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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.