Caribbean News
T&T: Pornography and Child Sex Abuse creating Sex Offenders in Trinidad & Tobago says Senator
#TrinidadandTobago, June 19, 2021 – Heart-breaking statistics about sexual abuse in Trinidad and Tobago has led to a bold new stride in law to expose sex predators and has drawn suggestions for effective social intervention.
Opposition Senator David Nakhid is at the center of reports on passage of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill 2021. He is also addressing the statistics which expose the damage to children and young people when explicitly sexual encounters and entertainment is thrust upon their impressionable minds.
Trinidad and Tobago News Day reports Senator Nakhid as saying: “Twenty-eight per cent of respondents reported that their abuser used pornography. For twelve per cent of the women who survived, pornography was imitated during the abusive incident. That says a lot.” Nakhid asked aloud how does a society like Trinidad and Tobago monitor the use (and presumably effect) of pornography.
The Senator substantiates his plea with a startling, concerning figures emanating from interviews with victims of sexual violence.
“Based on a 2008 study of a mix of 269 rapists and child abusers, he listed typical background traits of sex offenders.
He said child sex abusers had typically experienced child sexual abuse (73 per cent of respondents) and viewed pornography before age ten (65 per cent.)
“His dysfunction was related more to almost a compulsion or a maladaptive character in terms of how he would see that sexual experience.”
Nakhid said a rapist’s background was typically physical abuse (68 per cent of respondents), parental violence (78 per cent) and emotional abuse (70 per cent.)”
The Senator admonishes for families and leaders to remove the taboo around the sexual experience.
“All my research shows pornography actually rewires the brain, especially among our young kids. It’s actually a re-wiring of how we view relationships, how we see the sexual act, how we see women. So it comes to gender equality, because pornography is such a journey from the realities of relationships and sexual relationships that we find that men, because of their visual instant gratification that pornography provides, tend to end up frustrated in relationships, dissatisfied in relationships.”
On Tuesday, the Senate of Trinidad and Tobago, unanimously approved the Sexual Offenses Amendment Bill (2021) which now gives the public the right to access a sex offender website providing names, photographs and date of birth of convicted persons.
CNW Network, a US based Caribbean news organization, in its report said: “Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, who piloted the bill, said it is intended to create two registers: The National Sex Offender Register, which would be private and for the use of law enforcement only, and the Public Sex Offender Website, which would be accessible by the public. The website would be under the control of the Commissioner of Police.”
However, Senator Nakhid suggested the sexual offenders’ website be maintained by an independent board.
Imagine an Atlantic Bridge connecting the Caribbean Region to the African Continent
Deandrea Hamilton | Editor
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — When CARICOM leaders convened with African counterparts and Afreximbank officials in Ethiopia, the outcomes were savory and exactly what many Caribbean people want to see materialise as the islands become uniquely reconnected to the African continent.
At the Second CARICOM-Africa Summit, held at the African Union headquarters, leaders moved beyond symbolic language to agree on a draft communiqué that, if finalized, would anchor this partnership in practical action. While not yet officially published by the AU or CARICOM, the document points to an agenda that blends history with urgent twenty-first century priorities.
The draft outlines commitments to improve air and sea transport links, including the pursuit of a multilateral air services agreement to break down the barriers that still keep the Caribbean and Africa physically apart. It also calls for visa facilitation and simplified entry regimes, making it easier for citizens of both regions to travel, study, and work across the Atlantic.
Equally significant are pledges to advance double taxation treaties that could remove one of the most stubborn obstacles to investment.
With Afreximbank’s Caribbean headquarters already established in Barbados and the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) gaining momentum, leaders now want to lock in the financial and legal frameworks that will drive new business.
Reparatory justice also featured prominently, with the draft communiqué sharpening a joint call for coordinated advocacy. CARICOM’s long-standing Reparations Commission is expected to work more closely with African institutions to demand global recognition and redress for the shared traumas of slavery and colonial exploitation.
CARICOM’s incoming chair, Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew of St. Kitts and Nevis, captured the spirit of the gathering when he urged that the Atlantic Slave Trade be reimagined as an “Atlantic Bridge — a bridge of hope, a bridge of advancement, a bridge that will ensure our people take their rightful place in this world.”
For Secretary-General Dr. Carla Barnett, the meeting was a “homecoming,” but also a reminder that concrete steps like the Health Development Partnership for Africa and the Caribbean (HeDPAC) and improved transportation links are needed to transform rhetoric into results.
For citizens back home, wrestling with inflation and economic uncertainty, the Addis outcomes — transport, visas, investment, health, and reparations — are precisely the kinds of measures that can validate leaders’ journeys and rekindle faith in South-South cooperation. What was once only rhetoric now hints at the beams of an Atlantic Bridge, connecting the Caribbean and Africa in ways that could finally turn history’s tragedy into tomorrow’s advantage.
