a young person, it shall not be obligatory on the Magistrate so to commit him if the Magistrate certifies that he is of so unruly a character that he cannot be safely so committed, or that he is of so depraved a character that he is not a fit person to be so detained. (emphasis added)

Detention of children and young persons upon conviction

254.Under the Children Act, a child under 14 years cannot be sentenced to imprisonment. Generally, though, a child, if found guilty of any offence except homicide, is subject to special penalties. For instance, the child may be placed on probation or put in the care of a relative or sent to an Orphanage or Industrial School. There is also provision for the parents or guardian to pay a fine or sign a bond for the offending child’s good behaviour. This frequently happens where the child has damaged property or assaulted someone. The relevant section of the Children Act, Chap. 46:01, underlined for emphasis, is as follows:

S.78(1) A child shall not be sentenced to imprisonment for any offence or committed to prison in default of payment of a fine, damages or costs .

(2) A young person shall not be sentenced to imprisonment for any offence.

(3) A young person shall not be sentenced to imprisonment for an offence or committed to prison in default of payment of a fine, damages, or costs, unless the court certifies that the young person is of so unruly a character that he cannot be detained in a place of detention provided under this Part, or that he is of so depraved a character that he is not a fit person to be so detained .

(4)A young person sentenced to imprisonment shall not be allowed to associate with adult prisoners.

255.Section 7 of the Young Offenders Detention Act, Chap. 13:05 allows the Court to impose an alternative sentence to imprisonment in the case of persons between the ages of 16 and 18 years:

S.7 Where a person is convicted before the High Court on indictment of any offence other than murder, or before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction of any offence for which he is liable to be sentenced to imprisonment, and it appears to such Court-

(a) That the person is not less than sixteen nor more than eighteen years of age…

the Court may, in lieu of sentencing him to the punishment provided by law for the offence for which he was convicted, pass a sentence of detention under penal discipline in the Institution for a term of not less than three years nor more than four years.

The detention of young offenders

256.A person between the ages of 14 and 16 (a young person) will normally only be sentenced to imprisonment if the court finds and certifies the offender is of so depraved or unruly a character that detention in an Industrial School is unsuitable. In such a case, the child will be specially detained and kept away from adults. The Court is empowered to order the detention of a juvenile in accordance with the Children Act, Chap. 46:01. The St. Michael’s School for Boys and the St. Jude’s School for Girls are the only two certified Industrial Schools available to the Court for referral of juvenile offenders between the ages of ten and sixteen years. Boys between the ages of sixteen and eighteen are committed to an Institution known as the Youth Training Centre which is run by the Prison Service. Unfortunately, there is no equivalent facility for the detention of girls who are between the ages of 16 and 18 years. Consequently, young women between the ages of sixteen and eighteen can only be referred to the Women’s Prison. The relevant provisions of the Children Act are as follows:

S.83 Where a child or young person charged with any offence is tried by any court, and the court is satisfied of his guilt, the court shall take into consideration the manner in which, under the provisions of this…Act enabling the court to deal with the case, the case should be dealt with, namely whether-

(d) by committing the offender to the care of a relative or other fit person;

(e) by sending the offender to an Industrial School;

(f) by sending the offender to an Orphanage;

S.43 Where a youthful offender is charged before the High Court or before a Magistrate with an offence punishable in the case of an adult by imprisonment, and in the opinion of the Court before which he is charged such youthful offender is ten years of age or upwards but less than sixteen years of age, the Court, if satisfied on enquiry that it is expedient so to deal with the youthful offender, may order him to be sent to a certified Industrial School.

S.44(2) Where a child apparently under the age of ten years is charged before the High Court or before the High Court or before a Magistrate with an offence punishable in the case of an adult by imprisonment, or a less punishment, the Court, if satisfied on enquiry that it is expedient so to deal with the child, may order him to be sent to a certified Orphanage.

S.44(5) Where, under this section, a court is empowered to order a child to be sent to a certified Orphanage, the court, in lieu of ordering him to be so sent, may, in accordance with the provisions of Part I, make an order for the committal of the child to the care of a relative or other fit person named by the Court…

S.27 An order of a court ordering a youthful offender or child to be sent to and detained in a certified school (in this Act referred to as a detention order) may, if the Court thinks fit, be made to take effect either immediately or at any later date…regard being had to the age or health of the youthful offender or child.

S.50 The detention order shall specify the time for which the youthful offender or child is to be detained in the school, being-

(a) in the case of a youthful offender sent to an Industrial School, until such offender attains the age of eighteen years. However, the court may, if it thinks fit, on the application of the managers of a certified Industrial School and with the consent of such offender, make an order extending the time of detention in the case of a female until she attains the age of twenty-one years; and

(b) in the case of a child sent to an Orphanage, until such child attains the age of sixteen years. However, the court may, if it thinks fit, on the application of the managers of a certified Orphanage and with the consent of such a child, make an order extending the time of detention in the case of a male until he attains the age of eighteen years and in the case of a female until she attains the age of twenty-one years.

(l)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Capital punishment and life imprisonment”

257.A person who is convicted of murder committed when he or she was under eighteen years of age may not be sentenced to death. It matters not whether the person is over eighteen years at the time of the trial. The important date is the date of the offence. The law provides that in lieu of death, a person under eighteen shall be sentenced to “be detained during the State’s pleasure” at a place and in conditions to be directed by the requisite Minister. The judge does not have the power to specify the period of detention for such a person. The relevant section of the Children Act, Chap. 46:01 is as follows:

S.79 Sentence of death shall not be pronounced on or recorded against a person convicted of an offence if it appears to the Court that at the time when the offence was committed he was under the age of eighteen years; but in lieu thereof the Court shall sentence him to be detained during the State’s pleasure, and, if so sentenced, he shall be liable to be detained in such place and under such conditions as the Minister may direct, and whilst so detained shall be deemed to be in legal custody.

258.Statute does not provide a minimum age at which a person may be sentenced to life imprisonment. In these cases the term, unlike for murder, will have been specified. There is also provision in the legislation for the relevant Minister to discharge a person detained on conviction for manslaughter, attempted murder or wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm. A child convicted of any of the serious offences listed below can be ordered to be transferred to prison upon reaching the age of eighteen years. The relevant section of the Children Act, Chap. 46:01 provides:

S80 Where a child or young person is convicted on indictment of an attempt to murder, or of manslaughter or of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and the Court is of opinion that no punishment which, under the provisions of this Act, it is authorised to inflict is sufficient, the Court may sentence the offender to be detained for such period as may be specified in the sentence; and, where such a sentence is passed, the child or young person shall, during that period… be liable to be detained in such place and on such conditions as the Minister may direct, and whilst so detained shall be deemed to be in legal custody.

(m)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Giving testimony in court, in civil and criminal cases”

Civil cases

259.The competency of a child to give evidence in a civil case is governed exclusively by the common law which was settled in R. v. Braiser. The question whether a child under seven was competent to give evidence at a prosecution for an assault was reserved for the twelve judges who stated the law to be that no testimony whatever can be legally received except upon oath. They added that an infant, though under the age of seven years, may be sworn in a criminal prosecution, provided such infant appears, on strict examination by the court, to possess a sufficient knowledge of the nature and consequences of an oath:

There is no precise or fixed rule as to the time within which infants are excluded from giving evidence, but their admissibility depends upon the sense and reason they entertain of the danger and impiety of falsehood, which is to be collected from their answers to questions propounded by the court.

260.In R. v. Hayes the Court of Appeal approved a more secular approach. The important thing is for the judge to be satisfied that the child appreciates the solemnity of the occasion and is sufficiently responsible to understand that the taking of an oath involves an obligation to tell the truth over and above the ordinary duty of doing so.

261.If the Court comes to the conclusion that the child does not understand the nature of an oath, the evidence must be rejected, unless it is considered to be worthwhile to adjourn the case so as to instruct the proposed witness in these matters.

Criminal cases

262.The law recognises the special needs of children as witnesses. The relevant sections of the domestic statute are described below.

263.Section 19 of the Children Act, Chap. 46:01 (as amended by S.16 of the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act) provides:

S.19(1) A child’s evidence in criminal proceedings shall be given unsworn.

(2) Before receiving the evidence of a child under subsection (1), a Court shall hold an enquiry to determine whether the child is possessed of sufficient intelligence to justify the reception of his evidence, and understands the duty of speaking the truth.

(3) A child’s unsworn evidence may be taken and reduced to writing in accordance with the Indictable Offences (Preliminary Enquiry) Act or this Part, and shall be deemed to be a deposition within the meaning of that Act and this Part.

(4) The unsworn evidence of a child may not be corroborated by the unsworn evidence of another child…

(5) Subject to subsection (6), a person may not be convicted of an offence unless the evidence admitted under this section and given on behalf of the prosecution is corroborated by some other material particular implicating the accused and such corroboration may consist of evidence other than oral evidence.

(6) Notwithstanding subsection (5), an accused person may be convicted on the uncorroborated evidence of a child provided that the court warns the jury of the danger of convicting the accused person on the uncorroborated evidence of the child.

(7) A child, whose evidence is received as aforesaid and who wilfully gives false evidence under such circumstances that, if the evidence had been given on oath, he would have been guilty of perjury is, subject to this Act, liable on summary conviction to be adjudged such punishment as might have been awarded had he been charged with perjury and the case dealt with summarily under section 99 of the Summary Courts Act.

264.The Children Act provides for the taking of a child’s evidence by deposition. The relevant sections are as follows:

S.17(1) Where a Magistrate is satisfied by the evidence of a duly qualified medical practitioner that the attendance before a court of any child or young person, in respect of whom an offence under this Part or any of the offences mentioned in the Schedule, is alleged to have been committed, would involve serious danger to the life or health of the child or young person, the Magistrate may take in writing the deposition of the child or young person on oath, and shall thereupon subscribe the deposition and add thereto a statement of his reason for taking the deposition, and of the day when and place where the deposition was taken, and of the names of the persons (if any) present at the taking thereof.

S.18 Where, on the trial of any person on indictment for an offence of cruelty, or any of the offences mentioned in the Schedule, the court is satisfied by the evidence of a duly qualified medical practitioner that the attendance before the court of any child or young person in respect of whom the offence is alleged to have been committed would involve serious danger to the life or health of the child or young person, any deposition of the child or young person, taken under the Indictable Offence (Preliminary Enquiry) Act, or under this Part of this Act, shall be admissible in evidence either for or against the accused person without further proof thereof-

(a) if it purports to be signed by the Magistrate by or before whom it purports to be taken; and

(b) if it is proved that reasonable notice of the intention to take the deposition has been served upon the person against whom it is proposed to use it as evidence, and that that person or his counsel or his solicitor has, or might have had if he had chosen to be present, an opportunity of cross ‑examining the child or young person making the deposition.

265.Section 19 B of the Children Act provides for the admission of a child’s evidence by video recording as follows:

S.19E(2) For the purpose of sections 19A to 19D (below)- “child” means a person who was at the time when the video recording was made, under the age of sixteen and who has not attained the age of eighteen at the time of the cross examination.

S.19B(1) In proceedings to which this section applies, a video recording of an interview which is conducted between an adult and a child (hereinafter in this Part called “the child witness”) who is not the accused or one of the accused, and which relates to any matter in issue in the proceedings, may, with the leave of the Court, be given in evidence in so far as it is not excluded under subsection(3).

S.19B(2)This section applies to all criminal proceedings in which-

(a) t he offence charged involves an assault on, or injury or threat of injury to a person;

(b) the offence charged is an offence under this Part;

(c) the offence charged is an offence under the Sexual Offences Act; or

(d) the offence charged is of attempting or conspiring to commit or of aiding and abetting, counselling, procuring or inciting the commission of an offence falling within paragraphs (a), (b) or (c).

S.19A Where a video recording is admitted in evidence under section 19B(1), cross examination of the witness shall be by means of an electronic device linking the voice and imagery of the accused or his attorney at law with the voice and imagery of such witness who is a child and who is alleged-

(a) to be the person against whom the offence was committed; or

(b) to have witnessed the commission of the offence.

S.19B(3) Where a video recording is tendered in evidence under this section, the Court may, subject to the exercise of any power to exclude evidence which is otherwise admissible, give leave under subsection (1) unless-

(a) it appears that the child witness will not be available for cross ‑examination;…

(b) the Court is of the opinion having regard to all the circumstances of the case, that in the interest of justice the recording ought not to be admitted.

S.19C Where a video recording is admitted under section 19B, the child witness shall be called by the party who tendered the recording in evidence but the witness shall not be examined in chief on any matter which, in the opinion of the Court, has been dealt with adequately in his recorded testimony.

S.19D(1) Where a video recording is given in evidence under section 19B, any statement made by the child witness which is disclosed by the recording shall be treated as if given by that witness in direct oral testimony, and any such statement shall be admissible evidence of any fact of which such testimony from him would be admissible…

266.Children accused of offences are tried in Juvenile Court (ie. the Magistrate’s Court where the hearing is in camera) for any offence other than murder and manslaughter. Section 97 of the Children Act provides further:

In addition and without prejudice to any powers which a court may possess to hear proceedings in camera, the court may, where a person who, in the opinion of the court, is a child or young person, is called as a witness in any proceedings in relation to an offence against, or contrary to, decency or morality, direct that all or any persons, not being officers of the court or parties to the case, their counsel or solicitors, or persons otherwise directly concerned in the case, be excluded from the court during the taking of the evidence of the child or young person.

(n)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Lodging complaints and seeking redress before a court or other relevant authority without parental consent”

267.Order 77, Rule 2 (1) of The Orders and Rules of the Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago 1975 provides:

A person under disability may not bring, or make a claim in, any proceedings except by his next friend, and may not defend, make a counterclaim or intervene in any proceedings or appear in any proceedings under a judgment or order, notice of which has been served on him, except by his guardian ad litem.

268.This Rule applies to “a person under disability”, which includes persons under the age of eighteen. A next friend is “a person who appears in a lawsuit to act for the benefit of a minor plaintiff, but who is not a party to the lawsuit”. A guardian ad litem is usually a “lawyer appointed by the court to appear in a lawsuit on behalf of an incompetent or minor party”.

(o)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Participating in administrative and judicial proceedings affecting the child”

269.There is no prescribed minimum age at which a child can participate in administrative and judicial proceedings. The law regulating the taking and admission of a child’s evidence in Court has already been identified. Participation of a child in administrative proceedings is usually a matter for discretion of the Chairperson, Board or Tribunal in charge of the proceedings.

270.Some domestic statutes make explicit provision for the participation of children in judicial and administrative proceedings. For example, the Adoption of Children Act, No. 67 of 2000 provides that in making arrangements for the adoption of a child, the Board shall inter alia “so far as practicable ascertain the wishes of the child and give due consideration to them having regard to the age and understanding of the child”. This Act provides further:

S.22(1) Where an application for an adoption order is made in respect of a child, the court shall, before making the order, take into consideration the views and wishes of the child having regard to the age and understanding of that child.

271.Similarly, the Children’s Authority Act, No. 64 of 2000 in S.33(1) provides that any Court before which a person is charged for having committed an offence in respect of a child “may direct that the child be brought before the Court with a view to making an order, under section 25”. Section 25 provides that where the Court is satisfied that a child brought before it by the Authority is a child in need of care and protection, it may make an order in accordance with that section.

