THE EDITOR: On Tuesday your newspaper published a story of a young man who had been acquitted of a murder he had been charged with when he was a teenager. His name appeared in the newspaper and the details of the crime and the judge’s verdict were also published. The 25-year-old man was 15 when the crime was committed. He is no longer a child.

Section 81 of the Children Act expressly provides that, “No person shall publish the name, address, photograph or community residence where the child is placed or anything likely to lead to the identification of the child before the court, save with the permission of the court or in so far as required by this act.”

Over the years, I have chastised the media (both print and electronic) for publication of personal details of children before the court. It is a clear infringement of the law and I am very pleased that the media no longer infringe this right to privacy of the child.

Trinidad and Tobago ratified the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in December 1991. In 1995, at the Caribbean Convention on the Rights of the Child in Belize City, we signed the Belize Commitment to Action on the Rights of the Child, vowing we would obey the letter and spirit of the CRC.

This means that even where the letter of the law does not prohibit an action, we would refrain from such action if it infringes any of the rights of the child.

In their general comment No 24 (2019) on children’s rights in the child justice system, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed the view that “there should be lifelong protection from publication regarding crimes committed by children.

“The rationale for the non-publication rule, and for its continuation after the child reaches the age of 18, is that publication causes ongoing stigmatisation, which is likely to have a negative impact on access to education, work, housing or safety.

“This impedes the child’s reintegration and assumption of a constructive role in society. States parties should thus ensure that the general rule is lifelong privacy protection pertaining to all types of media, including social media.”

Our existing law does not prohibit lifelong protection from publication of the particulars of offenders and the disposition of the crimes committed by them when they were children. However, the stated rationale for the committee’s recommendation should prompt the media to act in conformity with the spirit of the convention and refrain from such publication. Hopefully, the law will soon follow suit.

SENATOR HAZEL

THOMPSON-AHYE

child rights advocate

The post Protect them even when they grow up appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.