Betting on minors
CVC chair calls for reduced age of civil responsibility; says “young people” will make “sensible choices” if given adequate information
Published:Thursday | August 14, 2025 | 12:11 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
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A call is being made for more Caribbean governments to consider reducing the age of civil responsibility so that some minors will not have to seek permission from parents or guardians when they require sexual and reproductive health (SRH) treatment...
A call is being made for more Caribbean governments to consider reducing the age of civil responsibility so that some minors will not have to seek permission from parents or guardians when they require sexual and reproductive health (SRH) treatment.
Such a move would be aimed at addressing the rate of HIV infection among youth in the region.
Ivan Cruickshank, executive director of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities (CVC) Coalition, told The Gleaner that “the evidence is overwhelming that if you provide young people with adequate and appropriate information to make sensible choices, they do that”.
Expressing his concern at the fact that one in every four new HIV cases in the region involves people age 15 to 24, Cruickshank noted that countries that have implemented such policies have seen shifts in behaviours and a decrease in the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections.
“It is important for us to begin to have the conversation. I think parents need to be able to be involved in the well-being of their kids, that right cannot be taken away from parents. But we also need to help parents with understanding their own children and where they’re at, and allowing the children to be able to help make some of these decisions for themselves,” he said.
Most countries across the region have existing laws that impede the availability of, and accessibility to, SRH services, including contraceptives, and effective HIV prevention, testing, care, treatment, and support for young people below 18 years, according to a 2023 United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report.
The UNFPA stresses that eliminating legal barriers to young people’s access to SRH information and services is key to young people’s health, will empower them and reduce their risks of HIV, STIs and adolescent pregnancy.
It noted that children in Guyana could access HIV testing without parental consent at any age, while in Trinidad and Tobago that age is 14 years old. Meanwhile, Belize, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago have national sexual and reproduction health policies to deal with sexual and reproductive health issues.
Cruickshank highlighted the government of Grenada, which recently tabled legislation to lower the age of civil responsibility from 18 to 16 years. This change would allow minors age 16 and older to consent to sexual and reproductive health treatments without parental or guardian permission.
However, he acknowledged that the Caribbean, as a region, tends to be conservative and, as a result, reluctant to change such policies.
“It’s not just about sex; a lot of it is about helping youngsters to understand their bodies, the changes their bodies go through, some of the issues that they are likely to face. We’re very afraid of having that discussion, and so we tend to associate giving them the freedom to make those choices on their own with some of the fears or anxieties that we have about talking about sex,” he said.
CONSENT TO CERTAIN TREATMENTS
However, Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison pointed to Jamaica’s Law Reform (Age of Majority) Act, which gives young people the ability to negotiate consent to certain medical procedures.
Section 8 of the act allows individuals who have reached the age of 16 to consent to certain surgical, medical, or dental treatment.
“It has long come up within the health sector about what are the confines that health practitioners and providers should be cognisant of if they have to treat with a young person who comes to them for medical health and advice and support. And they certainly have the wherewithal to act, in keeping with the best medical interest of any person who comes before them,” she said.
Gordon Harrison also stressed that Jamaica’s age of majority is aligned with most countries in the world, and should not be disturbed.
“We already have the ability in Jamaica for children to consent to some procedures and, for me, I think that sexual and reproductive health, and other types of information that would flow from that ... a public education approach is what I would prefer,” she said.