(p)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Giving consent to change of identity, including change of name, modification of family relations, adoption, guardianship”

Giving consent to change of identity

272.A child below the age of eighteen is only permitted to change his or her name by application made through his or her parent or by a stranger (with the consent of both parents). The Family Law (Guardianship of Minors, Domicile and Maintenance) Act, Chap. 46:08 provides:

5(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the father or mother of a minor or a stranger may apply to the High Court to change a given name or the surname of that minor.

(2) Where an application is made under subsection (1)-

(a) by the mother or father, the consent of the other parent must first be obtained; or

(b) by the stranger, the consent of both parents must first be obtained.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), the Court may, on an application made under subsection (1), dispense with the consent of the father or of the mother in the case where the mother or father is dead or cannot be found, or in any other case, as it sees fit.

Giving consent to adoption

273.The Adoption of Children Act, No. 67 of 2000 does not make provision for a child to consent to adoption. It is the parent, guardian or the person who has the actual custody of the child who must consent to the adoption. The legislation instead makes it a requirement that a child’s views are considered both by the Adoption Board and by the Court. The relevant sections are as follows:

S.8(1) It shall be the duty of the Board to-

…(f) listen to the views of the child.

S.10 In making arrangements for the adoption of a child the Board shall-

…(b) so far as practicable ascertain the wishes of the child and give due consideration to them having regard to the age and understanding of the child.

S. 22 (1) Where an application for an adoption order is made in respect of a child, the court shall, before making the order, take into consideration the views and wishes of the child having regard to the age and understanding of that child.

Giving consent to guardianship

274.The appointment, removal and powers of a guardian are set out in sections 7-12 of the Family Law (Guardianship of Minors, Domicile and Maintenance) Act, Chap. 46:08. There is no provision in this Act for a child to give consent or express his or her views as regards the appointment of a guardian.

275.In deciding questions relating to the legal custody or upbringing of a minor, the Court regards the welfare of the child as the paramount consideration. The Family Law (Guardianship of Minors, Domicile and Maintenance) Act provides:

S.3 Where in any proceedings any court-

(a) the legal custody or upbringing of a minor; or

(b) the administration of any property belonging to or held in trust for a minor, or the application of the income thereof;

is in question, the court, in deciding that question, shall regard the welfare of the minor as the first and paramount consideration…

(q)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Having access to information concerning the biological family;

276.The Adoption of Children Act, No. 67 of 2000 provides for the disclosure of the birth records of an adopted person to a person who is eighteen years old.

S.34 (1) An adopted person, who is eighteen years old and the record of whose birth is kept by the Registrar General, may make an application in the prescribed manner to the Registrar General for such information as is necessary to enable that person to obtain a certified copy of the record of his birth, as recorded in the Register of Births and Deaths and the Registrar General shall, on payment of the prescribed fee by the applicant, supply to the applicant that information.

(2)An adopted person under the age of eighteen years whose birth record is kept by the Registrar General, and who intends to be married may make an application in the prescribed manner to the Registrar General, and on payment of the prescribed fee, the Registrar General shall inform the applicant whether or not it appears from the registers of births or other records that the applicant and the person whom he intends to marry may be within the prohibited degrees of relationship for the purposes of the Marriage Act.

(r)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Legal capacity to inherit, to conduct property transactions”

277.By virtue S.2(1) of the Age of Majority Act, Chap. 46:06, a person shall attain full age on attaining the age of eighteen instead of on attaining the age of twenty-one. This subsection applies for the purposes of any rule of law, and in the absence of a definition or of any indication of a contrary intention, for the construction of “full age”, “infant”, “infancy”, “minor” and “minority”.

278.The minimum legal age defined by national legislation for legal capacity to inherit is accordingly eighteen years. However, property may be left to a person below the age of eighteen years, in which case such property shall be left on trust for such person. The absence of a trust would cause the gift to fail. Despite this, in cases of testacy, Grants for the Use and Benefit of a Minor (limited until the minor attains the age of majority) are made in circumstances where the person entitled by law to apply for a general grant of representation of the deceased’s estate (the executor) is a minor. On attaining the age of majority, the beneficiary will be entitled to probate the will.

279.Section 19 of the Infants Act, Chap. 46:02 protects persons under eighteen years from being contractually bound, by providing that:

All contracts… entered into by infants for the repayment of money lent or to be lent, or for goods supplied or to be supplied (other than contracts for necessaries), and all accounts stated with infants, shall be absolutely void…

280.Furthermore, S.77(1) and (2) of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Ordinance, Chap. 27. No. 12 outlines that:

S.77(1) If and as long as any person who is entitled to a beneficial interest in possession affecting land is an infant, the trustees appointed for this purpose by the settlement, or if there are none so appointed, ... then any person appointed as trustee for this purpose by the Court on application of a guardian or next friend of the infant, may enter into and continue in possession of the land on behalf of the infant , and in every such case the subsequent provisions of this section shall apply.

(2) The trustees shall manage or superintend the management of the land, with full power- …

(f) to make allowance to and arrangements with tenants and others;

(g) to determine tenancies, and to accept surrenders of leases and tenancies; and

(h) generally to deal with the land in a proper and due course of management.

(s)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: To create or join associations”

281.Section 4(j) of the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago recognises the right of all individuals including children to “freedom of association and assembly”. The age at which a child may join an association is therefore not regulated by statute, but would depend on the rules and regulations of each association.

(t)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Choosing a religion or attending religious school teaching”

282.Section 4(h) of the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago guarantees and recognises inter alia the right of all individuals (including children) to “freedom of religious belief and observance”. This constitutional right is enforceable in the High Court. There is no statutory or other limitation as to the age at which a child can choose his or her religion or attend religious school teaching.

283.There are denominational Government assisted (primary and secondary) schools throughout the country which children can attend depending on their religion. These schools provide religious instruction for students depending on the school’s denomination.

284.The Education Act, Chap. 39:01 prohibits religious discrimination in schools. It provides as follows:

S.7 No person shall be refused admission to any public school on account of the religious persuasion, race, social status or language of such person or of his parent.

S.29(1) No child shall be required as a condition of admission into, or of continuing in, a public school-

(a) to attend or to abstain from attending any Sunday School or any place of religious worship;

(b) to attend any religious observance or any instruction in religious subjects in the school or elsewhere from which observance or instruction he may be withdrawn by his parent; or

(c) to attend the school on any day specially set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the parent belongs.

S.29(2) Religious instruction shall form part of the curriculum of every public school, and the facilities for religious observance in the school shall be provided in such manner as is prescribed, save, however, that any pupil may be withdrawn by his parent from the instruction or observance without forfeiting any of the other benefits of the school.

S.29(3) The time during which religious instruction may be given or during which any religious observance may be practised shall be inserted in a timetable to be approved by the Minister and the timetable shall be kept permanently and conspicuously affixed in every classroom.

(u)“The minimum legal age defined by the national legislation for the following: Consumption of alcohol and other controlled substances”

285.The minimum age for consumption of alcohol is eighteen years. Section 60 of the Liquor Licenses Act, Chap. 84:10 (as amended by section 23 of the Miscellaneous Provisions (Children) Act, No. 66 of 2000) provides that any person who knowingly sells or allows any other person to sell any description of intoxicating liquors to any child apparently under the age of 18 years, whether for his own use or not, shall incur a penalty. The Act does not deal specifically with the issue of alcohol consumption.

286.Section 25 of the Children Act, Chap. 46:01 provides that any constable shall seize any cigarettes or cigarette papers which are in the possession of any person apparently under the age of sixteen years whom he finds smoking in any street or public place.

(v)“How the minimum age for employment relates to the age of completion of compulsory schooling, how it affects the right of the child to education and how relevant international instruments are taken into account”

287.Section 76 of the Education Act, Chap. 39:01 provides for compulsory schooling of children between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Before the year 2000, free secondary school education was only available to primary school students on a competitive basis (based on the results of the Common Entrance Exam) since secondary school places were limited. For this reason education was only compulsory up to the age of completion of primary school. Since the year 2000, the Government has placed all primary school students writing the Common Entrance Examination (which has been replaced by the Secondary Entrance Assessment) in secondary schools. Please refer to the Education section of this Report for details.

288.The Children Act, Chap. 46:01 regulates the employment of children. Section 94(1) provides that a child under the age of twelve years shall not be employed.

289.Section 91(1) provides that children below the age of fourteen years shall not be employed or work in any public or private industrial undertaking, other than an undertaking in which only members of the same family are employed.

290.Section 90 states that children below the age of 18 years may not be employed at night. One is exception to this rule is that persons over the age of 16 years may be employed at night, in the manufacture of raw sugar.

291.Domestic statutes do not therefore restrict the employment of children between the ages of 14 and 18 during the day.

292.ILO Convention No. 138 concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment provides that the minimum age “shall not be less than the age of compulsory schooling and, in any case, shall not be less than 15 years”. This Convention was submitted by Trinidad and Tobago to the ILO for ratification in 1999, but was not accepted, as Trinidad and Tobago did not declare a minimum age as required in the Convention. The ILO 144 Tripartite Committee which has been appointed to advise the Government on ILO Conventions, has examined the issue and is considering a minimum age of 16 years in keeping with Article 3 of the Convention. Since the existing law permits the employment of children between the ages of 12 and 18, albeit in limited circumstances, if Trinidad and Tobago declares a minimum age of sixteen years for admission to employment, a number of domestic statutes will require amendment. As children between the ages of twelve and sixteen will no longer be permitted to work, consideration will also have to be given to increasing the upper age limit of compulsory education, so that these children will not be allowed to fall into delinquency.

293.On 23 April 2003, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago ratified ILO Convention 182 Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour. Steps will be taken in the near future to amend the existing domestic legislation to conform to the provisions of the Convention.

294.As part of the Ministry of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprise Development’s attempt to address the issue of child labour, officers of the Ministry’s Labour Inspectorate Division have been exposed to training in the area of child labour. The Division is responsible for inspection of business establishments to ensure compliance with labour related legislation. Four inspectors have benefited from participation at a “Caribbean Sub-Regional Training Seminar” on child labour held in Jamaica from 7-11 October 2002.

(w)“In cases where there is a difference in the legislation between girls and boys, including in relation to marriage and sexual consent, the extent to which article 2 of the Convention has been given consideration”

295.As stated earlier, efforts have been made to harmonise the minimum age of marriage for both boys and girls but representatives of the Muslim and Hindu groups have rejected the Government’s attempts to do so.

III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

A. Non-discrimination (art. 2)

296. “Reports should indicate whether the principle of non-discrimination is included as a binding principle in the Constitution or in domestic legislation specifically for children and whether all the possible grounds for discrimination spelled out in article 2 of the Convention are reflected in such legal provisions. Reports should further indicate the measures adopted to ensure the rights set forth in the Convention to each child under the jurisdiction of the State without discrimination of any kind, including non ‑nationals, refugees and asylum ‑seekers.”

The Constitution: The fundamental human rights and freedoms which are expressly recognised, declared and protected under Ss. 4 and 5 of the Constitution, are stated to exist “without discrimination by reason of race, origin, colour, religion or sex”.

297.While discrimination on the basis of political opinion is not expressly prohibited, S.4 of the Constitution recognises and guarantees inter alia the right of an individual to “join political parties and express political views”.

298.Discrimination on the basis of a child or his or her parents “language, property, disability or birth” (which are covered by Article 2 of the Convention) is not expressly prohibited by the Constitution.

299.Another fundamental human right guaranteed by S.4(h) of the Constitution is “freedom of conscience and religious belief and observance”.

300.These constitutional rights are guaranteed to all individuals within the jurisdiction including children, non-nationals, refugees and asylum seekers.

The Equal Opportunity Act

301.The Equal Opportunity Act, No. 69 of 2000. This Act which will come into force by Presidential Proclamation seeks to prohibit discrimination on the ground of a person’s status.

302.Section 3 of the Act provides:

“status” in relation to a person means-

(a) the sex;

(b) the race;

(c) the ethnicity;

(d) the origin, including geographical origin;

(e) the religion;

(f) the marital status; or

(g) any disability of that person.

303.Section 4 of the Act provides:

4. This Act applies to

(a) discrimination in relation to employment, education, the provision of goods and services and the provision of accommodation if the discrimination is-

discrimination on the ground of status as defined in section 5; or

discrimination by victimisation as defined in section 6;

(b) offensive behaviour referred to in section 7.

304.Section 5 provides:

5.For the purposes of this Act, a person (“the discriminator”) discriminates against another person on the grounds of status if, by reason of-

(a) the status of the aggrieved person;

(b) a characteristic that appertains generally to persons of the status of the aggrieved person; or

(c) a characteristic that is generally imputed to persons of the status of the aggrieved person;

the discriminator treats the aggrieved person, in circumstances that are the same or are not materially different, less favourably than the discriminator treats another person of a different status.

305.Section 7 of the Act provides:

S.7(1) A person shall not otherwise than in private, do any act which-

(a) is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of persons;

(b) is done because of the gender, race, ethnicity , origin or religion of the other person or some or all of the persons in the group; and

(c) which is done with the intention of inciting gender, racial or religious hatred.

S.7(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), an act is taken not to be done in private if it-

(a) causes words, sounds, images or writing to be communicated to the public;

(b) is done in a public place;

(c) is done in the sight and hearing of persons who are in a public place.

S.7(3) This section does not apply to acts committed in a place of public worship.

306.Section 26(1) establishes an Equal Opportunity Commission which shall comprise five Commissioners including a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman appointed by the President after consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. A Commissioner shall be a person with training and experience in the field of law, industrial relations, sociology or administration and who has served in one of these fields for a period of not less than ten years. The membership of the Commission is required by S.26 (5) to reflect, as far as possible, a balance of race and gender.

307.Section 27 sets out the functions of the Commission which are inter alia, to work towards the elimination of discrimination and to receive, investigate, and as far as possible, conciliate allegations of discrimination.

308.Section 30 provides that a person who alleges that some other person has discriminated against him or has contravened section 6 or 7 in relation to him may lodge a written complaint with the Commission setting out the details of the alleged act of discrimination. A complaint shall be lodged with the Commission within six months from the date of the alleged act of discrimination.

309.Section 39 provides that where the Commission is of the opinion that the subject matter of a complaint cannot be resolved by conciliation, the Commission shall prepare a report relating to the investigation with its recommendations; publish the report and make the report available for inspection by the public. If the matter remains unresolved, the Commission shall initiate proceedings before the Equal Opportunity Tribunal.

310.Section 41 establishes an Equal Opportunity Tribunal which shall be a superior court of record and shall have all the powers inherent in such a court. The Tribunal shall consist of a judge of status equal to that of a High Court Judge, who shall be the Chairman, and two lay‑assessors, who shall assist the Chairman in arriving at a decision in the proceedings.

311.Section 50(2) provides that any party to a matter before the Tribunal is entitled as of right to appeal to the Court of Appeal on any of the grounds set out in that section. Section 50(5) states that a decision of the Court of Appeal in respect of an order or award of the Tribunal shall be final.

312.To prohibit discrimination against children born out of wedlock, the Government enacted the Status of Children Act, Chap. 46:01 which provides:

S.3(1)(a) the status and the rights, privileges and obligations of a child born out of wedlock are identical in all respects to those of a child born in wedlock.

