Despite universal gains in several areas of child development rights and protection, the United Nations Children Education Programme (UNICEF) contends that too many of Jamaica’s children are facing complex threats of violence, HIV/AIDS and exclusion.

Almost a quarter of the island’s children live in poverty, said Bertrand Bainvel, the UNICEF representative to Jamaica.

“There is no question that Jamaica has made remarkable progress in advancing the rights of children – and so often with limited financial resources,” said Bainvel Tuesday during the mid-term review of the Government of Jamaica/UNICEF Country Programme of Cooperation 2002-2006 held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston.

“But we also agree that Jamaican childhood is under multiple threats right now.”

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the UNICEF representative challenged the participants to action.

“Passivity and silence are not viable options any longer,” he said.

Highlighting the interconnectedness of the issues, Bainvel pointed out that:

. more than 20,000 Jamaican children are affected by HIV/AIDS;

. more than four persons are murdered daily;

. one in four adolescent say they do not feel safe in their communities; and

. that close to one-quarter of Jamaican children live in poverty.

In addition, boys perform poorly in school, drop out early and are marginalised while girls are easy prey to violence, abuse and exploitation.

It is “unthinkable” that Jamaica can tackle the Millennium Development Goals for 2015 without addressing these threats, he added.

“It is time to stop finger-pointing and turning to those ‘in charge’ to shield us from the threats.and halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, condemn violence and fight exclusion, as we are all on the line.”

In her speech, Minister of Education Youth and Culture Maxine Henry-Wilson spoke in agreement with the Bainvel assessment.

“It represents an indictment of our wider society and we must dispel any notion we have that we are doing a good job of caring how we grow our children,” she said.

Henry-Wilson said too that there was an overwhelming number of violent and sexual offences being committed against Jamaica’s children and adolescent girls, even in the face of aggressive intervention.

“We must be distressed when we learn that, despite interventions, one in five of our 15-19 year-old girls are the victims of forced sex, perpetrated by someone with whom they have had a close relationship and that being a resident of rural Jamaica puts them at greatest risk,” the minister said.

Some of the contributing factors to this kind of vulnerability are reflected in the Mid-term Review Report which indicates that at the end of 2002 45.5 per cent of Jamaican households were headed by females.

Half of those households were in urban areas and had larger families than the national average, but they also had a lower per capita consumption of $7,795, compared to $9,968 by male-headed households.

Minister Henry-Wilson said that the growing trend is cause for concern as there is a correlation between income level and education. The wealthier the family, the more likely it is that the child would complete secondary schooling and advance to tertiary learning.

Among Jamaica’s achievements under the GoJ/UNICEF programme are:

. advances in early childhood education;

. the ‘child-centredness’ of initiatives which produced interventions such as the Roving Caregivers programme;

. broad participation and awareness in adolescent reproductive health;

. the decrease in the number of paediatric AIDS cases for 2003;

. a 95 per cent birth registration rate; and

. the institutionalisation of the Child Development Agency.

In addition, several child-oriented social policies and rights legislation have been passed into law and Jamaica is signatory to several conventions on issues affecting the development and protection of children.