Categorized | National News

Human Rights Activist Calls For Protection For Named Sex Offenders

erin greene (1)A local human rights activist is calling for provisions to be put in place for individuals named and shamed on a sex offenders registry.

According to Erin Greene, while pushing for such a registry is a citizen’s right for his/her own security, by the same token, society must be aware of the ramifications that come along with publishing such a list.

“I think without being intimately aware of what lies behind the government’s position is right now they don’t have the mechanisms for the capacity to protect those people on the list,” Ms. Greene said during an interview with the Bahama Journal.

“Once you put someone on a list like that and the list is public then what’s going to happen if your society isn’t prepared for the list, then they find the information they may harass or terrorize the person.”

According to Ms. Greene, a sex offender registry is just a mechanism and that there is a need for a number of mechanisms to be in place before this happens.

She added that the government will have to ensure that police stations have a copy of the addresses of people on the list and if any listed individuals call about harassment or harm, the police will act immediately to protect that person.

“I think we are ready for it because our citizens are deserving of protection and security, especially our children,” she said.

“We as citizens have a right to access information necessary to protect ourselves but before we do that, we need to implement a compliment of mechanisms to work along with the registry to ensure that we not only maximize its use and potential, but ensure that we can protect the rights of people on the list.”

The renewed call for a sex offenders registry comes after the government on Friday moved ahead with the Mandatory Action Rescuing Children Operation (MARCO) Alert.

Similar to the Amber alert in the United States, the MARCO Alert essentially gives authorities the green light to begin searching for a missing child before waiting 24 hours.

The alert bears the name of young Marco Archer, whose badly decomposed body was found five days after family members reported him missing back in September 2011.

Archer’s family members were reportedly told they could not file a police report until 24 hours had passed.

Archer’s killer Kofte Goodman was sentenced to death.

While not revealing much, National Security Minister Dr. Bernard Nottage on Friday revealed that “talks are in motion” for such a sex offenders registry and that “regulations are being processed.”

Hoping to push the process along, non-profit activist group Solidarity242 this weekend urged the public to join its “virtual protest.”

The social media petition included hashtags #justiceformarco and #protectourchildren and #MarcosAlert.

 

Written by Jones Bahamas

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