313.Section 3(4) provides that subsection (1) above applies with respect to “every person, whether born before or after the commencement of this Act, and whether born in Trinidad and Tobago or not, and whether or not his father or mother has ever been domiciled in Trinidad and Tobago”.

314.The Education Act, Chap. 39:01 prohibits discrimination as follows:

S.7 No person shall be refused admission to any school on account of the religious persuasion, race, social status or language of such person or of his parent.

315.In November 2000, Parliament enacted the Miscellaneous Laws Act, No. 85 of 2000 to promote religious freedom and prohibit religious discrimination. For example, the Summary Offences Act, Chap. 11:02 contained restrictions on the beating of drums; the blowing of horns and the use of noisy instruments in public places. These activities are considered integral to the religious observances of the Orisa and Baptist groups. The new Act accordingly amended the Summary Offences Act to provide an exception to the restrictions “where the singing, or dancing is done, or the drums, gongs or tambours, bangees, chac chacs or other musical instruments are used as part of a religious observation, ceremony or custom in any place of worship”. Also significant is the introduction by this Act of a new section (akin to the offence of blasphemy in Christianity) in the Summary Offences Act as follows:

S.96 A. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, any person who brings into contempt or disbelief or who attacks, ridicules or vilifies another person’s religion in a manner that is likely to provoke a breach of the peace commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of one thousand dollars.

316. “Information should be provided on steps taken to ensure that discrimination is prevented and combated, both in law and practice, including discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status of the child, his/her parents or legal guardians.” […]

The domestic statutes which prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political or other opinion, origin and disability are set out in response to question 25 of the reporting guidelines above. Section 14 of the Constitution provides that “if any person alleges that any of the provisions of this Chapter has been, is being, or is likely to be contravened in relation to him, then…that person may apply to the High Court for redress by way of originating motion”.

317.Another legal remedy available to persons who are discriminated against is the remedy of judicial review. The Government recently codified the substantive law relating to applications for judicial review with the enactment of the Judicial Review Act, No. 60 of 2000. This Act allows any person, male or female, to apply to the High Court for judicial review of a decision of an inferior court, tribunal, public body, public authority or a person acting in the exercise of a public duty or function. On an application for judicial review, the grounds upon which the Court may grant relief include but are not limited to the fifteen grounds expressed in the Act, which include unreasonable, irregular or improper exercise of discretion; abuse of power; fraud, bad faith, improper purpose or irrelevant considerations; and breach of or omission to perform a duty. This Act has introduced public interest litigation. Section 5(6) of the Act provides that where a person is unable to file an application for judicial review on account of poverty, disability or socially or economically disadvantaged position, any other person or group of persons acting bona fide can move the Court for relief under the Act. This removes the impediment of locus standi for granting relief to individuals for public wrongs.

318.The remedy of judicial review has proved to be an effective tool in prohibiting discrimination. In Sumayyah Mohammed v. Moraine and Another the applicant and her parents were Muslims. In 1994, the applicant passed the common entrance examination enabling her to be registered as a pupil at the secondary school of her choice. The school in question (which was a Government assisted denominational school) had school regulations which required pupils to wear the school uniform. The applicant’s parents asked the school to permit the applicant to wear dress conforming to the hijab (a Muslim headdress). The principal of the school and its board of management refused to allow any such exemption, although they accepted the sincerity of the belief of the applicant and her parents that the applicant was required by the Islamic faith to conform to the hijab. The applicant attended school wearing a modified version of the school uniform which conformed to the hijab; but she was not allowed to attend classes and was in effect suspended. The applicant instituted proceedings for judicial review of the decision to suspend.

319.The High Court upheld the child’s right to freedom of religion, ordering the decision of the respondents to be quashed. The Court held inter alia that:

The respondents had applied the school regulations inflexibly and had not taken into account the psychological effect on the applicant of refusing to allow her to conform to the hijab;

There was no evidence to support the respondents’ plea that conforming to the hijab would be conducive to indiscipline or would erode the sense of tradition or loyalty to the school, nor that it would accentuate distinctions between students from affluent homes and less affluent ones;

The decision of the respondents had been an unreasonable exercise of their powers conferred by the Education Act and was unsustainable.

Other policies and practices to prohibit discrimination

320.Each Ministry of Government operates in a manner consistent with the anti‑discrimination provision of the Constitution. Government Ministries accordingly carry out their responsibilities, including the provision of goods and services to the public, without discrimination by reason, inter alia, of race, colour or origin.

Discrimination on the basis of disability

321.A National Policy on Persons with Disabilities was developed in 1997, and approved in principle by Cabinet in 1998. One of the objectives of the policy is the elimination of marginalisation and discrimination of persons with disabilities. In order to achieve the policy objectives, Government is committed, inter alia, to the following broad strategies:

Instituting a legislative framework to protect the rights and create equal opportunities to enhance the quality of life of persons with disabilities;

Integration of persons with disabilities into the mainstream of the educational system;

Equity in employment opportunities.

322.In 1999, a National Coordinating Committee on Disability was appointed to act as an advisory body to Government on matters pertaining to persons with disabilities.

323.The Disability Affairs Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery) plays a co-coordinating role with respect to inclusion of all persons with disabilities in mainstream society, as well as sensitising the public to the needs of persons with disabilities. The Unit is about to embark on an intensive research agenda which would serve to guide the review of the National Policy on Persons with Disabilities.

324.Trinidad and Tobago ratified (ILO) C.159 on Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 on 28 May 1999. It came into force on the 28th May 2000.

325.There is also a National Centre for Persons with Disabilities funded by the Ministry of Social Development (twenty per cent) and by revenue which the Centre raises on its own (eighty per cent). The Centre trains persons with disabilities over the age of fifteen years, in the vocational skills that will result in permanent employment. Predominantly the Centre trains persons who have physical disabilities; hearing disabilities; speech disabilities; mild mental disabilities or who are slow learners. The Centre has an average of one hundred and fifty to two hundred (150-200) students at any given time.

326.The specific programmes and projects undertaken by the Government to assist children with disabilities are set out in detail in Part VI of this Report under the rubric “Disabled Children”.

Discrimination on the basis of birth

327.The Births and Deaths Registration Act, Chap. 44:01 provides in S.16 that it shall be the duty of the father and mother of the child to give to the Registrar within forty two days after the birth, information of the particulars required to be registered concerning the birth. After three months from the date of the birth, S.19 (1) requires that a solemn declaration be made in the presence of the Superintendent Registrar. Section 19 (2) provides that after the expiration of twelve months after the birth, the written authority of the Registrar General is required for registration of the birth.

328.In recognition of the fact that a number of persons do not have birth certificates, the Government through the then Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs initiated a Late Registration of Births programme in June 2000 as detailed in response to questions 50 and 51 of the reporting guidelines below. The Government in this programme agreed to cover the cost of registration, affidavits and birth certificates. The lack of a birth certificate has been identified as a reason for school absenteeism on the part of a small number of children who are of the compulsory school age.

329.Ministry officials visited fourteen locations throughout the country and received applications for registration from some two thousand and seventy eight (2,078) persons. Over eighty per cent (80 per cent) of the applicants were below the age of eighteen years.

330. “Please indicate the specific measures adopted to reduce economic, social and geographical disparities, including between rural and urban areas, to prevent discrimination against the most disadvantaged groups of children, including children belonging to minorities or indigenous communities, disabled children, children born out of wedlock, children who are non ‑nationals, migrants, displaced, refugees or asylum ‑seekers, and children who are living and/or working on the streets. […]”

Generally there has been increased networking among the various Government sectors dealing with children. Please see paragraphs 75-77 at pages 49-53 of the Report for information on some of the specific measures and programmes which assist inter alia children belonging to disadvantaged groups. For example, there are Grants to Necessitous Children; a Social Help and Rehabilitative Efforts (SHARE) Programme; a School Nutrition Programme; an Education Book Grant; an Expanded Immunisation Programme; a Hearing Aids Grant; Relief Centres; projects for street children; and a Nutrition and Metabolism Programme of the Ministry of Health. These measures have been implemented to ensure a more equitable distribution of the Government services available to disadvantaged children.

331.The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has not been faced with the issue of children who are migrants. Accordingly, no specific measures have been taken to address this matter.

332.With respect to children who are refugees and asylum seekers, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago acceded to The 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees 1st November, 2000. The Convention entered into force for Trinidad and Tobago on 8 February 2001. In accordance with article 43(2) of the Convention, the Convention will enter into force for Trinidad and Tobago on 8 February 2001. The Protocol entered into force for Trinidad and Tobago on the 10th November, 2000.

333.The Government is in the process of preparing legislation to incorporate the Convention into municipal law. An ad hoc procedure is being put in place with the assistance of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees so that applicants for refugee status are not subject to detention in prison but are released into the care of an NGO pending the determination of their application for refugee status. To date the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has not received any applications by or on behalf of children for refugee status.

334.Some of the specific measures taken to reduce disparities in the fields of education and health are described below:

Education

335.In its bid to realise its goal of universal secondary education, the Government constructed eleven new secondary schools in the year 2000. Eight of these schools are located in rural communities where no secondary schools existed before and where transportation costs often prevented children from attending school. Seven denominational secondary schools were also established in the year 2000.

336.Before 2000, a large number of students were not placed in secondary schools due to limited places. The possibility of these children being allowed to fall into delinquency and to work on the streets was therefore greater. With the provision of secondary school places for all students leaving primary school, the number of children working on the streets is likely to decline.

337.To assist economically disadvantaged children, the Ministry of Education through its School Nutrition Programme serves approximately eighty nine thousand (89,000) lunches daily to children at pre-schools, primary schools and secondary schools throughout the country who request lunch. There is also a breakfast programme which now serves approximately twenty five thousand (25,000) breakfast meals per day to primary schools.

338.For children with disabilities, since 1990, all newly built public schools have been equipped with ramps and special toilet facilities and access to specialist rooms have been ensured. In April 1999, as a pilot project, Multi-Disciplinary Diagnostic and Prescriptive Units were established in each Education District to determine the special education needs of each student. Teachers at special schools in Education Districts have received training to teach children with special needs. It may be noted that based on the findings of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey mentioned on page 29 of the Report, the Ministries of Education and Health are collaborating to establish a national child diagnostic centre, to faciliate hearing and vision testing of all children of primary school age.

339.There is free health care available at hospitals in Port of Spain, San Fernando and Scarborough (Tobago), several district hospitals and a wide network of community health centres. There is an effective immunisation programme for children for all common infectious diseases. Common childhood disorders that result in high infant mortality, such as diarrhoea are treated efficiently and effectively at all Government health institutions.

340.There has been a decentralisation of the health care system with the establishment of Regional Health Authorities. The Regional Health Authorities Act, No. 5 of 1994 in its First Schedule established five Regional Health Authorities, and assigned to them, municipalities for which they must provide health care. In the year 2000, one of these Regional Health Authorities was abolished. There are one hundred and eight health centres located in areas throughout the country to ensure that all children have access to basic health care. Please see the following tables.

Regional Health Authority	# of Municipalities	# ofHealth Centres	# of Hospitals	# ofDistrict Health Facilities	# of Extended Care Units
North-West	6	33	6	2	2
South-West	6	33	2	2	1
Eastern	2	15	1	1	1
Tobago	Island of Tobago	16	1	-	-

Source: Ministry of Health (June 2003).

Distribution of Public Sector Health Facilities by Rural/Urban Area

Area Type	# of Hospitals	# ofDistrict Health Facilities	# of Health Centres
Urban	7	3	11
Rural	3	2	97
Total	10	5	108

Source: Ministry of Health (June 2003).

341 . “Please provide information on the specific measures taken to eliminate discrimination against girls and when appropriate indicate measures adopted as a follow ‑up to the Fourth World Conference on Women. […]”

The Sexual Offences Act, 1986 was amended by Act No.31 of 2000. The amending legislation provides inter alia stiffer penalties for sexual offences committed against minors. For example, S.4(2)(a) of the Act now provides that a person who commits the offence of rape is liable on conviction to imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life if “the complainant is under the age of twelve years”. Section 11 provides that an adult who has sexual intercourse with a minor who is in the adult’s employment is now liable to conviction for twenty-five years instead of ten years.

342.In an effort to ensure that sexual crimes against children are reported, S.31 of the Act was replaced with a new section which provides for mandatory reporting to the police by inter alia parents, teachers and medical practitioners, if they have reasonable grounds for believing that a sexual offence has been committed in respect of a minor. A breach of this section is punishable by a fine of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) or imprisonment for a term of seven years (S.31 (2)).

343.There have been no reports of female circumcision in the country and it is not a known traditional practice of any of the religious groups living in the country.

344.The domestic violence legislation enacted in 1991 was replaced by a new Domestic Violence Act, No. 27 of 1999. The Act provides greater protection for victims of domestic violence including children. Section 4(3) of the Act provides that a child may apply for a Protection Order through a person with whom the child or dependant normally resides or resides with on a regular basis or any adult member of his household. Section 6(1)(b) also provides that a Protection Order may direct that the Order be applied for the benefit of a child or dependant of the applicant or respondent. The new legislation in S.6 (1)(c)(ii) also makes provision for a Protection order to direct that the respondent pay interim monetary relief to an applicant for the benefit of the applicant and any child until such time as an obligation for support is determined.

345.The Gender Affairs Division has implemented education campaigns to raise awareness about violence against women (including young girls). Both primary and secondary schools, as well as youth groups throughout the country participated in The Youth Data Quest 2000 project. Students were asked to do research papers on the topic of violence (including domestic violence, bullying in schools and sexual violence) and to make recommendations for solving the problem. In addition, they were required to use an artistic medium such as a drama, skit or monologue to depict the problem.

346.In 2001, the programme was renamed Youth Arts Rally and students from some eighty‑nine (89) primary and secondary schools participated in the two-month event. The programme was broadened to include an artwork competition in each county with a display of inter alia paintings, brochures, posters and T-shirts. The winner in each county was presented with a trophy. Corporate assistance was received for the project.

347.The Gender Affairs Division has also produced videos to facilitate discussion on issues of abuse and disrespect for women including: “Smart Young Men” (which specifically targets the attitudes of young men) and “Power” (which aims to encourage thoughtful discussion among young persons in respect of power and gender dynamics and to promote self-respect and respect for others. The topics of discussion include date rape and teenage pregnancy).

348.Community policing units have been established to deal with social issues affecting communities especially domestic violence. Police personnel in these units receive extensive training to promote a gender sensitive approach to policing. Over the period 1996 to 1998, some one hundred and two (102) police officers participated in various gender training programmes conducted by the Gender Affairs Division.

349.The Ministry of Education has been reviewing its curricula to ensure that there is gender sensitivity. Gender sensitive training has been initiated for education officials and teachers to assist in gender mainstreaming in the schools. In this regard, the Gender Affairs Division conducted a two-day training programme for principals and teachers in the Eastern region of the country. Approximately four principals and thirty-eight teachers received training.

350.The education system allows teenage girls who are pregnant to return to school to complete their education after giving birth. Although it is a decision for the principal of the school, the child is normally re-admitted to complete her education. The CHOICES Programme also provides some avenue for these students to continue their education. There are educational courses for pregnant teenagers, teenaged mothers and teenagers at risk of becoming exploited socially and sexually. Course work includes subjects under Health and Family Life Education.

