Should people sign a consent form before sex? Youth Assembly tackles the big issues

  • Students from six schools take over Chamber for annual debate
  • Topics tackled included sexual consent, immigration, blasphemy and disbanding the States
  • How would you have voted? Take our polls below

STUDENTS from six secondary schools debated topics including immigration and disbanding the States Assembly as part of the annual Youth Assembly on Tuesday.

The post-16 students also had the chance to quiz senior politicians about high profile recent propositions in a mock States sitting.

43 per cent – number of students in Jersey who go to fee-paying schools

44 – number of students part of the Youth Assembly

76 – Supplementary questions asked of senior politicians

The 44 students from JCG, Victoria College, De La Salle, Beaulieu, Hautlieu and Highlands took to States chamber with Constable Len Norman presiding over proceedings.

The Youth Assembly also provided a first for the States chamber with Chief Minister Ian Gorst appearing via video link from London to take part in a 15 minute questions without notice session.

As well as those answering questions, several serving politicians watched the proceeding from the public gallery and seemed suitably impressed by the standard of debate being offered by the students.

This is the 18th year that the Youth Assembly has run with the aim of engaging the Island’s teenagers in politics.

Ayesha Frederick addresses the Youth Assembly

WRITTEN CONSENT BEFORE SEX

CALLS for written consent to be given before engaging in sexual activity were overwhelmingly rejected.

The proposition, brought by JCG’s Amy Vatcher suggested that by obtaining written consent, any ambiguity in rape cases would be removed.

Miss Vatcher also said: ‘The clearest benefits of such a move would be for women as victims of rape, but would also help men who are wrongly accused.’

Freddie Morley-Kirk said that women could easily be tricked or forced into signing such a document, which would then give potential rapists written consent to engaging in sexual intercourse.

To prove his point, the De La Salle student produced a fake contract that 18 female members of the Youth Assembly had signed before the sitting under the guise of a petition.

Isabelle de Freitas of Hautlieu added: ‘Written consent won’t prevent rape and could create more rape cases due to the forging of documents.’

The proposition was defeated by 31 votes to seven with three abstentions.

The Youth Assembly took over the Chamber for the day

IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM SEEKERS

ALLOWING those threatened with persecution in their own countries to seek asylum in Jersey was approved by the Youth Assembly in one of five debates during the sitting.

The proposition brought by Ayesha Frederick of Hautlieu called for Jersey to accept asylum seekers, while another proposition brought by Angus Sugden of Victoria College calling for tighter immigration controls was rejected by the members of the Youth Assembly.

Miss Frederick said while she wouldn’t want to advertise the Island as open, she believed that accepting refugees would show Jersey as a caring Island in a time of global conflict.

De La Salle Jean-Luc Heath agreed with the proposition and said that it was Jersey’s ‘duty to help others regardless of nationality’, while his fellow De La Salle student Freddie Morley-Kirk said that he was ‘more than willing to take a small cut in my standard of living to help others in need’.

Kieran Power said: ‘We would be setting a precedent for Island to help other people. There is no reason to reject other people’s safety and security.’

However, several members of the Youth Assembly disagreed with the proposition and questioned whether Jersey would be able to cope economically and socially if an influx of asylum seekers travelled to the Island.

Elizabeth Bone of Beaulieu said: ‘Morally, I would agree with the proposition but Jersey is unable to provide such assistance. As an Island of 100,000 people, the education and health costs would prove too much.’

The proposition was passed with 21 votes in favour with 16 against.

Meanwhile, calls for stricter immigration controls brought by Mr Sugden were rejected by the Youth Assembly.

Mr Sugden said: ‘The population of Jersey has reached record highs and I believe that we should only allow beneficial and necessary migration which in turn would leave more jobs open for Islanders.

‘As a small Island, we are running out of land – there is a finite amount of people who can live and work here.’

De La Salle’s Zach Martin added that he believed that the current level of immigration was unsustainable for the Island.

A number of the students raised concerns about what tighter immigration controls would mean for businesses which rely on migrant workers and on the current tax revenue.

Ben Jehan said: ‘We have a serious issue in that we have an ageing population. We need young people to come in and pay taxes.’

Meanwhile, Beaulieu’s Imogen Perrée argued that businesses would ‘not be able to function without immigration’.

The proposition was rejected by 24 votes to 15 with three abstentions.

Isabella de Freitas has the floor during the day's debate

THE INTRODUCTION OF BLASPHEMY LAWS

THE Youth Assembly rejected calls from Beaulieu students for the Island to implement blasphemy laws in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in France.

Introducing the proposition, Emily Ashenden said: ‘Fighting terrorism continues to be one of the fastest growing spending budgets in the UK.

‘There need to be rules to prevent conflict in society and the law would need to restrain people from being deliberately offensive to a deity.’

A number of students questioned what blasphemy laws would mean for freedom of speech what would be defined as offensive.

Amy Vatcher of JCG said: ‘I acknowledge that blasphemy can be offensive but such laws would be to the detriment of freedom of speech.

‘The definition of blasphemy is very open in itself. What would determine what is blasphemous?’

The proposition was defeated by 29 votes to 13.

The Youth Assembly debated immigration, blasphemy and sexual consent forms

DISBANDING THE STATES ASSEMBLY

THE States Assembly should be disbanded and a system of inclusive voting across the Island brought in following a further debate in yesterday’s sitting.

Jersey lowered the voting age to 16 in 2008, ahead of that year’s elections.

Members supported a proposal brought by Deputy Carolyn Labey, who had argued that if 16-year-olds could pay tax, get married, have sex and join the armed forces, they should also be able to vote.

It was estimated that giving teenagers aged between 16 and 17 the vote could boost the electoral roll by as much as 2,000.

In the closest vote of the Youth Assembly, students opted to disband the States and a pure democracy established whereby every Islander could vote online on propositions brought forward.

Mr Jehan said that the current Assembly was out of touch with the Island’s youth and that a system of pure democracy would allow everyone’s opinion to be heard.

Hautlieu’s Victoria Ramos said that she thought that a system on online voting was something that should be properly looked into and may encourage younger people to vote.

Maddie Corcoran of Beaulieu rejected the proposition saying that ‘someone would still have to organise this system of voting’ and that rather than promote democracy it could create a dictatorship.

Others questions whether the online voting system could be hacked to produce bad results, however, this was rejected by the De La Salle students who said that similar online voting platforms in other jurisdictions had not been hacked.

The Youth Assembly voted to disband the States by a vote of 18 to 17, with six abstentions.

It was a busy day for the aspiring politicians

– Advertisement –
– Advertisement –