Monday, November 22, 2010

Stop Child Abuse

I believe in first creating awareness. Then everything would move on smoothly later on.

unicef

Child abuse is wrong! 
(It was never, or will it ever be, right.)

I have attended numerous talks/trainings on Child Sexual Abuse and ways to prevent it. What have i learnt about child abuse?


Child abuse is best defined as the mistreatment of a child or even the mere neglect of a child can amount to an abuse. They are categorized in four main types which are neglect, physical abuse, psychological or emotional abuse and child sexual abuse. Neglect is the most common form of child abuse.


Most of these cases go unreported. Why?!
The child may not know of his/her own rights. If the child does, he/she may not want to ruin the family name assuming the abuser is a family member (Most abusers are family members or those who are close to the family).


What acts of child abuse i would never want to see again?
I think that all sort of child abuse should come to an end. Whether it is neglecting or  abusing a child (Emotionally or physically)- it should stop. Abuses like these are those that causes harm to the child and worst case scenario, death. 



Neglect- 
Seriously, if you think you are not ready to give everything to the child, why have it in the first place? A child requires emotional (love and affection), physical (Basic needs), education and medical attention.




Physical Abuse-
Do you know that by merely "shaking a child" would amount to abuse? Yeah now you do. If you think your child deserves discipline, do it the right way. If youre just always angry, go to the gym or take up some martial arts classes or something. Dont let everything out on your child! A child is something you have to care for. It is a life brought to this world by you.




Child Sexual Abuse-
This has the highest number of cases among all other types of abuses in Malaysia starting from year 2003-2007 and it increase drastically. Why pick children? They are innocent. Is it because they wont tell? Do you know that this would cause a child to suffer from many problems such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and many more. Satisfy your sexual gratification else where. 




Emotional Abuse-
This may be the hardest to define but this can cause the child to suffer from attachment disorder. Hello!? Why would you say things which would make your child think low of themselves?




There shouldnt be cases of child labour, child marriage, child trafficking, sexual exploitation of a child, violence on the child, discrimination, or even the female genital mutilation (Cutting).


Children should know of their rights where they are entitled to protection (Act 611 which is based on the CRC).


The abuse may affect the child's adulthood and future by making him/her repeat what he/she has suffered to other children thinking that it is a norm between families. This may also mean that they have higher risk of getting cancer due to rib fractures and such.

In addition to that, the child abuse has only became a major problem recently. Therefore, before things gets any worse, it should be put to rest.

I personally like statistics so id like to share some which i found online. 

  • Almost 53,000 children died worldwide in 2002 as a result of homicide.
  • Up to 80 to 98% of children suffer physical punishment in their homes, with a third or more experiencing severe physical punishment resulting from the use of implements.
  • 150 million girls and 73 million boys under 18 experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual violence during 2002.
  • Between 100 and 140 million girls and women in the world have undergone some form of female genital mutilation/cutting. In sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt and the Sudan, 3 million girls and women are subjected to genital mutilation/cutting every year.
  • In 2004, 218 million children were involved in child labour, of whom 126 million were in hazardous work.
  • Estimates from 2000 suggest that 1.8 million children were forced into prostitution and pornography, and 1.2 million were victims of trafficking.
  • 25%-50% of children will experience some form of abuse during childhood.
  • 1/3 girls and 1/5 to 7 boys are sexually abuse before the age of 18.

Frightening eh?

In Malaysia, an increase of 866 cases (Reported) from year 2000 to 2005. And each year, there would be an average of 1000 cases reported. A total of 123 cases were reported in Seremban (Sept 17, 2010).

For more stats of cases occurring in Malaysia, CLICK HERE. (Be prepared, you WILL be surprised).

2006-2009:

Child Abuse Cases

It is said that, "The larger the city, with a denser population, there are more opportunity for perpetrators to commit child abuse." -People are more stressed.


All in all, i think that before becoming parents and before taking responsibility of the child, a parent should consider going for counselling first. If it is strangers or people who are close to the family are those who are abusing the child, parents, please look after your child by maybe checking the background or at least make sure that you have already educated your child on what to do when a situation like that occurs. (I dont know why but i would put the blame on the parents first before the strangers or people close to the family.)

x






"Child abuse does not go away, but 90 percent of child abuse is preventable"

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