351.Over the past five years, various male secondary schools have been coordinating with various female secondary schools to facilitate the exchange of students for their respective sixth form or ‘A’ level programmes. These schools are known as “prestige” schools owing to their high levels of educational attainment and their reputation for excellence in particular fields of study including the Sciences and Languages. Entry to ‘A’ level programmes in these schools is usually on a competitive basis because of the limited number of available school places. This new policy enables girls of a certain academic standing to gain access to ‘A’ Level programmes in these formerly exclusively male schools, thereby increasing female access to quality education.

352.Steps are being taken to ensure that girls have equal access to non-traditional technical and vocational programmes in Government secondary schools. Traditionally, girls are advised by parents and teachers to choose home economics instead of technical drawing, woodwork or welding. (Technical drawing is a useful subject for girls who wish to pursue a degree in engineering.)

353.A girl’s access to vocational guidance and training is also available through Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme (YTEPP). The vocational skills training component is designed to give young persons between the ages of 15 and 25 years, skills for employment, including self-employment.

Y.T.E.P.P. Enrolment by Occupational Area and Gender, Cycles 11-16 (1996-2000)

Occupational area	Cycle 11	Cycle 12	Cycle 13	Cycle 14	Cycle 15	Cycle 16
M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F
Applied Arts	144	275	76	164	75	127	63	114	28	26	18	24
Auto Maintenance & Repair	298	60	319	17	291	12	189	31	77	3	128	6
Beauty Culture	45	554	36	459	18	398	10	375	2	186	2	248
Construction	270	19	196	18	198	21	178	19	84	9	112	3
Craft	38	125	44	80	37	84	46	95	8	14	16	13
Electricity & Electronics Related	661	37	612	49	636	46	558	70	353	24	354	27
Family Services	2	158	1	31	2	60	-	66	1	34	1	38
Food Preparation	110	424	84	336	100	368	81	342	71	233	66	216
Garment Construction	63	589	83	496	95	519	69	447	30	157	20	162
Metal Design and Fabrication	403	8	382	21	398	11	298	36	234	11	238	11
Secretarial/Business Support Services	58	787	69	755	55	649	43	636	31	293	26	322
Tourism & Hospitality Services	16	83	14	65	-	-	17	12	-	-	5	9

354. “Please indicate measures taken to collect disaggregated data for the various groups of children mentioned above.” […]

Detailed information regarding efforts to collect data is provided at paragraphs 105-127 of the Report. One of the focus areas of the Child Indicators Monitoring System (CIMS) is disability. The “Children in Need of Special Protection (CNSP) Monitoring System” referred to in paragraphs 114-116 of the Report involves the establishment of a computerised database to monitor the status of vulnerable children. The latter category includes children who are abused and neglected, institutionalised, in conflict with the law, and children with disabilities.

Rapid Assessment Survey of the Worst Forms of Child Labour

355.A Rapid Assessment Survey on some of the worst forms of child labour in Trinidad was undertaken by the International Labour Organisation with funding provided by the Canadian Government for the project-Identification, Elimination and Prevention of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in the Anglophone and Dutch Speaking Caribbean.The Survey was conducted from December 2001 to August 2002. The Report was finalised in December 2002.

356.The objectives of the study were to:

Produce quantitative and particularly qualitative data related to child labour in targeted occupations;

Assess the nature and extent of child labour in the aforementioned sectors, including pull and push factors related to the occupations;

Characterise the working conditions and related hazards (inclusive of income earned);

Characterise the child labourers (by age, sex, schooling and racial background);

Identify the socio-economic, cultural and family background of child labourers;

Examine the root causes of the occupation, including historical trends, cultural mechanisms and social dynamics relating to the problems of child labourers;

Examine the impact and consequences of the occupations on child labourers;

Identify the perceptions and experiences of child labourers;

Identify and critically assess Government, NGO and International agency interventions aimed at preventing and rehabilitating child labourers; and

Assist in improving methods to research, reach and eliminate the problems of child labourers.

357.The research on the worst forms of child labour targeted four occupational areas, namely scavenging, agriculture, prostitution, pornography and domestic work .

358.For each of these areas, it was desirable to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. A standard questionnaire was used to collect the quantitative information. The questionnaire contained seventy-eight (78) questions and sought descriptive data on interviewees, current and former households, educational levels, economic activity and consequences of this economic activity. Qualitative data were collected by means of focus group discussions with the child workers themselves in the first instance, and where possible, their parents formed a second focus group.

359.A total of ninety-three (93) child workers were interviewed, of whom forty-two (42) worked in scavenging. Of the total number interviewed, twenty-four (24) were eighteen years and over, twelve (12) of whom worked in scavenging while eight (8) found themselves as victims of commercial sexual exploitation.

360.A team of six (6) conducted the research. The main researcher is an experienced survey statistician and demographer. Other members of the team included two sociologists, a psychiatric social worker, a socio-economic researcher and an experienced field interviewer/supervisor.

361. “What measures have been taken to prevent and eliminate attitudes to and prejudice against children contributing to social or ethnic tension, racism and xenophobia?”

The Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is founded on the principles of equality and non-discrimination. The Preamble refers to the “equal and inalienable rights with which all members of the human family are endowed”. The fundamental human rights and freedoms are stated in S.4 to “exist, without discrimination by reason of race, origin, colour, religion or sex”. S.4(h) of the Constitution recognises the specific fundamental right of all individuals to “freedom of conscience and religious belief and observance”.

362.The Government has implemented several pieces of legislation to buttress these rights enshrined in the Constitution. One outstanding example is the enactment of Equal Opportunity legislation to prohibit discrimination in both the public and private sectors in various fields such as employment and education, on various grounds including race, ethnicity, and religion. For further information about this and other anti discrimination statutes please refer to the response to question 25 of the reporting guidelines above.

363.The education system encourages and promotes racial harmony. As far as admission to schools is concerned, S.7 of the Education Act, Chap. 39:01 expressly prohibits discrimination. It provides:

No person shall be refused admission to any public school on account of the religious persuasion, race, social status or language of such person or of his parent.

364.The Ministry of Education uses education to promote inter-racial understanding by enlightening students about the benefits of diversity and difference, through several teaching units contained within the Social Studies Curriculum. Under the umbrella theme entitled “Equality and Non-Discrimination” there are several lesson plans to be taught to students. Some of the objectives of these lessons are as follows:

To demonstrate that life is more pleasant, enjoyable, acceptable and comfortable without discrimination;

To enable students to recognise that discrimination in the class/society/world should be removed;

To enable children to recognise, understand and avoid discriminatory practices;

To demonstrate that children with special needs have the right to special care;

To identify some of the rights of children with special needs; and

To discuss how some of these rights are not being addressed and to suggest solutions to the problem.

365.The Government of Trinidad and Tobago in recognition of the religious diversity of the population has declared as national public holidays, days which are considered auspicious days by various religious groups. There is a Public Holidays and Festivals Act, Chap. 19:05 which was enacted after extensive consultation with the various religious bodies. The Act gives statutory recognition to these holidays which include: Divali for Hindus, Eid-Ul-Fitr for Muslims and Good Friday, Easter Monday and Corpus Christi for some groups of Christians. Public national holidays have also been declared to commemorate days which are of historical significance to different racial and religious groups such as: Shouter Baptist Liberation Day, Arrival Day and Emancipation Day. The commemoration of these national holidays is an effective mechanism to eliminate racist attitudes and to promote inter ethnic understanding, tolerance and harmony among the student population and the wider community. In public schools, the students are allowed (on a voluntarily basis) to participate in displays which are mounted to celebrate the different holidays. Festivals and other activities are also organised both in schools and in communities throughout the country. Persons of various races and religions frequently attend the different festivities which include inter alia one or more of the following: reenactment of historical events, cultural and artistic performances, selling of traditional foods and the display and sale of traditional dress.

366. “Information should also be provided on the measures pursuant to article 2, paragraph 2 taken to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions or beliefs of the child’s parents, legal guardians or family members. […]”

The Children (Amendment) Act No. 68 of 2000 in its Second Schedule Part C sets out the rights of a child to care and protection under the law including-

The right not to be discriminated against or punished because of the beliefs or actions of one’s family members.

The Equal Opportunity legislation prohibits discrimination on the basis of status. Please refer to the Report’s information above on the definition of “status”.

367.The Constitution, in its Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms section, recognises and declares inter alia the right of the individual to “freedom of thought and expression”, “freedom of conscience and religious belief and observance” and “the right to join political parties and to express political views”. If the State breaches any of these rights, an individual has a right to file a constitutional motion in the High Court to declare the State’s action unconstitutional .

368.A child cannot therefore be subject to any discrimination on the basis of his or her parents’ expressed opinions or beliefs .

369. “Please indicate major problems encountered in implementing the provisions of article 2 and plans to solve these problems, as well as any evaluation of progress in preventing and combating all forms of discrimination, including those arising from negative traditional practices.” […]

Every effort has been made to ensure that children are not discriminated against in the enjoyment of their rights set out in the Convention.

370.Entrenched cultural attitudes of Muslim and Hindu groups as regards early marriage can be identified as a form of discrimination arising from negative traditional practices. Further, the laws relating to the minimum age of sexual consent do not apply once the parties are lawfully married.

B. Best interests of the child (art. 3)

371.The principle of the best interests of the child is not reflected in the Constitution. The Preamble to the Constitution refers to “the dignity of the human person and the equal and inalienable rights with which all members of the human family are endowed”. The rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution apply to all individuals without distinction. The only provision in the fundamental rights section which refers specifically to the child is S.4(f). This section refers to the right of a parent or guardian to provide a school of his own choice for the education of his child or ward.

372.Consideration has been given to the principle of the best interests of the child in the drafting of the package of children’s legislation described in response to question 12 of the reporting guidelines above. Specific examples are set out below (emphasis added).

(i)The Children’s Authority Act, No. 64 of 2000 (to be proclaimed) provides:

S.6(1)It shall be the duty of the Authority to-

(a)exercise such powers as are conferred on it by this Act and as may be necessary with respect to any child so as to further, in its opinion, the best interests of that child, including the reuniting the child with his relatives at the earliest opportunity;

S.23(2)The Authority shall for the purposes of obtaining an Order under section 25, bring before the Court any child, received by it under section 22, within fourteen days of such reception, unless it is satisfied that the taking of proceedings is not, in its opinion, in the best interest of the child , or that proceedings are about to be taken by some other person.

S.27 Subject to the determination by the Court under sections 24(4) and 25, the Authority, may where it appears to be in the best interest of the child to do so, allow the physical care of the child to be taken over by a guardian, relative, friend or any other person, for such period as the Authority may determine.

(ii)The Adoption of Children Act, No. 67 of 2000 (which is awaiting proclamation to come into force) expressly mentions this principle in sections 14 and 25 as follows:

S.14 Where a person has made representations to the Board to adopt a child and the Board is of the opinion that the adoption of the child by that person would not be in the best interests of the child , the Board shall notify the person accordingly and that person may appeal the decision of the Board to a Judge of the High Court.

S.25 Before making an adoption order, the court shall be satisfied that-

(a)the welfare and the best interest of the child will be promoted by the adoption, due consideration being for this purpose given to the wishes of the child having regard to the age and understanding of the child;

(iii)The Family Law (Guardianship of Minors, Domicile and Maintenance) Act, Chap. 46:08 refers to the welfare of the minor as the first and paramount consideration. It is therefore a primary consideration of the Court in custody matters and reflects the principle of the best of interest of the child. Section 3 provides:

S.3 Where in any proceedings any court-

( a ) the legal custody or upbringing of a minor; or

( b ) the administration of any property belonging to or held in trust for a minor, or the application of the income thereof,

is in question, the court, in deciding that question, shall regard the welfare of the minor as the first and paramount consideration …

(iv)The Sexual Offences Act 1986 was amended by Act No.31 of 2000. This is an example of legislation that is in the best interest of the child given that it provides for stiffer penalties for sexual offences committed against minors as well as for mandatory reporting of sexual offences to the police.

373. “Please provide information on the consideration given to this principle by courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, as well as by public or private social welfare agencies.” […]

The State has been unable to find any examples of cases in which the Courts or other bodies have made explicit mention of this principle in their decisions. However, in practice insofar as the welfare of children are concerned, the concept of the “best interests of the child” is and has always been the governing factor in the determination of a child’s future by the courts and administrative bodies subject to the courts’ jurisdiction, such as the Adoption Board. So that in matters of custody and access, for example, the Court, where it determines necessary, has access to reports from Probation Officers and other experts to assist in determining what is in the best interests of the child as opposed to the wishes of the parent. Please refer to paragraph 41 of the Report for examples of cases in which the Courts have upheld the principle of the welfare of the child as the first and paramount consideration.

374. “Please provide information on how the best interests of the child have been given primary consideration in family life, school life, social life” […]

Family Life: The Children (Amendment) Act, No.68 of 2000 in the Second Schedule, Parts A and B, contains guiding principles for parents in relation to their children. See response to question 36 of the reporting guidelines below for a list of these principles.

375.While parents have responsibility for the best interests of the child in their family life, the State intervenes and if necessary, overrides parental authority in the interest of the child’s welfare. The State would intervene for example, in situations where parents abandon or otherwise neglect their child, where they abuse or mistreat their child and where they are unable to take care of their child’s basic needs.

376.The National Family Services Division of the Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery) offers assistance to individuals and families in addressing issues related to daily living and family life. These services are free and may be accessed by calling the Division or visiting one of the offices of the Division. The Division has been mandated with, and remains committed to, the responsibility for the care and protection of the disadvantaged children of the nation.

377.The National Family Services Call-In Radio Programme: “Focusing on Family Issues” was restarted in 2001 and has continued its series in 2002 and 2003. There have been several changes to the programme from its earlier “School for Parents” and “Conscious Parenting” programmes. The 2002 and 2003 services are entitled “It’s Family Time: Let’s Talk”. The half hour radio programme has triggered a more than fifty percent increase in self-referrals to the National Family Services Division. Many of the issues involved impact on the well being of children.

School Life

378.Guidance Officers of the Guidance and Counselling Unit of the Ministry of Education look after the best interests of the child in government schools. They are mandated to uphold the rights of the child in the education system, and act as advocates for students. One role of guidance counsellors is to work with students to help them cope with problems. The Guidance Unit continues to play an important role especially in dealing with school indiscipline and law breaking.

(a)Budgetary allocations, including at the central, regional and local levels, and where appropriate at the federal and provincial levels, and within governmental departments;

379.Please see Budget Division, Extracted Data for Children 1992-2002 at paragraph 135 of the Report which details actual expenditure on children by the Government for the past ten years.

(b)Planning and development policies, including housing, transport and environmental policies;

Transport

380.The Ministry of Works and Transport is responsible inter alia for the administration of public transportation. The Ministry through its many policies and practices and under the various divisions plays a pivotal role in supporting and ensuring that the fundamental rights of the child are met. The Transport Division is responsible for the administration and management of road transport in Trinidad and Tobago. Towards this end, the Division sets policies in consultation with other agencies/departments and enforces associated rules and regulations. Street signs which tend to be warning, regulatory, mandatory and informative are summarised in a booklet which in most instances tend to form the basis of information for lecturing to school children, law enforcement and transport officers.

