Former DLP Minister Atherton Martin calls for urgent action to be taken in addressing child sexual abuse in Dominica

​Former Government Minister, Atherton Martin, wants urgent action to be taken in addressing child sexual abuse here.
 
Martin spoke specifically to a statement made by Attorney General Levi Peter, indicating that a draft sexual offenses Amendment Bill for 2016 will soon be taken to parliament for approval.
 
Martin believes that there has been a dragging of feet on this issue for far too long, while children continue to be violated in Dominica.
 
Meanwhile, he shares the view that it is a shame and disgrace that the women in Government have not stood up to champion this cause. He says by their silence they are compliant with the predators who take advantage of children.

​In 2015, there were a total of 189 cases reported of child abuse, 128 of these were sexual related matters, while seventy-three cases out of this 189, were children within the ages of 1 to 10.
 
This is based on statistics of the Child Abuse Prevention Unit.
 
According to statistics from 2010 to 2015 there were a total of 1,095 reported cases of child abuse in Dominica.