According
to the World Health Organisation, child sexual abuse means “involving a child
in sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give
informed consent to, or violates the laws or social taboos of society”.
Sexual
abuse of children gained public interest after publication of the report by the
Women and Child Development Department entitled ‘Study on Child Abuse India
2007’. The report estimated that “more than 53% of children in India have
probably been sexually abused and many have never shared the fact of this abuse
with anyone”. Also, recent child sexual abuse cases in India have pointed to the
need for stringent legislation and action on this poignant issue.
The report
says, “One of the major problems in understanding the scope of the subject of
'child abuse' is that it is extremely difficult to get responses from children
on such a sensitive subject because of their inability to fully understand the
different dimensions of child abuse and to talk about their experiences. It is
therefore difficult to gather data on abused children.” Child rights activists, on the other hand,
argue that the problem may be the lack of skills on the part of the questioners
to create the environment and the trust needed for the child to share his/her
experiences.
Sexual
offences against children can and are committed in situations such as marriage,
trafficking, employment, and many more. It is important to understand the
circumstances that allow and may even be a reason for this abuse. In slums, for example, many families
make their female children marry young as a protection against sexual abuse.
For some parents, marriage this is the only way to ensure that the girl is ‘unavailable’.
Abuse may
also be condoned because of financial considerations. Among the Naths of Bihar,
prostitution is commonplace. When a family doesn’t have a daughter, girls are
purchased from other parts of the state and pushed into sex work so that the
family can live off their earnings. Also, children who work as domestic labour,
or in hotels and restaurants, are susceptible to sexual abuse at the hands of
employers and customers. In addition, children across caste and class lines are
vulnerable to abuse from relatives and friends of the family.
Jenny Kitzinger
(Defending Innocence: Ideologies of Childhood) says that “...the notion
of children’s innate vulnerability... is an ideology of control which diverts
attention away from the socially
constructed oppression of children...”. She suggests that we replace
notions of ‘vulnerability’ with ‘oppression’ and ‘protection’ with ‘empowerment’.
She also denounces the practice of telling a child that s/he “can say ‘no’”. In
her opinion, this gives the child a sense that s/he can resist a power that, in
reality, s/he probably cannot.
Abusers
know that children are less likely than adults to speak about the incident/s; that
even if they do, few will believe them; that even if they are believed,
community members will probably not do much about it, and that even if some
action is taken there are loopholes in court processes that can be availed of.
The draft
of the Prevention of Sexual Offences
Against Children Bill 2011 delineates various kinds of sexual abuse and the
prescribed response to each under the law. In the final section of the Bill,
there is a detailed section that lists responsibilities of various duty-bearers
to the child - police officers, child support services, medical officers and
case workers. It also lists the protocol to be followed during court processes and
by police and medical practitioners. It should be taken into account, however,
that the bill might be difficult to implement in smaller towns and villages,
where basic judicial processes are flawed.
Despite
this concern as to making the Bill operative, almost all stakeholders accept
that current legislation is insufficient to deal with all forms of sexual abuse
on children. They also acknowledge that social workers, superintendents of
residential homes, wardens, counsellors, teachers and family members all need
training and becoming sensitized to the issue, and that a minimum set of
actions must be put in place so people are able to help a child who is being
sexually exploited. It is only by developing better ways of hearing children
and giving them proper support, that effective mechanisms can be created to address their
exploitation.
Source: infochangeindia