381.The Government by legislation has made it compulsory for seatbelts to be worn. Among other things, this legislation places the responsibility for individuals under seventeen years of age under the control and responsibility of the respective driver. Individuals over seventeen years old can be charged directly for non-compliance with the seat belt legislation. The relevant legislation is the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, No. 17 of 1986 which came into force on 1 January 1995. Section S.43 A(2) of the Act provides that any person who contravenes this law is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of five hundred dollars.

382.The Transport Division conducts an active public relations programme, which includes television, lectures and seminars in primary and secondary schools and the Police Training School. The Transport Division acts as a consultant to the legislative arms of the Government, as it pertains to rules and regulations regarding safety and protection of the child.

383.The Transport Division is assisted by the Traffic Management Branch with respect to the installation of road signs, maintenance of traffic lights and the appointment and training of School Crossing Guards (who are employed by the Ministry of Labour). In order to ensure the safety and protection of children in high-risk areas, more than one hundred (100) crossing guards were introduced between 1997-2001. Additionally during this period, one thousand two hundred (1200) Zebra crossing and pedestrian guardrails were successfully introduced in the vicinity of schools throughout the country. Motorists are obliged by law to stop at Zebra crossings.

384.The Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) is responsible for providing an efficient, reliable and convenient transport system for the general public as well as for children. The approach is based on the following:

Section 8(2) of the Public Transport Service Act, Chap. 48:02 provides that the PTSC is responsible for establishing sufficient road transport facilities which, in the corporation’s opinion, is necessary or desirable for the purposes of providing transportation for school children;

The Industrial Relations Act, Chap. 88:01 classifies the provision of school buses as an ‘essential service’ which must be provided even during periods of industrial unrest; and

The Ministry of Education has undertaken to provide the necessary funding to the Corporation for the provisions of a bus service to schoolchildren. In this regard, in 1999, the Ministry of Education allocated TT$24.9 million for this purpose.

385.Since 1996, the PTSC has enlisted the service of 180 maxi taxis (minibuses) for the provision of this service to school children especially in rural areas.

Housing

386.The Ministry of Housing has a mandate to provide innovative and affordable shelter solutions for the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago and through its executing agencies is undertaking the following:

Enacting appropriate legislation for the efficient and effective planning and development of land and giving squatters on land belonging to the state and those of State Enterprises security of tenure;

Facilitating the development and allocation of land at affordable prices for shelter construction; and

Facilitating the provision of loans especially to the poor at affordable rates of interest for shelter construction.

387.The Ministry has three executing agencies for the implementation of its settlements programme. These are as follows:

The Project Execution Unit;

The National Housing Authority; and

The Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Committee.

388.The Project Execution Unit of the Ministry was established to administer the Inter-American Development Bank segment of the settlements programme. The National Housing Authority’s mandate is to assist in the provision of shelter for the low-income segment of the population. The Sugar Industry Welfare Committee complements the settlements programme by assisting sugar workers, cane farmers and workers employed in Caroni (1975) Ltd. Diversification Programme in the provision of shelter.

389.Through its agencies, the Ministry of Housing continues to increase the amount of housing units available to its citizens. From 1996-1999, a total of two thousand, eight hundred and seventeen (2817) houses and apartments were built.

390.The Government remains committed to improving the living conditions of squatter settlements. On June 1, 1999, a Land Settlement Agency was formally established to handle all issues of squatter regularisation and other spontaneous development, undertake infrastructural upgrade and regularisation of over seven thousand (7,000) families on twenty-eight sites.

391.At the national level, the Ministry and its agencies are committed to serving the low and no income earners and are implementing a number of specific initiatives to facilitate the poor under the National Settlements programme. These initiatives include:

developing a range of housing options and the preparation of house plans at reduced cost to meet low income earners;

offering beneficiaries of the housing programmes low interest loans and exemption from bridging finance charges; and

providing free technical advice to beneficiaries during the construction of their houses.

392.The Ministry of Housing attended the ninth meeting of the Ministers and high level authorities of Housing and Settlements of Latin America and the Caribbean at which the rights of the child in the Planning and Development of Housing and Human Settlements was discussed as an agenda item. Issues such as basic elements of housing and human settlements friendly to children and to adolescents were addressed at the meeting.

393.The Ministry of Housing has developed a new comprehensive housing strategy for Trinidad and Tobago. The Government has mandated the construction of one hundred thousand (100,000) shelter solutions in the next ten years. Some highlights of the new policy are as follows:

Squatters will be regularised;

A grant of up to $25,000 will be provided for the purchase of building materials to help squatters under the aided self-help programme;

Production of more rental units for NHA;

Repair and maintenance programme for approximately 6,000 NHA units at a cost of TT $42 million;

Special purpose shelter for battered women and families in crisis; and

Lowering the interest rate available from the Trinidad and Tobago Mortgage Finance Company from 8 per cent to 6 per cent and increasing the amount for which beneficiaries may apply to 95 per cent of the total value of the house and land.

394.In addition, the Government has commenced negotiations with the Inter-American Development Bank to finance other phases of its Accelerated Housing Programme. The objectives of this aspect of the programme are as follows:

The regularisation of seven thousand, two hundred (7,200) squatter families;

The provision of twelve thousand (12,000) low cost houses for low-income families;

The provision of three thousand, four hundred (3,400) home improvement subsidies; and

The institutional strengthening of the Ministry of Housing.

395.The IDB funded aspect of the programme will consist of two phases and executed over a six year period at a total cost of US$100 million.

396.Through these initiatives, the Government is working to meet the housing needs of disadvantaged families including children. There is however, no available data on the number of children who have benefited from the Government’s housing policies and programmes.

Environment

397.The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) is a statutory body established by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to address the country’s environmental problems. The EMA was established in June 1995 under the Environmental Management Act, No. 3 of 1995. The 1995 Act has now been repealed and replaced with the Environmental Management Authority Act, No. 3 of 2000. Under the Act, the EMA’s functions are to co-ordinate, facilitate and oversee the execution of a national environmental strategy; to implement written laws in relation to the conservation and wise use of the environment; to promote and encourage among all persons a better understanding of the environment; and to enhance the legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the environment.

398.An Environmental Commission was appointed in 2001 to hear and determine matters relating to environmental law. Five Commissioners have been appointed to this “environmental court” which is presently chaired by a retired Court of Appeal judge. Anyone can complain to the Environmental Management Authority about perceived breaches of the law. The EMA is then mandated to investigate the complaint and give a response within ninety days.

399.The specific objectives of the National Environmental Policy which was formulated in 1998 are to:

Prevent, reduce or eliminate various forms of pollution to ensure adequate protection of the environment, and consequently the health and well-being of humans;

Conserve the biological diversity of the country and the stability and resilience of the ecosystems;

Undertake retrospective analyses or evaluations to correct past developmental decisions that might be inimical to the continued environmental health of the country.

400.The policy focuses on environmental education, which is conducive to the best interests of the child. It provides, inter alia, as follows:

If the ethic for sustainable development is to be widely adopted, people must re-examine their values and alter their behaviour. Information must be widely disseminated through formal and informal education campaigns so that the required actions are widely understood.

Environmental education for children and adults must be integrated in education at all levels. Developmental assistance agencies must be encouraged to give more support for providing extension workers to help farmers, forest workers, artisans, the urban and rural poor and other groups to use natural resources more productively and sustainably…

The following will constitute Government policy on environmental education:

Environmental education will be introduced from primary school age to adulthood with the goal of providing knowledge of both local and global environmental issues as well as the skills required to take the individual from awareness to participation;

Environmental and sustainable development concepts will be introduced into all education programmes;

Cross-disciplinary university courses in fields which have an impact on the environment will be encouraged, as well as postgraduate research;

Adult education and awareness programmes based on local environmental problems will be encouraged;

Environmental education initiatives throughout the country will be co-coordinated at the national level.

(c)Adoption

401.The Adoption of Children Act, No.67 of 2000 which was enacted to replace the existing adoption legislation, makes specific mention of the principle of the best interests of the child. The relevant sections are set out at paragraph 372 of the Report.

402.The following is an outline of the procedure in place at present with regard to adoption. The procedure reflects the importance of the principle of the best interests of the child. Please note that more details about the procedure are provided in response to question 84 of the reporting guidelines under Part V of the Report.

403.The Adoption Board of Trinidad and Tobago exists and functions in accordance with the Adoption of Children Act, Chap. 46:03. For persons seeking assessment as prospective parents, the process begins with an informal interview conducted by an officer attached to the Board. Discussions are usually centred on:

The current circumstances of the applicant/s;

The reasons for wanting to adopt;

The place of equity of interest-in joint applications;

Emotional and other preparations made for the new role as adoptive parents;

Knowledge of the implications and responsibilities associated with adoption; and

Whether the applicants are resident and domiciled in Trinidad and Tobago.

404.The informal interview may conclude with mutual agreement that the applicant/s understand the new path ahead. The application package will then be issued. Applicants are required to submit a formal application on the prescribed form. The completed and returned package allows for the registering of the application, which is later assigned to an officer for investigation and preparation of a Home Study report.

405.The vetted report is then circulated to the Adoption Board members before the monthly statutory meeting of the Board. The Board is charged with the responsibility to examine such reports, to approve, defer, interview applicant/s or close an application based on its findings. It is also a requirement that the applicant/s be informed in writing of the decision of the Board.

406.In accordance with the process, applicants who are approved would then be placed on the Board’s list of Prospective Adopters Awaiting Placement.

407.The under mentioned is the criteria used by the Placement Committee for placing children:

A child who matches the description of the applicant/s;

The position of the applicant on the list; and

The validity of the medical reports on file.

408.When a placement is made, applicants are then required to name the child and submit a new application form, indicating their specific interest in adopting the child placed. The case will then assume a new category, given a different coded number and presented to the Board for approval. This latter approval would facilitate the commencement of the probationary period, which is for a duration of six months. During this period, the Board appoints an officer to keep the child under close supervision in his/her new environment and to observe the bonding expected to be established with the applicants. The Board may order monthly visits. Regulation 7 directs that at least four visits be made to the home of the applicant/s. The applicant/s are advised that during this period any change of address must be reported to the Board immediately and the child must not be taken out of the country without the prior knowledge and consent of the Board.

409.Where the probationary period is considered by the Board to have concluded satisfactorily, the Board would approve an Application for an Adoption Order to be filed in Court, where all adoption matters are finalised. These are heard in camera in accordance with Rule 6.

410.Section 21(4) of the Act requires the Court to communicate every Adoption Order to the Registrar General who “shall cause compliance to be made with the directions contained in such order”. An Adoption Certificate would later be ready for issuance from the Registrar General’s Office. It is to be used in all transactions relating to the child, in lieu of a birth certificate.

411.Before the Adoption Board accepts an infant/child who is offered for adoption, the under mentioned is required:

The child must undergo a complete medical examination;

The child must be registered by the birth mother or someone acting on her behalf;

His or her immunisation records must be submitted (depending on the age of the child); and

A Home Study Report on the natural parents must be filed.

412.The medical practitioner attached to the Board will subsequently vet the reports and determine whether the child is fit for adoption. The natural parents of the child must also give consent to the adoption by signing the relevant documents, before the child is taken into care. Final consent forms will be requested later in the process and before the court hearing. However, the court may dispense with any consent required, according to the specifics of the case.

413.The granting of an Adoption Order permanently transfers the parental rights, duties and obligations from natural parents to adoptive parents. The supervision of the Adoption Board officially ceases at the making of such order.

(d)Immigration, asylum-seeking and refugee procedures;

414.Under the Immigration Act, Chap. 18:01, every person born outside of Trinidad and Tobago is entitled to citizenship at the date of his birth if at that date either of his parents is or was, a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. Additionally, a child born out of wedlock and outside of Trinidad and Tobago whose father or mother was a Trinidad and Tobago citizen at the date of his birth is entitled to citizenship.

415.Children who are illegal immigrants are committed to the care of one of the Children’s Homes until such time as arrangements can be made for their departure.

416.To date there have been no applications by children for refugee status in Trinidad and Tobago.

(e)The administration of juvenile justice;

417.In terms of the administration of juvenile justice, the legislation ensures that children are treated differently from adults. Juveniles detained in a police station must be kept separate from adults as required by S.73 of the Children Act, Chap. 46:01. If the offence is not a homicide, the child can be released into the care of his parents or guardians until trial. Young males who are not released on bail are not remanded in prison, but may be placed in the St. Michael’s Home for Boys or the Youth Training Centre run by the Prison Service. There are provisions for the taking of a child’s evidence by deposition and video recording. Proceedings affecting children are usually held in camera. Additionally, the death sentence cannot be imposed on children. Please refer to paragraphs 252 to 266 the Report for further details.

(f)The placement and care of children in institutions;

418.The Court relies on reports of probation officers when committing children to the care of Children’s institutions. These probation officers have training in social work and are able to advise the Court in the best interests of the child.

419.The Children’s Community Residences, Foster Homes and Nurseries Act, No.65 of 2000 (which is awaiting proclamation) establishes inter alia, standards and procedures for the operation of children’s institutions. Consequent on the enactment of the new package of Children’s legislation in the year 2000, the National Family Services Division conducted three public sensitisation workshops for all relevant agencies addressing children’s issues. These workshops were intended to assist organisations in preparation for operational change, consistent with the proposed legal structures.

420. “Information should be included on the measures taken in the light of article 3, paragraph 2, including of a legislative and administrative nature, to ensure children such protection and care as is necessary for their well ‑being.” […]

The Children Act, as amended by Act No. 19 of 1994 seeks to ensure that children are protected from harm. Section 15 of the Act provides as follows:

S.15 (1) If it appears to a Magistrate on complaint on oath of

a public officer experienced or qualified in social work who is approved by the Minister in writing; or

a person who in the opinion of the Magistrate is acting in the interest of a child or young person,

that a child or young person has suffered or is suffering harm so as to cause concern for the welfare of that child or young person, or is likely to suffer such harm, the Magistrate may require a parent or guardian to appear before him.

(3) Where… a Magistrate is satisfied that the child or young person has suffered, is suffering or is likely to suffer harm sufficient to cause concern for the welfare of that child or young person, the Magistrate may, with the child or young person’s welfare as the paramount consideration, taking into account the wishes of the child or young person involved where such wishes of the child or young person can be reasonably ascertained, order that the child or young person-

remain in the custody of a parent or guardian, subject to the period of supervision by a named person or authority, and subject to such conditions as are specified in the order; or

be committed to the care of a relative of the child or other young person or other fit person named by the court, such relative or other fit person being willing and able to undertake such care.

…

(11) For the purposes of this section-

“harm” includes-

wilful neglect;

assault;

ill-treatment;

physical, sexual or mental abuse;

a prescribed offence as defined in section 3 of the Domestic Violence Act.

