Crime rates blamed on youth neglect

SAVE the Children PNG country director Fiu Willame-Igara says neglect of children is a contributing factor to crime rates.
Igara pointed out that the country was facing a youth bulge and how the youth were being nurtured contributed to what they would be contributing to the society.
She used Milne Bay as an example, saying people compared the province in the past to the present.
She highlighted that there were issues to do with law and order in Milne Bay now than there were before; the province used to be safe.
Igara said a lot of the crimes in which young people were involved in could be traced back to the situations that they had grown up in.
“It’s really a whole time period where we have not really provided the right support, funding and activities to enable us to have youth who feel like they are appreciated, they’re engaged, they have a voice and they’re being heard,” she said.
National Office of Child and Family Services chief executive officer Simon Yanis said the challenge of reaching out to youths in provinces was difficult as welfare service had been decentralised to provinces.
Yanis acknowledged churches and non-governmental organisations that were working in the space of youths, saying: “Saving the children would save the country.”