With our children, NO!

With our children, NO! / Yoani Sanchez
Posted on June 16, 2013

Just three weeks ago several of us Cuban activists visited Stockholm to
participate in the Internet Freedom Forum. The highlights of our stay
there were not only during the sessions of the technology event, but
also throughout the program of parallel activities. It was extremely
interesting to visit ECPAT, an NGO that focuses on the fight against
pornography, prostitution and child trafficking. As often happens, the
explanation of its work led us to reflect on the impact of such
reprehensible incidents on the Cuban reality as well. The first thing
that caught my eye was the absence of an entity or NGO that is dedicated
specifically to that topic on the island, at least as far as the public
knows, but there is no doubt that before the Universal Periodic Review
at the United Nations some official group has designated itself advocate
for victims of sexual predators.

If the wall of the Malecón could speak… it would tell us of all those
young people between 16 and 18 who offer their bodies to tourists for a
few dollars. Although there are even more children in the meat trade, it
is at that age that the lack of legal protection is total, because under
the law prevailing in Cuba they are considered adults. As a result, they
are left out of any statistics and, in consequence, of any prevention
and protection program offered by international agencies such as UNICEF.
Cases of forced teen sex by stepfathers, uncles, older siblings or close
relatives abound in Cuban towns. A girl of twelve, thirteen or fourteen
pregnant by an adult, is perceived as common especially in rural areas
of the country. Not to mention that carnal relations between teachers
and students in junior and senior high schools have become a normal part
of our existence.

Recently the Canadian James McTurk was convicted in Toronto for several
sexual offenses against children in Cuba, including some as young as
three. The story has not been published in the national media, but the
predator was in our country 31 times between 2009 and 2012. It's not
credible that immigration authorities so skilled in detecting whether
Cubans can enter their own country, and customs officials trained to
find a laptop or a mobile phone on luggage, didn't realized that
something was wrong with that man. It is also sad that, given this is
one of the evils that afflict our society, a group of alarmed parents is
not even allowed to form a group of citizens to denounce pedophiles and
to support solidarity for the victims of these criminals. Amid so many
social issues that are touching the emerging civil society of this
island, such as the dual currency, low wages, and the need for political
and party reform, it is also urgent to tackle such a sensitive problem.
We must say to all these foreign and domestic abusers, "With our
children, NO!"

16 June 2013

Source: "With our children, NO! / Yoani Sanchez | Translating Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/with-our-children-no-yoani-sanchez/