421.The package of children’s legislation enacted in the year 2000 attempts to provide children with the requisite protection and care required for their well-being. Specific examples are identified below:

(i)The Children (Amendment) Act, No.68 of 2000 in the Second Schedule, Parts A and B, contains guiding principles for parents in relation to their children. It refers inter alia to the following principles:

The right to request state assistance in caring for the child where the parents are unable to do so themselves;

The responsibility, within the parent’s abilities and financial capacities, to secure the conditions of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual and moral development;

The responsibility to send the child to school, or to provide for education at home of an equal standard;

The responsibility to guide and direct the child without the use of any cruel, inhuman or humiliating punishment;

The responsibility to ensure that the child has time for rest, recreation, creative expression and play;

The responsibility to protect the child from unlawful physical violence and all forms of physical or emotional abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the parent’s care; and

The responsibility to make arrangements for the care of the child when the parent is absent from the child;

(ii)The Children’s Authority Act, No. 64 of 2000 establishes a Children’s Authority of Trinidad and Tobago with responsibility inter aliafor monitoring community residences, foster homes and nurseries and for conducting periodic reviews to determine their compliance with such requirements as may be prescribed. This legislation will come into force once the necessary arrangements for the operation of the Act are completed. The Authority is required inter alia to investigate complaints of staff, children and parents or guardians of children who are in the care of a community residence, foster home or nursery with regard to any failure to comply with the requisite standards prescribed by law and any incidences of mistreatment of children in such places. Its duties include monitoring agencies which address children’s issues and investigating complaints or reports of mistreatment of children in their homes.

(iii)The Adoption of Children Act, No. 67 of 2000provides for the establishment of an Adoption Board. One of the duties of the Board would be to make such investigations concerning the adoption of children for the consideration of the Court as may be prescribed. Before making an Adoption Order, the Court is required under S.25 (b) to be satisfied that a person who is applying for the Order is a fit and proper person to have custody of the child and of sufficient ability to bring up, maintain and educate the child.

422. “Information should also be provided on the steps taken pursuant to article 3, paragraph 3, to establish appropriate standards for all public and private institutions, services and facilities responsible for the care and protection of children and to ensure that they conform with such standards, particularly in the areas of safety, health, number and suitability of their staff, as well as competent supervision.” […]

Over the last five years, the National Family Services Division has conducted some seven courses for caregivers. Over one hundred and fifty persons (150) participated in these training sessions at basic and intermediate levels. Two of these courses targeted managers/administrators.

423.The Government has strengthened its ability to monitor these institutions with the enactment of the Children’s Community Residences, Foster Homes and Nurseries Act, No 65 of 2000 which introduces standards for all institutions. The legislation will come into force by Proclamation once the Children’s Authority has been established. Under the Act, persons operating community residences must apply to the Children’s Authority for a one-year renewable residence licence. This licence will only be granted if the applicant satisfies the requirements of S.6 of that Act. Section 6 provides:

S.6 A Residence Licence shall not be granted under section 5 unless the applicant:

(a)satisfies the Authority that the building intended for the purpose has been approved by relevant Health and Building Authorities as to its fitness for the purpose;

(b)has adequate staff with a proper staff to child ratio, taking into account the ages, the number of children it caters for, as well as any special requirement of children for whom care is being provided;

(c) shows proof that the staff of the community residence for which the application is made has adequate training and experience in child care;

(d) can establish that the resources of the community residence are adequate to maintain the community residence and provide for children cared for therein;…

424.Section 7 of the Act requires the Children’s Authority to inspect such residence before the issue of a residence licence, to ascertain its suitability for the purpose.

425.In addition, under the aegis of the National Family Services Division, a multi-disciplinary committee has been instituted to develop a manual which defines the criteria for the operation of these facilities. This document, which is yet to be finalised, addresses key operations issues such as: child to care-giver ratio, an admissions policy, ventilation, the size of living areas, the qualification of staff and the issue and revoking of licences for the purpose of operating children’s institutions.

426.The Children’s Authority will have the responsibility for ensuring that standards are complied with through appropriate monitoring. In this regard the Children’s Community Residences, Foster Homes and Nurseries Act, No 65 of 2000 provides:

S.11 (2) Where the Authority is dissatisfied with the conditions, rules, management or

superintendence of a community residence it may at any time, by notice served on the licensee or the manager of the community residence, require that corrective measures be taken within such time as the Authority may specify in such notice.

S.11 (3) Where a Notice has been served on a licensee under subsection (2) and

the licensee has failed to take the corrective measures required, the Authority may serve Notice on the licensee or the manager of the community residence of its decision to revoke the residence licence…

Children in foster care

427.The Children’s Community Residences, Foster Homes and Nurseries Act, No 65 of 2000 also introduces safeguards for the system of foster care. Section 29 of the Act provides:

S.29 (1) Where a person wishes to become a foster parent he shall apply to

the Minister for approval in the prescribed form.

29(2) The Minister on receiving an application under subsection (1) shall cause

all investigations necessary to be conducted to determine the suitability of:

(a)the applicant to be a foster parent; and

(b)the home of the applicant, to receive a child for foster care;

428.Section 32 of the Act provides for the monitoring of foster children by the Children Authority as follows:

S.32(2) The Authority shall authorise an officer to visit from time to time, a foster

child and the premises in which he is being kept in order to satisfy itself as to whether the health, educational and welfare needs of the child are being met and to give where necessary advice or directions to the foster parents as to the care of the child.

S.32 (3) Any person who receives a foster child and fails or neglects to look after

the health, educational and welfare needs as specified in subsection (1), is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of five hundred dollars.

429.Section 35 further provides as follows:

S.35 Where a foster child is to be received or is being kept:

in any premises which is unsatisfactory, over-crowded or dangerous;

by any person who by reason of old age, infirmity, ill-health, negligence, inebriety, immorality or criminal conduct or for any other reason if unfit to have the care of the child;

in an environment which is detrimental to the child; or

in any premises or by any person in contravention of the provisions of this Part,

the Authority may:

(e) where the child is the subject of a care order placing him in foster care apply to the Court for an order, to remove that child to the care of another approved foster parent until such time as the child is returned to his relatives or other arrangements are made with respect to him; or

(f) where the child is not the subject of a care order placing him in foster care, remove that child to the care of another approved foster parent until such time as the child is returned to his relatives or other arrangements are made with respect to him.

Children in nurseries

430.This Act also provides that no person shall operate a nursery without a nursery licence issued by the Authority. A nursery licence may not be granted unless the Authority is satisfied that the applicant has made adequate arrangements inter alia for health care, safety, security, well-being and feeding the children received in the premises and where it is undertaken, an adequate and suitable diet to be provided for them. There is also a requirement for the provision of adequate staff with a proper staff to child ratio.

431. “In the light of the legislative and administrative measures taken to ensure the consideration of the best interests of the child, please indicate the main problems remaining in this respect.” […]

Inability to effectively regulate Children’s Institutions: The National Family Services Division is responsible for monitoring Children’s institutions. However, the Division’s efforts have been hampered by a lack of legislation to regulate these institutions. While the Division does from time to time receive and investigate reports of abuse such as inadequate physical infrastructure and lack of food, it does not have legislative authority to close down any of the offending institutions. This situation is likely to persist until such time as the new children’s legislation comes into force.

Human resource constraints of the National Family Services Division

432.The National Family Services Division, which is responsible for the functions outlined on page 22 of the Report has very limited staffing. For example, there are only eight field officers to service the needs of the entire country. One of the reasons put forward for the human resource constraints of the Division is that the remuneration offered is not attractive and trained personnel are veering to more lucrative jobs.

Lack of trained personnel at Children’s Homes

433.There is a shortage of trained personnel at Children’s Homes. At the present time any one who wants to open a Children’s Home can do so. However, some of the children taken into these Homes have been abused. It is therefore essential that there is some level of training to correct the problems that have been experienced by these children.

434.This problem is likely to be addressed by the implementation of the Children’s Community Residences, Foster Homes and Nurseries Act No. 65 of 2000. The Act provides that no person will be allowed to operate a community residence without a residence licence issued by the Children’s Authority. A residence licence will not be granted unless specific criteria set out in S.6 of the Act is fulfilled. For example, the applicant must show that the staff of the community residence has adequate training and experience in child care.

Foster care system

435.The foster care programme referred in paragraph 60 above, needs to become fully operational to service the needs of children requiring alternative care (and who ought to be institutionalised, if possible). Legislation has recently been enacted to regulate foster care but this legislation is not yet in force. In this regard, the Auditor General’s Report, 2002 on the Operations of the National Family Services Division stated:

At the time of the audit the Foster Care Programme had been in existence for over four years. Owing to the lack of necessary legislation, children in need of foster care were unable to be placed in foster homes. The Foster Care Unit, in this interim period, operated by putting mechanisms in place for selecting and approving foster carers and children in need of foster care…

Insufficient guidance counsellors in education system

436.One setback to serving the best interests of the child is the fact that the Guidance Unit of the Ministry of Education comprises only fifty-five (55) Guidance Officers I, four (4) Guidance Officers II and one Guidance Supervisor. These officers are expected to service the needs of the entire public school population. The emotional and psychological problems that many children bring to bear within the school system, due to dysfunctional family life, cannot be adequately dealt with given the current staffing in this area of the educational system. There has been a marked increase in truancy and school violence in the past two years and the Guidance Officers have been stretched to capacity and are unable to cope with this increase. There is a need for at least one Guidance Officer to be placed at each school, both at the primary and secondary school levels.

Budgetary allocations

437.According to one NGO, the “budgetary allotment to children’s services, that is, basic needs including health care, nutrition, education, water, and waste disposal remain inadequate standing at 13.8 per cent of Government expenditure in 1998”. However, the budgetary allocations for children have improved, culminating with a combined allocation of TT$2,180,322,405 in 2002. Incremental increases to the budgetary allocations for children over the ten-year period 1992-2002 are tabled in response to question 20 of the reporting guidelines at paragraph 135 of the Report.

Lack of social workers in health system

438.In the area of Health, there is a need for an increase in the number of social workers since the Ministry of Health has twenty-five social workers currently employed to service all hospitals and health centres/clinics in Trinidad (a ratio of 1:35,135 counsellors to citizens).

The environment

439.In a 1999 publication entitled “EMA State of the Environment Report”, it was noted that there were limited public education programmes on the part of enforcement agencies. In this regard, it was stated:

The philosophical framework for environmental education contained in the National Environmental Policy must be adopted by relevant agencies with regard to public education and the importance it plays in the preservation of the environment. Enforcement agencies commonly complain of the lack of resources to implement an effective public education programme thus public awareness on the hazardous effects of avoidable human behaviour and its deleterious impact on the environment is almost nil. The Ministry of Education has recently taken steps to address this deficiency at the level of school curriculum. A few other organisations such as the EMA and the Institute of Marine Affairs have embarked on public education programmes that have begun to make a difference in environmental literacy levels. As a matter of priority however, aggressive and wide-ranging public education programmes need to be initiated at all levels and age groups of society.

440. “Please indicate in what ways the principle of the “best interests of the child” is made part of the training of professionals dealing with children’s rights.” […]

There is recognised lack of training for professionals generally on the principles enshrined in the Convention, including the principle of the best interests of the child.

441.While there have been efforts to target these groups, these have largely been spearheaded by NGOs such as the Coalition on the Rights of the Child and not by the Government.

442.In celebration of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in November 1999, the Child Rights Committee hosted a consultation for educators entitled “Sensitising of Primary School Teachers” which specifically targeted some three hundred (300) primary school teachers nationwide.

443.In this regard, one day workshops were conducted in four areas in Trinidad with teachers selected from upper levels of primary schools. Sessions involved a mixture of lecture, films, role plays and discussions. Participants were given copies of the CRC to read before attending the workshop. At the workshop an overview of the Convention with emphasis on survival, development, protection and participation.

444.The following were the objectives of the Workshop:

To increase awareness of teachers re CRC;

To motivate teachers to develop an awareness of their human rights; and

To critique/assess the UNICEF manual and comic book.

445.The Target Outcome of the Workshops was that participants would:

Have increased knowledge of the Convention;

Be prepared to facilitate sessions to inform students about CRC;

Plan and conduct at least two sessions to inform students of CRC; and

Inform UNICEF as to the universality of the material for the Caribbean region.

446.Although the National Family Services Division continues to experience shortages in human resources, divisional staff have undergone training in mediation, parenting, critical incidents and stress management, human sexuality, management of children in child sexual abuse, domestic violence and project management, inter alia, in continuing institutional strengthening. In house staff have managed workshops for training of personnel addressing children’s issues. Courses have targeted caregivers, managers and community groups. In 2001, the National Family Services Division introduced meetings with communities to collect information more directly related to community needs-to direct and inform programming. In one rural area, identification of problems led to the conduct of a one-week workshop for teenage mothers. The follow up to this programme has been the formation of a support group for these mothers.

C. The right to life, survival and development (art. 6)

447. “Please describe specific measures taken to guarantee the child’s right to life and to create an environment conducive to ensuring to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child, including physical, mental, spiritual, moral, psychological and social development, in a manner compatible with human dignity, and to prepare the child for an individual life in a free society.” […]

Section 4(a) of The Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago guarantees the right of all individuals, including children, to “life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law”.

448.Under the laws of Trinidad and Tobago, the death penalty is retained for crimes of murder and treason. However, S. 79 of the Children Act, Chap. 46:01 provides that the sentence of death shall not be pronounced on or recorded against a person convicted of an offence, if it appears to the Court that at the time the offence was committed, the person was under the age of 18 years.

449.The Children (Amendment) Act, No. 68 of 2000 in its Second Schedule Part B contains a list of some of the legal responsibilities of parents. These include the following:

The responsibility, within the parents’ abilities and financial capacities, to secure the conditions of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual and moral development;

The responsibility to send the child to school, or to provide for education at home of an equal standard;

The responsibility to guide and direct the child without the use of any cruel, inhuman or humiliating punishment;

The responsibility to ensure that the child has time for rest, recreation, creative expression and play;

The responsibility to protect the child from unlawful physical violence and all forms of physical or emotional abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the parents’ care;

The responsibility to make arrangements for the care of the child when the parent is absent from the child; and

The responsibility to ensure that the child under 12 is not engaged in labour.

450.The Second Schedule Part C of the Act provides inter alia as follows:

Every person under the age of 18, born in Trinidad and Tobago, or born to, or adopted by, parents who are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago is a child and is subject to care and protection under the law including but not limited to:

The right to live, survive and grow;

The right to hold ideas of one’s own, including religious beliefs and to express those views freely in matters affecting themselves;

The right not to be treated with violence by a family member, a teacher, a public officer or by any other person;

The right to free education up to the age of twelve; and

The right not to have to work at anything that is dangerous or that will interfere with education.

Measures to reduce infant/child mortality

451.The United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report 2002 lists the infant mortality rate for Trinidad and Tobago in the year 2000, at 17 per 1,000 live births. The under-five mortality rate in 2000 is listed at 20 per 1,000 live births.

452.According to the Executive Summary of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2000, findings on Infant and Under Five Mortality were as follows:

In Trinidad and Tobago death registration is compulsory. Based upon the 1999 data, the infant mortality was estimated to be 18.6 and the under-five mortality rate as 20.8. At present there is infant mortality validation as well as the infant mortality surveillance exercises in progress. These will eventually facilitate verification of the official rate.

453.Free health care is available at the General Hospitals in Port-of-Spain, San Fernando, Mount Hope and Scarborough, several district hospitals and a network of over one hundred (100) health centres.

