Suffer The Little Children

Samantha Magick

White Sunday will hear one of the most famous of bible verses, "Suffer the little children to come unto me." Suffer indeed, for that same week, regional media reported the sentencing of a father to eight years jail by Samoa's Supreme Court for the repeated rape of his daughter, and the citing of a priest once posted in Samoa on charges of sexually abusing seven boys in Australia.

And even more disturbing because of its magnitude, was news of the ongoing trials on Pitcairn Island, where seven men are facing a total of 55 sex offence charges. They include the island's mayor, Steve Christian, who faces six charges of rape and four of indecent assault. One defendant, Dennis Christian, has pleaded guilty to three of four charges against him, including the indecent assault of a 12 year old girl.

Those hearings will drag on, slowly and painfully, but the court has already heard claims from one alleged victim that "abuse and rape was a normal way of life on the island" and that "Pitcairn Island was sheer hell."

It does seem clear that on Pitcairn, there was a culture of secrecy, fear and silence, not unique to, but certainly characteristic of many island societies when it comes to crimes of this nature.

Our governments have been the first to admit that non-government organizations have taken the lead in providing support to victims of abuse, and in the case of organizations like Save the Children, economic and educational support.

Back in 2002, Nauru's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vince Clodumar, speaking on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum countries, told a Special Session of the General Assembly on Children that children bear the brunt of poverty, that many school leavers are not equipped or able to find jobs in what has been termed "poverty of opportunity," and that "there is growing recognition that …violence is unacceptable and cannot be justified as customary."

Most Pacific Island nations have signed to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. But how do we enforce that, and stop it becoming yet another convention that isn't worth the (voluminous amounts of) paper it is written on?

And just over a month ago, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton spoke at a Business Opportunities Conference in Los Angeles (looking at investment in the U.S. freely associated states and territories) about the federal government's "No Child Left Behind" program, saying "we have worked with the territories and the freely associated states to emphasize the importance of educational investment for the future of the islands."

There is no doubt that in our region, (some) things are done differently. In many island nations the percentage of the population under 16 years of age approaches the 50 per cent mark, creating a whole raft of development challenges.

On the up side, the extended family structure, when it works and isn't eroded by (particularly) economic threats, makes for children who are well loved and cared for by a large community.

The concept of corporal punishment is different too. Who of my generation at least, can remember being "whipped" with a branch of some description by an irate parent or relative or even teacher?

Still, I found the philosophy and beauty of White Sunday deeply moving. And it suggested to me that as parents, grandparents and guardians, we should try to bring some of that philosophy and beauty to our children every day.