SENATOR Noel Monteith, state minister for education, youth and culture has called for laws to be enacted to protect children from irresponsible parents. He also wants stiffer penalties for men who impregnate teenage girls, “as these actions,” according to him, “amount to terrorism”.

Monteith argued that in spite of the efforts of the education ministry, there was a role for parents and adults, “as we cannot live in a society where people are allowed to bring children into the world and leave them unprotected”.

He was debating a private member’s motion in the Senate last Friday.

Debate on the motion, which continued from the previous week, was tabled by government senator, Keste Miller, who urged the nation to support government’s recent initiatives to fight crime and violence in Jamaica.

He pointed out that these youngsters were not ready to be responsible parents and they should not be made into mothers. “Our young girls must be allowed to grow and enjoy their teenage years,” he maintained, adding that many children in today’s society were being born to children.

“I don’t know what we are going to do to stop this. I know that there are laws protecting them because under the age of consent, all those men can be charged. Those men should be sought after and castrated,” Miller added.

He said however, that all was not lost because interventions have been made and “we want to encourage more of those”. In this regard, he congratulated the security forces on the number of social intervention programmes that they have put in place to help in the reduction of crime.

Also speaking on the motion was Senator Kern Spencer, parliamentary secretary in the ministry of national security, who used the opportunity to address youth issues as it relates to crime and violence.

He said the issues influencing crime amongst young people must be targeted; stating that one of the causes of youth crime was idle hands.

Against this background, Spencer said that, “we must continue to find ways of keeping those who are at risk, in school and educated”.

He also announced that that Supreme Ventures Limited had committed approximately $10 million to the Ministry of National Security for a scholarship fund over the next three years. The scholarships, Spencer said, would be tenable for one year and persons would be eligible to reapply. He explained that the programme would target 315 students between the ages of 12 and 18 years, and each scholarship will value $30,000

Meanwhile, Opposition Senator Dwight Nelson, in his contribution, suggested that that government set aside a portion of the money seized from drug offenders to strengthen the Witness Protection Programme, while Senator Desmond McKenzie felt the resolution fell short of addressing the real issues of crime, and recommend that it be more specific.