454. Measures taken to combat stillbirth and infant mortality include the following:

(i)Antenatal care is available at all hospitals and other health facilities throughout the country. However, perhaps due to a lack of education as the importance of prenatal care, some women still do not attend these free antenatal clinics. Antenatal care includes:

Promoting the practice, among women, of early attendance at antenatal clinics i.e. attending clinics within the first twelve weeks of pregnancy;

The provision of iron supplementation and multivitamins to pregnant women and children free of charge;

In 1999, a prenatal programme was established by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago in order to reduce the mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Pregnant women at the public sector antenatal clinics are offered voluntary counselling and testing for HIV/AIDS. All HIV positive pregnant women are then offered anti retroviral drugs before and during delivery. In 2002, 75 per cent of the antenatal clients accepted voluntary counselling and testing. The rate of infection was 1.2 per cent;

Lecture discussions on Nutrition and Diet in Pregnancy;

La Maze Classes;

Lectures on Labour and Delivery;

Post delivery care of episiotomies;

Early diagnosis and management of complications including secondary care referral;

Hospital delivery under well-trained medical staff.

(ii)Intranatal care at some hospitals:

The provision of appropriate technology e.g. neonatology units and ultrasonography. Neonatal services are provided at the General Hospital, Port of Spain and the Mount Hope Maternity Hospital. There is a new Paediatric Hospital at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex;

Fetal monitoring;

Provision of well-trained nursing and medical staff.

(iii)Measures that provide for the healthy development of the child include the following:

Breastfeeding Programmes. These Programmes which have a major educational component are implemented through a National Committee, regional Committees and a number of NGOs. The aim is to actively encourage and promote mothers to breastfeed. A draft National Breastfeeding Policy is also being formulated and is expected to be finalised in 2003. It should be mentioned that the Sangre Grande Hospital is the only institution in Trinidad that has achieved “baby friendly status” (in 2002) as defined by the World Health Organisation under a UNICEF sponsored programme developed in 1992. Baby friendly hospitals create environments which support and seek to encourage women in their desire to breastfeed their babies;

There are ‘well-baby’ clinics at all hospitals and health centres which monitor inter alia: the growth of infants between the ages of 0-4 years with a view to improving the nutritional status of young children;

Conducting education campaigns for parents and children on health related matters using the mass media, health clinics and classroom settings. Lectures on health are given at schools and at various fora of community based organisations;

Special emphasis is placed on HIV infected children. These children are given priority by the Government in the provision of free anti retroviral treatment at the Wendy Fitzwilliam Paediatric Hospital, the San Fernando General Hospital and the Scarborough Hospital in Tobago. The Government also provides annual subventions to some NGOs involved in the care and support of children with HIV/AIDS;

Therapeutic and custodial care is being provided to mentally challenged children, and the needs of the physically challenged child are being looked after through the granting of subventions to homes and institutions taking care of such children. Specialist medical care is provided at :

a.The Princess Elizabeth Home for physically challenged children. In addition to other services, children with disabilities obtain medical treatment as well as psychological counselling which enable them to cope with their impairments;

b.DRETCHI for persons with hearing disabilities;

c.Prosthetics and other orthopedic equipment are provided free or at minimal cost at Orthopedic Departments at the major hospitals and at certain health centres for persons with physical impairment;

d.Eye clinics at the major hospitals and at certain health centres for persons with visual impairment;

e.The St. Ann’s Hospital for persons with mental disabilities; and

f.The St. James Medical Complex for persons with physical disabilities.

School inspections are done by a multi-disciplinary health team. Emphasis is placed on the environment and on the personal hygiene of children.

Counselling and information dissemination on family planning is available at health centres.

Measures to combat diseases and eliminate epidemics

455.There is effective immunisation for all common infectious childhood diseases as part of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation at the Ministry of Health. Children can be taken by their parents to a health centre in their vicinity to receive immunisation for a variety of diseases.

456.The Public Health (Nursery Schools and Primary Schools Immunisation) Act, Chap. 28:03 makes provision in respect of the immunisation of persons seeking entry into nursery schools and primary schools so as to prevent the spread of certain communicable diseases. According to S. 3(1) of this Act:

Notwithstanding any rule of law to the contrary, no person may be admitted into any nursery school or primary school unless he produces to the Principal thereof a certificate of immunisation with respect to every communicable disease.

457.The vaccines on the schedule in Trinidad and Tobago are as follows:

Polio-Opv- (oral polio vaccine);

Pentavalent(DPT/Hep B/Hib)- Diptheria, Pertusis, Tetanus;

MMR-Measles, Mumps, Rubella; and

Y/F- Yellow Fever.

458.The percentage coverage for Polio and DPT for children under one year of age for the period 1996-2001 and the coverage for MMR and Yellow Fever in the age group 12-23 months are as follows:

Year	Polio	DPT	MMR	Y/F
1996	90	90	88	87
1997	91	91	88	88
1998	91	91	90	90
1999	91	91	89	89
2000	90	90	90	88
2001	91	91	91	91
2002	89	89	88	88

Haemophilus Influenzae type b

459.Haemophilus Influenza type b vaccine (Hib) which was included in the childhood immunisation schedule in November 1999, has seen a coverage of over eighty per cent of all children under one year of age for the years 2000 and 2001.

Measles

460.Trinidad and Tobago has been actively involved in accomplishing PAHO/WHO’s strategies for the elimination of measles. In 1991 the “Catch up” Campaign was called the “Big Bang”. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago achieved ninety-five per cent coverage of the targeted age group 1-15 years. In the “follow-up” Campaign in 1997, called the “Riddit” Campaign Trinidad and Tobago achieved ninety seven per cent coverage in the targeted age group of 4-6 years. The country continues to maintain over eighty five per cent coverage in the targeted 12-23 month population.

461.In the Measles Elimination Surveillance System, a sensitive rash and fever surveillance system, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago met all the surveillance indicators, which included timely reporting with complete investigations and the number of reporting sites.

Polio eradication

462.The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has maintained a ninety per cent (90 per cent) coverage in children less than one year of age for the last five years. The country has met all the Acute Flaccid Paralysis surveillance indicators for the past four years. The Region of the Americas, which includes Trinidad and Tobago, was certified free of the wild poliovirus in September 1994. The English Speaking Caribbean and Suriname recorded their last case in the year 1982.

Rubella/CRS (Congenital Rubella Syndrome)

463.The Rubella Campaign started in November 1997 with the Rubella vaccine being used. After January 1999, MMR vaccine was used. As of year 2001, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has achieved an eighty- nine (89 per cent) per cent coverage.

464.In an effort to eliminate indigenous Rubella and Congenital Rubella Syndrome in Trinidad and Tobago, a Rubella Policy was developed in 1997 to increase the level of immunity to the Rubella virus. All children are given a second dose of MMR at 4 to 6 years of age.

Yellow Fever

465.There has not been any recorded case of yellow fever for the last twenty years in Trinidad and Tobago. No confirmed case of Yellow Fever has occurred since the last outbreak in 1978. Children are given yellow fever in the 10 year age group. Yellow fever vaccination coverage for persons living or working in high risks e.g. forested areas is one hundred per cent. (100 per cent).

Tetanus

466.Booster doses of Tetanus are given at ten years for all school leavers. Women attending the prenatal clinics are given Tetanus as necessary.

Ensuring quality vaccines

467.The Government of Trinidad and Tobago purchases vaccines through the PAHO/WHO Revolving Fund (PWR). Through the system of bulk purchasing, the PWR secures the supply of high-quality vaccines for national immunisation activities of countries at affordable prices. It ensures accountability, strict cold chain measures and a reasonable continuity in the face of global shortages due to manufacturers’ problems. It also assists with the introduction of new vaccines.

Vector Borne Diseases

468.The Environmental Health Division is responsible inter alia for control of vector borne diseases such as dengue and malaria.

469.Measures that prevent, treat and control epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases are as follows:

Epidemiological surveillance and research which are conducted by the National Surveillance Unit and Trinidad Public Health Laboratory;

Laboratory Services;

Legislation;

Information and Education Programmes which are conducted by the Health Education Department;

Implementation of prevention and control action plans; and

Immunisation.

470.Once there is confirmation that there is an epidemic/infectious disease outbreak the Ministry of Health mobilises its resources and puts in place systems, viz:

Treatment of all ill persons;

Identify/determine the common cause through investigation of all cases, sampling and analysis of specimen if necessary;

Report writing and submission of these reports;

Initiate preventative/control measures to break transmission through immunisation, health education etc;

Seek the assistance of PAHO and CAREC.

Enact new legislation should it become necessary;

National alert/public education;

National surveillance; and

All stakeholders are brought on board to assist.

Measures to increase life expectancy

471.The life expectancy of both males and females has risen over the last decade. According to the Central Statistical Office, life expectancy for the period 2000-2005 stands at 70.38 for males and 75.24 for females with a total life expectancy of 72.76.

Measures to eliminate malnutrition

472.The Executive Summary of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2000 provides the following findings in relation to child malnutrition:

Six per cent of the children under 5 in Trinidad and Tobago were estimated to be underweight or too thin for their age. Just 3.6 per cent were estimated to be stunted or too short for their age and 4.4 per cent wasted or too thin for their height.

Children whose mothers had secondary or higher education were less likely to be underweight and stunted than their counterparts whose mothers had less education. Boys appeared to be slightly more likely to be underweight, stunted and wasted than girls.

473.The Ministry of Health has a Nutrition and Metabolism Department. Food Demonstrators from this department visit health centres on a daily basis, giving information on nutrition as well as demonstrations on food preparation. Printed documents are also made available to the general public and counselling is provided once a week.

474.There are also established milk feeding programmes conducted by multidisciplinary teams. Data is collected to track trends in growth development, with the aim of identifying young children in need of milk supplements. Attempts are made by the State to meet the needs of such children.

475.A Walk for Health Campaign was organised by the Ministry of Health in May 2001 for primary school students in North Trinidad. The project was staged in conjunction with the Ministries of Health and Education and the North West Regional Health Authority and was designed to develop better eating habits among the Nation’s youth.

476.In May 2002, the Ministry of Health celebrated Child Health Month. At the launch of the programme, a lecture was delivered on child nutrition. Healthy Lifestyle education was introduced nationally for students about to leave primary school in 2002. It is intended to promote in students habits that lead to healthier living in and beyond secondary school. Copies of a publication entitled “A Health Lifestyle: A Teacher’s Guide” have been distributed to teachers.

477.Please see paragraphs 68 and 140 above for information on the SHARE programme which distributes food hampers to needy families.

478.The Ministry of Education provides nutritious meals to children through its School Nutrition Programme. Under the programme, some 89,000 lunches are served daily to pre‑schools, primary schools and secondary schools throughout the country. Children who are needy can request these free meals at their schools. The meals are prepared by caterers registered under the Programme and are delivered to schools in their respective districts. The number of lunches served per day for the period 1995-2000 is as follows:

Academic year	1995-1996	1996-1997	1997-1998	1998-1999	1999-2000
Total number of lunches served per day	75 600	75 600	77 000	78 500	80 000

479.A Breakfast Programme was officially launched in September 2002 and now serves approximately 25,000 breakfast meals per day to primary schools.

480.The Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery) in November 2002 published an article entitled “Giving Your Child the Right Start” as part of a “ Protect our children Series”. The article highlighted the importance of a balanced nutrition in the development of a child’s life. In this regard, Social Services Delivery collaborated with a number of key stakeholders to mount a series of activities to highlight the needs of children from November 10-22. Community Interactive Sessions at three venues in Trinidad and one venue in Tobago were advertised in the said article.

Measures to provide adequate clean drinking water

481.Between 1997-2001, an estimated $1.6 billion TT was spent by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to provide eighty per cent (80 per cent) of the population with a pipe-borne supply of water.

482.By the end of 2002, 57 per cent of the population received a “continuous” supply of pipe borne water. At the end of 2001, that figure was estimated at 14 per cent.

483.According to the UNDP’s Human Development Report 2002, 86 per cent of the population of Trinidad and Tobago are using “improved water sources” and 88 per cent are using adequate sanitation facilities. (Trinidad and Tobago ranked No.50 out of 173 countries on the 2002 Human Development Index.)

484.The Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has introduced a system of Communal Water Tanks which it believes will temporarily relieve the suffering of consumers outside of the pipe-borne water distribution system. The tanks are part of WASA’s Short Term Investment Plan and have been installed in areas such as Sangre Grande, Arima, Arouca, San Juan, Santa Cruz, Maraval, Las Cuevas, Diego Martin, Chaguaramas, Siparia, Palo Seco, La Brea and Los Iros. Several of the 1,000 gallon tanks are being installed in each area for free use by the community. This is an interim measure which will be replaced in the future with pipelines as part of an overall upgrading programme which is underway.

485.The Environmental Health Division is responsible inter alia for undertaking of a water quality surveillance programme that monitors the quality of potable and industrial water to control the presence of pollutants. This is achieved through sampling and testing of water for bacteriological pollutants. The exercise is conducted in collaboration with WASA. Water and chlorine content are also frequently monitored at all schools.

Promoting respect for the natural environment

486.The Ministry of Education promotes respect for the natural environment. An understanding of the natural systems and the impact of the activities by people on them is obtained through the Science, Technology, Industrial Arts and Geography programmes as well as Social Studies. The Ministry facilitates the efforts of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) in its educational projects for children.

487.In 1997, the EMA provided lectures to schools, community groups and public and private sector groups on various aspects of the environment. It participated in several displays and exhibitions throughout the country to raise the level of public awareness. The EMA also celebrated World Environment Day, June 5, with a week of educational activities for schools and the public and published a newspaper supplement. It also produced print materials including bookmarks, brochures and newspaper advertisements on a variety of issues for public distribution.

488.There is a major public awareness programme being conducted by the EMA to raise awareness in schools and the wider community on key environmental issues, including those relating to littering and garbage disposal. This programme is being conducted through the use of the media and presentations at schools.

489.Glimpses of the Blue Caribbean, a children’s resource book on the environment by Joy Rudder was launched by UNESCO in May 2001 at its Port of Spain office. The publication had been coordinated with the UNESCO Associated Schools Caribbean Sea Project. What began as resource material for the first Environmental Education Workshop held in Tobago, hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago National Commission for UNESCO and the Tobago House of Assembly, has now become a book. This is as a result of feedback from students attending that workshop who wished that their school experience could resemble the programme encountered there. Students who came as representatives from schools around the country were presented with copies of the publication by the author.

Abortion

490.In Trinidad and Tobago abortions are illegal, except in the interest of saving the life of the mother. The Offences Against the Person Act, Chap. 11:08, SS. 56-57 makes a women who has an abortion liable to imprisonment for four years. It is not actively promoted by any agency as a form of birth control. An association known as Advocates for Safe Parenthood, Improving Reproductive Equity (ASPIRE) has been calling on the Government to review the abortion laws with a view to decreasing the risk of unsafe abortions. The group estimates that there are some 19,000 illegal abortions taking place each year, and some 4,000 of these women have to be admitted annually to public hospitals because of unsafe/illegal abortions. These figures have not been confirmed by the Ministry of Health. The group feels that “regardless of the law, women who wanted to have an abortion do so whether or not safe facilities are available to them. And, while wealthy women had the means to access safe abortions, poor women suffered in this regard, putting their health and lives at risk”. However, there has been strong opposition to this call from anti-abortion activists including: Youths for Life, the Emmanuel Community and members of the Roman Catholic Church.

