MINISTER within the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Ms Bibi Shadick, has accused the Stabroek News newspaper of “reckless endangerment” in its Tuesday page one lead story.
The Government Information Agency (GINA) said she is adamant that the newspaper should apologise for the report headlined `Neglected children left to beg’.
A photograph of the three children who the newspaper said were abandoned by their parents and left to fend for themselves, was published with the story. There were also photographs of the home where the children are living, including their toilet.
Shadick told GINA she is disappointed with the general behaviour of the Stabroek News, because this is not the first such article it has published.
She said the report in Tuesday’s issue of the newspaper goes against the work of the ministry to protect children in the society.
The ministry had intervened in the situation of the parents of the children who are now separated, the agency reported.
The minister said her Probation and Family Welfare officers have been working with the couple for more than a year and the father is gainfully employed.
The children are enrolled and attend school and are only out because school has closed for the August holiday, GINA said.
Furthermore, Shadick said the Stabroek News report was incorrect when it stated that they are on their own.
She added that the Chief Probation and Family Welfare Officer of the ministry, Ann Greene, had cautioned the Stabroek News reporter not to publish photographs of the children.
The minister said such irresponsible journalism by Stabroek News can now snare the lives of these children who are minors and whose photographs should not have been published in the first place.
“She is disappointed that some people feel that the only way to exploit children is sexually, but by disclosing their whereabouts they are opening an avenue for people to prey on these children”, GINA said.
It added that Shadick said that her ministry is not interested in exposing people’s poverty but in helping them get out of that state.
She also condemned the action of members of the community to which these children belong.
Shadick said the protection and welfare of children is everybody’s business and any action which exposes the vulnerability of people, much less children, is irresponsible.