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SEXUAL ABUSE |
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SEXUAL ABUSE |
Unspoken Miseries A considerable number of
children are subjected to one or other forms of sexual abuse, according to a study By SANJAYA DHAKAL - A man living in a rented room invited a
12-year-old girl and showed her dirty movies. He used to exhibit his private parts to the
child. - A teacher in a private school used to
penalize his girl students of 8-10 years by making them kiss to him or other boys of the
class. He used to make them sit in his lap and peeped while girls climbed up the stairs. - A domestic worker sexually molests a
9-year-old boy in the house were he works. These are few snippets of case studies of
sexual abuse of children in Kathmandu valley. Due to prevalent social conditions and
traditions, the issues of sexual abuse of children in the country have never been raised
at national or local level. But to find out the reality of the situation, Child Workers in
Nepal Concerned Center (CWIN) and Save the Children — Norway, Nepal (SCNN) recently
conducted a comprehensive study on the issue in Kathmandu valley. The study was done among over 5600 children
of the valley in 2002/2003. The findings of the study have revealed that there is a
problem of sexual abuse of children in the country. Around 13 percent of the respondent
children mentioned experiencing one or more contact forms of sexual abuse that included
kissing, fondling private parts, oral sex and penetrative sec. It included 13 percent of
the respondent boys and 14.5 percent of the respondent girls. "The study will be helpful in finding
out the realities of our society and it will be useful in targeting future programs to
address these kinds of problems," said Gauri Pradhan, president of CWIN. According to the study, use of obscene
language is on the top of the child sex abuse with 45 percent of the children experiencing
it. In most cases, "friends" used obscene language in case of the boys while
"strangers" used it in case of girls. Fifty-eight percent of respondent boys and
27 percent of the respondent girls were exposed to obscene language. The most common place of abuse was the
street/market (40.4 percent) and schools (30.2 percent). "This is a disturbing
revelation. People send their children to school thinking they will be most safe there.
But problems exist even in schools," said Pradhan. Study reveals that abusers are as young as
16 year olds. Children within 11-14 years age group seemed to be more vulnerable than the
other age groups to all types of sexual abuses. About 12.5 percent of girls reported
relatives including family members as the abusers while 7.1 percent of boys mentioned
them. "This clearly signifies incest, if it was penetrative sex. A wide range of
persons identified by children as abusers show that there is an abuser in every kind of
person and that children are also vulnerable within the safe circle," states the
study report. Among those who have experienced contact
forms of abuse, 14 percent of boys from private schools and 20 percent from public schools
identified neighbors as abusers. In the case of girls, 7.7 percent from private schools
compared to 23.6 percent from public schools mentioned neighbors as abusers. Among the respondent children 216 included
out of school children like street children, factory workers and so on. Most of them
reported fondling, and kissing from strangers, family members, the house ownerís son in
the case of domestic workers or those in rented houses and caretakers. Almost all street
children reported experiencing all types of sexual abuse. Most of them had had sexual
relationships with multiple partners of different ages and both genders. Some older street
children had been having sexual relationships with younger street children. Interestingly, almost 40 percent of the
private school students watched obscene materials on the Internet while below 10 percent
from public schools reported doing so. |
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editor: spotligh@mos.com.np |