491.The Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago, an NGO which receives Government subventions, works to prevent unplanned pregnancy through expanded and improved family planning services. It conducts education programmes for both women and men. These programmes include modules and discussion on contraceptive options available as well as counselling and individual assessment to select the most appropriate contraceptive method for each person.

Measures to ensure full and harmonious development of the child, including at the spiritual, moral and social levels

Health and Family Life Education

492.For the past three years, the Ministry of Education has incorporated the subject of Health and Family Life Education in its school curriculum. It is concerned with supporting and assisting students in the development of responsible attitudes towards relationships, marriage, child rearing, family membership and civic roles. Social issues such as human sexuality, violence, drugs, child abuse and neglect are dealt with through a comprehensive life-skills based Health and Family Life Curriculum and the Schools Guidance Programme. Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) curriculum is designed to promote psychological competence in our young people by teaching them life skills, which are abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour. The life skills taught through HFLE include:

Decision making;

Conflict resolution;

Effective communication;

Creative thinking;

Empathising;

Interpersonal relationship skills;

Managing skills;

Self awareness and self esteem;

Managing emotions; and

Critical thinking.

493.The Ministry of Education is presently engaged in collaborative activities geared at strengthening Health and Family Life Education in the school, home and community.

Social Skills and Health Education

494.The Youth Affairs Division of the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs conducts a Social Skills and Health Education programme for trainees in the Youth Development and Apprenticeship Centres located throughout the country. The main areas covered by the programme are spiritual, economic, social and moral development, as well as a sporting recreational component.

495.The main areas of concentration which are likely to ensure the full and harmonious development of the child are the Individual, the Family, Crisis and Anger Management, Interpersonal Relationship, Good Citizenship, Environmental Awareness, Career Guidance and Planning Entrepreneurship and Human Sexuality.

496.During the eighteen-month training, participants are prepared to:

develop a better understanding of themselves as individuals of society;

develop a strong spiritual base;

cultivate a strong sense of moral responsibility;

demonstrate sensitivity to the social value of human sexuality;

have detailed knowledge of requirements for establishing a business;

appreciate the benefits of career guidance and planning;

practice environment health; and

manage/implement youth development projects in communities.

497.Trainees from the Youth Development Apprenticeship Centres have participated in the Child Rights Month project organised by the National Family Services Division. This formed part of their Educational/Sensitisation project on the Rights of the Child and took the form of cultural/artistic activities.

Life skills for adolescents project

498.The Gender Affairs Division of the Ministry of Community Development and Gender Affairs supports the Cocorite Learning Centre Project, which is funded by UNICEF. The Life Skills for Adolescents is a project designed to promote the holistic development of children in the following areas:

Improvement of the student’s self-image;

Provision of education on health and reproduction (including the adoption of a positive health life style);

Development of constructive conflict resolution;

Provision of education concerning the services that are available to victims of abuse; and

Heightening awareness of the natural environment and the role of the individual in respect of environmental protection.

499.This Centre provides academic training for approximately one hundred and twenty (120) underprivileged participants between age eleven and sixteen years from Cocorite and its environs. The Centre, which was initiated by the Trinidad and Tobago Federation of Women’s Institutes in 1994, provides educational opportunities for children who never attended primary school; failed to acquire secondary school placement or dropped out of school.

SERVOL’s Children’s Programmes

500.SERVOL (Service Volunteered for All) a voluntary organisation working with the underprivileged conducts the following programmes for children as documented in their publication entitled “SERVOL through the Years: 1970-2001”:

The Parent Out-Reach Programme (POP): Beginning with 0-3 year old children. To initiate this programme, 21 trained Early Childhood Care and Education teachers were offered in-depth training in one to one encounters with parents. Their mission was to go to the remote villages and ghettos of Trinidad and Tobago to meet parents by going from house to house, making friends with them and helping them to deal with problems they were having with their small children and life in general. Subsequent to this, meetings were held with small groups of parents in which they shared common problems and helped each other with possible solutions. Facilitators link-up with personnel from Health Centres in the area to give accurate information on subjects like breastfeeding, diet and basic sanitation. Each year the POP facilitators reach out to over 2,000 families, comforting, encouraging and bringing a sense of hope in their lives.

Early Childhood Care and Education Programme: Educating three to five year old children. To facilitate this programme, SERVOL built a Regional Training and Resource Centre in 1980 to respond to appeals of both communities in Trinidad and Tobago as well as other Caribbean territories to train teachers, field officers and administrators for an expanded Early Childhood Care and Education Programme. The crucial aspect of this programme is that it encourages the teachers and field officers to make contact with those adults responsible for the bringing-up of children and to influence their child rearing practice in such ways, that subsequent groups of children who enter the school will have benefited from the heightened consciousness of parents and community vis-à-vis child development. To ensure that the teacher training programme was of the highest quality, SERVOL, by persistent lobbying was fortunate to acquire the services of Oxford University as its external examiner and over the last twenty years no fewer than 600 teachers have been trained from all over the Caribbean.

Junior Life Centre Programme: Reaching out to the 13-15 year olds. This programme was initiated in 1992 to serve the needs of adolescents who were not placed in secondary schools (prior to the introduction of universal secondary education). The programme was intended to offer remedial education to these children so that they could ultimately rejoin the formal system of education at the age of fourteen or fifteen years. Conscious of the fact that this group of children had been “turned off” from formal education, SERVOL was constrained to write its own curriculum and to employ innovative teaching methods to stimulate the negative attitudes of the group.

SERVOL LIFE CENTRE Programme: For 16-19 year old adolescents. The hundreds of adolescents who sign up for this programme begin by following the Adolescent Development Programme. This programme is designed to prepare these children for subsequent training by allowing them to understand themselves and to open themselves up to caring, sharing and loving. They are also given basic knowledge of their country and in many cases basic skills of reading, writing and counting. During this period they are given talks inter aliaon self-understanding, self-awareness and spirituality. They are also exposed to an adolescent parenting programme designed to make them aware of the responsibilities involved in bringing children into the world and in caring for them in an enlightened fashion. After this three and a half month period, they move into the skill training departments where they spend up to one year learning a specific skill (i.e. welding, plumbing, woodwork, electrical training, food preparation, garment construction and auto mechanic). During this period they spend four months doing on-the-job training with a firm, company or institution which specialises in the skill they are acquiring, as a preparation for the world of work. At the end of all this, they do the National Performance Examination and they either find jobs for themselves or become self‑employed.

Home Work Centres

501.The Gender Affairs Division of the Ministry of Community Empowerment, Sport and Consumer Affairs, through its Women’s Second Chances Project, operates eight Home Work Centres in schools throughout Trinidad. The children selected to participate in the Centre’s activities include children of single parent families in need of supervision at the end of the school day and children deemed as “problem” children, etc. The aim of this programme is the holistic development of the participating children. It includes supervised homework, art and craft activity and sports.

Religious education in schools

502.Religious education classes are conducted at both primary and secondary school levels. In Government junior secondary schools, there is a specific period allocated for religious instruction. Persons from all denominational bodies are invited to use this period to meet with students of their respective faiths. Other secondary schools have an elective period for religious instruction. At denominational schools, there is religious instruction depending on the faith of the school. This is conducted during morning assembly and during classes specifically allocated for religious instruction.

503.In a circular memorandum to School Supervisors and Principals, the Ministry of Education directed as follows:

Religious Instruction in Government Schools

Principals are requested to inform the various religious organisations of the date and times of The Religious Instruction classes and the number of representatives required for the conduct of these religious instruction classes. This should be done at the beginning of the school year so that these bodies can respond appropriately.

School Assemblies

Every effort should be made to ensure that school assemblies are meaningful, set the tone for the school day and involve the active participation of students. The expectation is that, with the necessary support and planning, students will confidently assume a prominent role in school assemblies.

504. “Information should also be provided on the measures taken to ensure the registration of the deaths of children, the causes of death and, where appropriate, investigation and reporting on such deaths, as well as on the measures adopted to prevent children’s suicide and monitor its incidence and to ensure the survival of children at all ages, including adolescents, and the prevention of risks to which that group may be particularly exposed (for example, sexually transmitted diseases, street violence). Please provide relevant disaggregated data, including on the number of suicides among children.” […]

The registration of deaths in Trinidad and Tobago is regulated by the Births and Deaths Registration Act, Chap. 44:01. Section 4 of the Act prescribes that the Registrar General shall keep at his office in Port of Spain, a general register of births and deaths in Trinidad and Tobago.

505.Section 5 of the Act provides that the Registrar General shall send, once in every year, to the President, a general abstract of the numbers of births and deaths registered during the twelve months ending on the last day of December. Every such general abstract is required to be laid before Parliament.

506.The Registrar General is required by S. 14 of the Act to cause register books to be printed for making entries of all births and deaths in Trinidad and Tobago. The Act provides for the appointment of Registrars of births and deaths for every district into which the country is divided. As at January 31, 2000, there were 110 district Registrars located throughout Trinidad and Tobago. Section 15 of the Act sets out the duties of district Registrars as follows:

Every Registrar is authorised, and is hereby required to inform himself carefully of every birth and every death which takes place in his district, and to learn and register, as soon after the event as conveniently may be done, in one of the said books, the particulars required to be registered according to Forms A and B respectively of the First Schedule, touching every such birth or every such death, as the case may be, which are not already registered, every such entry being made in order from the beginning to the end of the book.

507.According to S. 24 of the Act, the death of every person dying in Trinidad and Tobago and the cause of the death, shall be registered by the Registrar in a manner directed by the Act. There are no special provisions for the registration of a child’s death. The provisions of this Act apply to all persons.

508.Section 25 provides that when a person dies in a house, it shall be the duty of the nearest relative of the deceased present at the death “to give to the best of his knowledge and belief, to the Registrar within five days next following the day of the death, information of the particulars required to be registered concerning the death, and in the presence of the Registrar to sign the register”.

509.Section 26 provides that where a person dies in a place which is not a house, or a dead body is found elsewhere than a house, it shall be the duty of every relative of the deceased person having knowledge of any of the particulars required to be registered concerning the death, to give to the Registrar within five days next after the death such information concerning the death and in the presence of the Registrar to sign the register.

510.Section 28 provides that where any death has not been registered from the default of the person required to give information concerning it, the Registrar may, at any time after ten days and within twelve months from the date of the death, require any person to attend personally at the Registrar’s office to give the information required and to sign the register. After the expiration of twelve months after any death, the written authority of the Registrar General is required for registering such a death.

511.Where an inquest is being held on any dead body, the obligation is on the coroner to send the particulars of the death to the Registrar within five days after his finding on the inquest.

512.The Registrar General is required to furnish district Registrars with printed forms of certificates of cause of death by registered medical practitioners and every Registrar is required to furnish these forms to registered medical practitioners residing in his or her district. Section 33 provides further:

S.33(b) In case of death of any person who has been attended during his last illness by

a registered medical practitioner, that practitioner shall sign and give to some person required by this Act to give information concerning the death, a certificate stating to the best of his knowledge and belief the cause of death, and the person shall, upon giving information concerning the death, or giving notice of the death, deliver that certificate to the Registrar, and the cause of death as stated in that certificate shall be entered in the register, together with the name of the certifying medical practitioner;

S.33(c) In the case of the death of any person who had not the services of a medical

practitioner, or who had not been attended by a medical practitioner during his last illness, the Registrar General, a Justice, Superintendent Registrar, District Registrar, Minister of Religion, or any police officer above the rank of Assistant Superintendent, may summon the nearest medical practitioner to view the dead body and to certify on the view, and according to the symptoms described to him by those who attended to the deceased person, what he conceives to be the cause of death;…The medical practitioner’s certificate shall be given to some person required by this Act to give information concerning the death, and the person shall deliver the certificate to the Registrar, and the cause of death as stated in that certificate shall be entered in the register together with the name of the certifying medical practitioner;

513.Section 32 of the Act provides that “A person shall not wilfully bury or procure to be buried the body of any deceased child as if it were still-born.” Section 32(2) provides further:

S.32(2) A person who has control over or ordinarily buries bodies in any burial

ground shall not permit to be buried in the burial ground the body of any deceased child as if it were stillborn, and shall not permit to be buried or bury in the burial ground any still-born child before there is delivered to him either:

(a) a written certificate that the child was not born alive, signed by a

registered medical practitioner who was in attendance at the birth or has examined the body of the child;

(b) a declaration signed by some person who would, if the child had been

born alive, have been required by this Act to give information concerning the birth, to the effect that no registered medical practitioner was present at the birth, or that his certificate cannot be obtained, and that the child was not born alive; or

(c) if there has been an inquest, an order of the Coroner.

Any person who contravenes this section is liable to a fine of four hundred dollars.

514.Section 45 of the Act provides that “Every Registrar who has the keeping for the time of any register of births or deaths shall, at all reasonable times, allow searches to be made of any register in his keeping, and shall give a copy certified under his hand of any entry or entries in the same, on payment of the appropriate fees …”.

515.Section 51 of the Act states that “Any Registrar who refuses or without reasonable cause omits to register any birth or death of which he has had due notice, and any person having the custody of any register book or certified copy thereof, or of any part thereof, who carelessly loses or damages the same … is liable to a fine of two thousand dollars”.

Suicides

516. “Please provide information on the measures adopted to…prevent children’s suicide and monitor its incidence and to ensure the survival of children at all ages, including adolescents, and the prevention of risks to which that group may be particularly exposed (for example, sexually transmitted diseases, street violence). Please provide relevant disaggregated data, including on the number of suicides among children.” […]

There are child guidance and school health programmes which are offered through the Ministry of Health. They are geared to address issues that may lead to suicide by children. The following represents the number of suicides among children aged 0-19 in 1998 and 1999:

Year	Male	Female
1998	9	10
1999	2	5

D. Article 12: Respect for the views of the child

517. “Reports should indicate how the right of the child to express views freely on all matters affecting him or her, and provision for those views to be given due weight have been incorporated in legislation.” […]

The Children (Amendment) Act, No. 68 of 2000 in its Second Schedule Part C of the Act provides inter alia as follows:

Every person under the age of 18, born in Trinidad and Tobago, or born to, or adopted by, parents who are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago is a child and is subject to care and protection under the law including but not limited to:

The right to hold ideas of one’s own, including religious beliefs and to express those views freely in matters affecting themselves;

518.The Adoption of Children Act, No. 67 of 2000 makes it a requirement that a child’s views are considered both by the Adoption Board and by the Court. The relevant sections are as follows:

S.8(1) It shall be the duty of the Board to:

… (f) listen to the views of the child.

S.10 In making arrangements for the adoption of a child the Board shall:

… (b) so far as practicable ascertain the wishes of the child and give due consideration to them having regard to the age and understanding of the child.

S.22(1) Where an application for an adoption order is made in respect of a child, the court shall, before making the order, take into consideration the views and wishes of the child having regard to the age and understanding of that child.

519. “Please provide information on legislative and other measures taken to ensure the right of the child to express views in a manner consistent with his or her evolving capacities, including in:

Family life;

School life;

The administration of juvenile justice;

Placement and life in institutional and other forms of care;