PESHAWAR: Parental openness key to protection of child rights
By Our Correspondent
PESHAWAR, Dec 23: Generation gap and complex socio-economic conditions have been regarded as two major reasons for increasing incidents of violence against children and violation of child rights in the country.
According to Peshawar-based representatives of non-governmental organizations working on child rights, their research reveals that lack of communication between children and parents and unfavourable economic conditions were two main reasons responsible for increasing violence against children in society.
Dr Iffat Hussain, expert at the Child Psychology Institute of Education and Research, University of Peshawar, tol Dawn that the biggest reason for the increase in abuse cases was lack of parental involvement with their children.
Children, she maintained, were at the receiving end because of neglect on the part of their parents who, irrespective of whether they were poor or rich, they did not have time for their children.
Children coming from slums with low socio-economic background and children from the elite class both faced lack of communication with their parents. These children are not given confidence by their parents to speak out.
"A child is taught submission to elders from the very beginning. His submission to his elders, religious and school teachers makes him an easy prey to abuse and not to speak about it," Dr Hussain said.
The children can be saved from being victims of such criminal acts by giving them their right to raise their voice. The parents should be open up with their children and discuss their problems openly with them.
"Openness at home and change in parental attitude can give a child confidence to speak about any such violation or abuse to him," Dr Hussain said. The reason the parents still do not openly discuss and educate their children about sex has made it a social taboo.
The child is faced with many temptations in a restricted society, the society that is not so open, and this social taboo is the reason a victim of a sexual abuse never raising his voice against this violation, Dr Hussain said.
On the other hand, abuse of children has devastating effects on their life later on. These children who are abused grow up in fear and their personality is shattered. These children have many interpersonal problems in forming relations with others.
"They are usually timid, lack confidence and live with a poor self-image," said Dr Iffat Hussain. The sexual abuse not only destroys the child's personality but the physical and psychological environment and attitudes towards them turn such abused individual into an abuser later in his life.
"The abused child grows up into an abuser himself and he does it unconsciously," said Dr Hussain. The sexual abuse also has negative impact on their academic achievements as these children have poor mental capabilities.
They have a pessimistic approach towards things in life as they grow up with a feeling of guilt. The annual report of the Society for the Protection of Rights of the Child (Sparc) 2003-2004, entitled The State of Pakistan's Children, published recently also indicates that the sexual abuse of children was widespread and multifaceted in Pakistan but little data on its prevalence was available.
It is difficult to help children who are victims of abuse because of secrecy shrouding it. As a result, abused children suffer innumerable problems, both physical and emotional, which may mar their lives forever, says the Sparc report.
Children have been abducted, raped, sodomised, molested, used in prostitution and trafficked for sexual exploitation. The children as young as six months old have been victims of sexual abuse but the most vulnerable are between six and 10 years of age, according to another study conducted by an NGO, Rozan.
According to the Sparc report, figures collected from the media 1,788 child abuse cases were reported in 2003, which was a marked increase from 679 cases reported in 2002. The increase may be attributed to a higher incidence of abuse or to greater sensitisation of media towards giving coverage to such incidents.
The cases involved 526 boys and 1,262 girls, revealing that girls were more vulnerable to sexual abuse as compared to boys. The cases reported included kidnapping, molestation, rape, sodomy, gang rape, gang sodomy and murder of children, the Sparc annual report says.
Statistics also reveal that most abusers in such cases were known to their victims, people that children trust and fear the least and use the relationship to maintain their (abused child) silence.
Children had also been abused in the name of customs, as is evident from the commonly accepted practice of using the boys for sexual pleasure in some parts of the NWFP and elsewhere in Pakistan.
Keeping a boy for sexual pleasure is considered 'a symbol of pride and status'. The sexual exploitation of boys with cultural sanctions is a gross violation of their rights to survival, development, protection and participation.
It results in life long threatening consequences for the physical, psychological, moral and social development of children. The problem of child sexual abuse in Pakistan is greater than previously acknowledged; safety nets are inadequate, there are insufficient facilities to provide appropriate support to the high demand of child victims of sexual abuse, the Sparc report says.
