KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) — Opposition Leader Godwin Friday has reiterated his support for increasing the age of consent, saying that while 15 “definitely” is “too low”, the new age should be decided after consultation with the public.

“As to the exact age, that is something, of course, that can be discussed as well,” Friday said, adding that his view, as well as that of his New Democratic Party (NDP) and the public, is that the age should be increased.

“If you look around the world you will find that between 16 and 17 tends to be around what the higher level is,” Friday said on a radio programme here, noting that some people have called for it to be 18 while others have said 21.

“But this is something I believe that we must have some public discussion about it. But definitely, I agree 15 is too low and it should be raised.”

Friday said the NDP has discussed the matter.

“And the proposal is between 16 and 17, which is the age group that most people are talking — 16 and 18. But again, I would prefer to have a more broader public discussion on the issue, not just the age of consent.”

He said the age of consent is “critically important but the whole problem of sexual violence in our society, and the abuse of girls and women and so forth, that you find is too prevalent in St Vincent and Grenadines as a broader question that should be addressed as well”.

Friday said the NDP had canvassed the issue in its discussions about crime, adding that the age of consent was an important part of that discussion.

“But what I believe should be done, and has been lacking, is that you should have forums where these matters are addressed by persons who have expressed their views about it, persons who are affected.

“You’re thinking about schoolteachers, church leaders, ordinary people, young people, and so on,” he said, suggesting fora like town hall meetings and presentations by expert groups.

“Because this is something that is not just affecting you in St Vincent. There are other countries in the Caribbean who have looked at it as well and looked more broadly at how you deal with the problem of crime, sexual crimes, and so forth against women and girls.”

He said the fora can give people a chance to express their views.

Friday said he has even heard talk of increasing the age of consent to 21.

“I don’t think that that is practical but, certainly, between the ages of 16 and 18 is where most opinions are expressed.”

He said the High Court arraignment list shows that sexual offences are “a very serious and pervasive problem” in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“And so, there needs to be a general review of sexual offences,” Friday said, noting that the matter came up during the debate on stiffer penalties for some sexual offences approved by Parliament on April 4.

“And our proposal still is, my preference is to have a special legislation that deals with sexual offences rather than just as part of the Criminal Code, which includes the definition of the offences but also sets out like policy statements as to how these offences are to be dealt with,” the Opposition leader said.

“And then there is an entire apparatus of how you investigate, how you deal with the victims of these crimes and so forth,” Friday said, adding, “so, it’s a more comprehensive approach.

“That is what I believe we should be moving towards. It’s not reinventing the wheel, because other countries have similar types of legislation or approaches — and that’s something we can learn from and I think it’s the way to go.”

Friday said the problem in the country “is that we are moving from a stage where sex crimes have been very underplayed in our society in terms of how people regard them”.

“People regard these things as ‘just sex’ and it’s been going on and you have the abuses in the homes, you have abuses from people in different levels of power, in various offices. We’re going all the way from rape to sexual harassment in the workplace, which we don’t hear much of.

“And that is something that also needs to be addressed as a general approach in the society to dealing with these very serious offences,” Friday said, calling for a change in mindset to regard sexual offences as serious crimes.

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, speaking on radio on April 10, said he saw a stronger case for moving the age of consent from 15 to 16, where it was in the 1960s.

“Now the general public, in an informed way, could have a conversation on this,” Gonsalves said.