THE United Nations Children’s Fund, (UNICEF) has once again appealed to Jamaica’s gun-toting criminals to stop slaughtering children, saying it found their actions repulsive and shocking and urged the island’s major political parties to commit to long-term crime-fighting measures.

This latest call came against the background of last Wednesday’s murder of 10-year-old Sasha-Kay Brown at her Barnes Avenue home in Maxfield Avenue, Kingston. A group of masked gunmen shot up the house, then set it ablaze, killing Sasha, her aunt Janice Brown and her grandparents, Dorcas and Gerald Brown who were trapped inside. The gunmen then camped outside the house to prevent help reaching the family.

“The United Nations Children’s Fund would like to state its abhorrence and shock at the brutal and deliberate killing of Sasha-Kay,” the organisation said in a press release.

“We note with deep concern, the sinister and disturbing trend which has developed in recent times of involving children in revenge killings and gang-related killings,” UNICEF said, adding that the violence and HIV/AIDS “are now major causes for the orphaning of Jamaican children”.

This situation, the children’s organisation said, held serious implications not only for the nation’s children, but also the country’s future.

“The spiralling of violence has placed Jamaica in the same cohort as countries plagued by conflicts and wars, with now close to five people killed per day.”

UNICEF was forced to make a similar call in February this year, asking Jamaica’s “community dons and gang leaders to leave children out of gang warfare and immediately stop the deliberate killing of children.”

In issuing this latest call, UNICEF last Friday urged the government to “accelerate initiatives, effectively mobilise the various sectors in developing robust multi-sectoral plans, and allocate commensurate resources to allow communities to prevent and mitigate violence, as well as rehabilitate its victims”.

UNICEF said one approach would be to combine effective community policing with long-term community-based and multi-sectoral initiatives

Warned UNICEF: “Using only quick-fixes will bring long-term failures.”

“UNICEF calls on political leaders to commit themselves to this long-term fight against violence, and impartially and relentlessly work towards solutions at national and community levels, tapping into the courageous examples set by outstanding community leaders and organisations.”

The children’s organisation added that violence, like HIV/AIDS, must be tackled in a “very systematic, coordinated and sustained manner”.