The new new­ly ap­point­ed Unit­ed Na­tions Chil­dren’s Fund (UNICEF) Rep­re­sen­ta­tive to Bar­ba­dos and the East­ern Caribbean, Ab­dulKa­dir Musse, is warn­ing of a dis­turb­ing surge in vi­o­lence against chil­dren in the re­gion.

“Across the sub­re­gion, chil­dren are in­creas­ing­ly caught up in es­ca­lat­ing vi­o­lence, where fa­tal events that should be unimag­in­able are now oc­cur­ring, ”Musse said, as the UNICEF East­ern Caribbean said it is “deeply shocked and sad­dened to learn of the fa­tal shoot­ing of 13-year-old Shaw­nathon Chase, a Bar­ba­di­an child who was a kind, vi­brant and well-loved mem­ber of his school com­mu­ni­ty, a young man full of dreams and as­pi­ra­tions for a fu­ture he has now been de­nied – at the point of a gun.

“Our hearts are heavy as we think of his fam­i­ly, thrown in­to pro­found grief. No fam­i­ly should suf­fer this pain,”  he said, adding “we al­so rec­ol­lect with in­com­pre­hen­sion the re­cent mur­der of nine-year-old Chantel Crump in An­tigua and Bar­bu­da.

“Chil­dren have al­so lost their lives to vi­o­lence in Saint Lu­cia, St. Vin­cent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and To­ba­go with­in the last few months,” Musse said, echo­ing the call by Bar­ba­dos  Prime Min­is­ter Mia Mot­t­ley for col­lec­tive ac­tion to stem the vi­o­lence.

“We can and must come to­geth­er to make sure that our chil­dren’s lives, our com­mu­ni­ties and our na­tions are not blight­ed by this vi­o­lence. We need to act joint­ly, and with re­solve, to keep our chil­dren safe,” said Musse, re­it­er­at­ing UNICEF’s com­mit­ment to com­bat­ing vi­o­lence against chil­dren through col­lab­o­ra­tive ef­forts.

“At UNICEF, chal­leng­ing vi­o­lence against chil­dren is at the very heart of what we do. We are work­ing with part­ners – in­clud­ing gov­ern­ment, schools, par­ents, pol­i­cy­mak­ers and re­searchers – on ex­pand­ing vi­o­lence pre­ven­tion pro­grammes and in­ter­ven­tions so young peo­ple live lives free from hurt and harm, ”Musse said, ap­peal­ing for a re­newed fo­cus on safe­guard­ing chil­dren, stress­ing that these tragedies must not con­tin­ue.

“Let our shock and our sad­ness have pur­pose, let them move us to re­dou­bling our ef­forts – and look­ing at new ideas and strate­gies – to en­sure that no oth­er child shares the fate of Shaw­na­ton Chase,” he said.

On Tues­day, Chase died from stray bul­lets in a gun at­tack while at a net­ball court in Christ Church on the south­ern end of the is­land.

BRIDGETOWN, Bar­ba­dos, Mar 28,  CMC

CMC/ah/ir/2025