by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ
During Respect For Life Week, please reflect on the following statement:
“The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men and women of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts… whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are supreme dishonour to the Creator.” (The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: Gaudium et Spes: 1, 27 (Pope Paul VI, 1965):
These crimes continue to poison our country/world. If we are to respect life and promote justice, we must see our neighbour as another “self”. If we do, perhaps we would respond to the needs of our neighbours in appropriate ways.
CCSJ joins with all “right-thinking” persons and condemns the broadcast of a video on TV (Ch. 6) which purported to show the rape of a 13-year-old girl who is mentally challenged. It was repeatedly broadcast during prime time. With rights comes responsibility – to act in an ethical manner. Journalists must act within a moral framework. The fact that so many spoke out against this “infamy” shows that we are still a nation in which values of decency, love for neighbour, and a concern to build the common good, still exist in the hearts and minds of most of our people.
CCSJ seeks to raise the awareness of the faithful of the need to promote a just moral order; to promote the sanctity of life and the inherent, inalienable and inviolable dignity of each human being. The welfare of the child/victim should be of paramount importance.
As the Telecommunications Authority of TT said, the airing of the video clip on TV6 “may have constituted a breach of the station’s own ethical guidelines, a breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and a breach of the Sexual Offences Act”.
UNICEF has produced a handbook which contains “key elements which are essential for reporting on issues involving/affecting children… ethics should come from a place of responsibility, conscience, and self-regulation – not a place of legality…Any careless or irresponsible journalism can harm the lives of children…Guidelines for interviewing children: 1. Do no harm to any child; avoid questions, attitudes or comments that are judgmental, insensitive to cultural values, that place a child in danger or expose a child to humiliation, or that reactivate a child’s pain and grief from traumatic events….”
Let us consider the plight of the victim. I know 4 persons who have been raped and it is only when one “walks” with the victim that one gets a glimpse of the horror of this evil called “rape”. As the African NGO: “Stop the horror” says: “Rape and sexual violence has ravaged our most valuable resource, the woman.” Although there are cases of boys and men being raped, in the main, it is girls and women who suffer at the hands of rapists – most of whom are male. It is an under-reported crime.
How do we in our parishes treat victims of rape? I recall supporting a rape victim who had been in her garden, tending her plants. After going through hours of trauma at the hand of her attackers, most people in her village “shoo-shoo-shooed” behind her back and tried their best to avoid her. Yes, her own neighbours treated this victim like a pariah. She became a recluse and died a few years later.
Our faith calls us to stand in solidarity and love with the vulnerable and the oppressed. Let us stop walking on the other side like those in the story of The Good Samaritan. During Respect For Life Week, think about the ways in which you demonstrate that you respect all life. Please join our activities and pray for the success of the week’s activities.
