Increasing cases of sexual abuse of children should worry us all

SOCIETY

By Joseph Waninda

In Uganda, barely a day passes without media reports on cases of defilement, or other forms of sex related crime against children. Children are being subjected to sexual abuse within their communities, schools and homes yet these are the very places they should feel the most secure and safe.

A recently released Violence Against Children (VAC) report commissioned by Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development indicates that 35.3% of girls and 16.5% of boys experienced sexual abuse in childhood. According to the Annual Crime Report, 14,985 defilement cases were reported in 2017 compared to 17,395 cases in 2016. While this figure presents a 14 % a drop, the fact that these cases happens daily should worry us all and calls for the need to address it once and for all.

While communities know and understand that defilement is crime, there is weak law enforcement. Offenders collude with parents and guardians of the victims. The negotiations are usually illegal, but the high rates of illiteracy linked with poverty in rural communities make residents ignore legal proceedings. The most common causes of defilement therefore have been ignorance and illiteracy, poverty, cultural beliefs, ignorance of the law, sharing accommodation with older children which exposes them to early sex, child neglect as parents abdicate their duty of parenting; offering proper guidance and advice, permissiveness and generally moral degeneration.

The Ugandan law defines defilement as the act of having sexual intercourse with a girl under 18, while rape is having sex with a woman without her consent, usually by force. Often defilement involves relatives, married men, religious or professional people in the community. Worse still, some men rape or defile their own daughters.

Rape and defilement can lead to in physical injuries inside and outside of the body (including cuts, tears, severe bleeding and damage to internal reproductive organs, which sometimes requires surgery); psychological damage to victims (including depression, fear, anxiety, mistrust and sometimes suicidal thoughts), unwanted pregnancies, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, Interruption of schooling (as victims are often forced to drop out of school), social stigma, infertility or even death.

This therefore calls for the need for stakeholders to play their role in ensuring that children live in safe and loving environment free from any form of abuse. The government, parents, law enforcement officers, religious, cultural leaders and girls themselves all have a role to play. Parents abdicating their role especially need to be apprehended and should face the law lest defilement will dominate court and police statistics. Many children, especially the girls, are exposed to these acts by their parents and guardians. Very many young girls are seen in most parts of the country vending maize, roasted meat, tomatoes, bananas and other goods at awkward hours.

With the help of the government and other stake holders, this problem can be overcome if we have the determination, zeal and the right strategies to handle defilement and deal with poverty, ignorance and illiteracy.

This will call for the need to intensify enforcement of the law to ensure offenders are prosecuted to protect the girl child. Change the norms which allow communities to negotiate out of court as this perpetuates the vice- a common practice in poverty-stricken areas.

The government and all stakeholders including but not limited to social workers should also sensitize communities about the dangers of defilement and the referral mechanisms for reporting and addressing it.

The media has done well in publishing reports and incidents of defilement, this must continue for parents and communities to know the extent of the problem and the dangers it poses.

More awareness is needed for law enforcement agents on how to deal with defilement because victims of defilement in most instances need reassurance that the reporting of the case will not harm them further by questioning their integrity or publicizing the information although they too need protection.

But most importantly, there is need to engage and empower key actors in designing and implementing strategies that help to "completely" curb child sexual abuse. Parents, caregivers, service providers and practitioners from different disciplines, community members, local leaders, decision-makers and policymakers are all critical team members. Their participation ensures policies are contextually relevant, applicable in the local context and are implemented in a coherent and coordinated way.

At the end of it all, it is the responsibility of all of us to ensure that children live in a secure and safe environment free from any form of abuse since they hold the "keys to the future of this Nation."

The writer is a communications specialist