– says selection of COI members almost complete Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, promised yesterday to “deal with” any staffer from the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) if the Commission of Inquiry unearths any incidents of abuse.Minister Frank AnthonyThe Minister made the comments while disclosing that the Ministry has begun selecting members who will sit on the Commission that will investigate the circumstances that triggered the recent unrest at the juvenile detention centre.He also disclosed that the Terms of Reference for the Commission are ready and will be released today.Dr. Anthony said that even before the passing in 2010 of the Juvenile Offenders Amendment Act and the Training School Amendment Acts which prohibit corporal punishment, “there was a policy not to allow corporal punishment at the NOC.”“When this Commission is put in place, if there are any such allegations (of abuse) and they are proven,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, then we will deal with those persons…whatever the findings we will abide by them,” Dr. Anthony told Kaieteur News.Kaieteur News has been told that some of the escapees alleged that they were physically abused, though a senior Ministry of Culture official said that none of the juveniles made such allegations to the team that visited the detention centre.During his recent visit to the facility,wholesale nfl jerseys, Dr. Anthony had told reporters that from initial statements of NOC staffers, it was suggested that inmates of the facility had become hard to control since?the banning of corporal punishment.Concerning the Commission of Inquiry (COI),Cheap NHL Jerseys Adidas, Minister Anthony said that his Ministry has been speaking with a number of people whom they were selecting to be on the Commission.“Some had to check their time schedules. They will have to go to Essequibo to spend time,Kyrie Irving Jersey, and by tomorrow (today) we will be able to finalise members.”The members of the Commission are likely to include officials from the Ministry of Human Services’ Probation Department, and the Guyana Police Force. Dr. Anthony indicated that no international institutions would be involved, although a source had suggested that personnel from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) may be approached to participate.Some Opposition parties and organizations have expressed doubt that the Commission of Inquiry will solve the issues that caused the unrest. The PNCR has called for an independent Commission, while asking the Ministries of Human Services and Home Affairs to respond “promptly and sympathetically” to the needs of the young students, with the aim of preventing a recurrence.In a recent party statement, the PNCR also said that youths at the NOC “should not be treated or housed like prison inmates, since the Corps “is meant to provide full-time vocational training in a correctional setting for young people to allow students to pursue fulfilling careers.”And a group of individuals known for championing children’s rights called on those in authority to ensure that the juveniles who were charged to be allowed immediate access to independent legal representation in keeping with their rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Guyana is a signatory.The group also suggested that the NOC to be placed “under an independent management committee comprising individuals with the necessary expertise, experience, interest and knowledge of human rights law and practice to run a successful juvenile rehabilitation centre.”File photo: One of the burnt buildings at the New Opportunity Corps, Onderneeming, Essequibo Coast.It was on Wednesday August 22, that 120 NOC inmates staged a daring escape from the detention centre.The police were successful in recapturing some, while the others turned themselves in the following day.At around 19:45hrs on Thursday, August 23,Wholesale China Jerseys, some of the juveniles set fire to the tailor shop and the female dormitory.Forty-eight youths have since been charged with arson and escaping from a training facility.