Child sex abuse and crime against children are on the rise, but what is reported is barely the tip of the iceberg, experts claimed on Saturday.
They shared their views at a discussion, ‘Setting the Agenda for Safety of Children’, focussed on prevention as a tool to counter abuse.
Chaitra Talwar, Director of B.SAFE, an NGO looking into child sex abuse, said it is essential that parents get involved in personal safety education.
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“Sex education in India is not effectively implemented. Hence, children still don’t know what safe and unsafe touch is. If they are not educated about this, they are highly unlikely to report abuse,” said a parent whose child faced a problem. The incident was reported, but she said her child opened up about the abuse because issues of touch had been discussed in their family. “In many families, such discussions do not happen. Even if the child is abused, he or she will not speak about it,” she said.
The problem is evident in the data of the National Crime Records Bureau. In 2015 - which is the latest released report - there were 94,172 cases of crime against children, a significant rise from 89,423 cases reported in 2014.
An earlier study commissioned by the Government of India found that 53% of the children faced sexual abuse.
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“Abuse takes several forms and need not just be sexual,” says Neha S.M., psychotherapist. “Abuse can also be touch, visual, verbal, and also violation of personal space. As a society, we have to stop telling the child to forget, forgive and adjust,” she said.