Are our children truly blessed?
Child
prostitution is a problem. This we have heard many times. Measures have
been taken to combat this problem with varying degrees of success.
‘Child prostitution’ has another meaning; children, or rather the terms
‘child’ and ‘children’ are frequently prostituted by all and sundry in
political speech, policy document, articulation of vision, school
reports, school essays, school debates etc. etc.
It is all about celebrating children, protecting children and how
tomorrow belongs to children. Sometimes I feel it’s a whole lot of
nonsense. Last week I got some data (yes, people still do research!).
This was from the Justice Ministry.
Milinda Moragoda, the recently appointed Justice Minister and a man
who can be trusted to shake out the dust accumulated over years of
negligence, boredom and sheer incompetence and a refreshing readiness
and humility to consult experts on subjects he is not familiar with, had
got his officials to submit a comprehensive breakdown of cases pending
before the courts. The data makes for several comments of course. My
attention, however, was caught by a figure related to child abuse.
Looking for a more protective world. File photo |
Out of 14,966 cases pending before the High Courts, 4032 (26.94
percent) were trials concerning child abuse. The region-wise breakdown
indicates that parents, relevant authorities and indeed all citizens in
certain areas should be greatly alarmed.
In Badulla 32.27 percent of pending cases were related to child abuse
while the corresponding figure in Kegalle was 24 percent. Embilipitiya
‘scored’ a whopping 51.26 percent, i.e. more than half the cases that
are awaiting final determination. Polonnaruwa (45.27 percent) Ratnapura
(40.17 percent), Kandy (38.60 percent). Anuradhapura (33.16 percent),
Gampaha (32.81 percent) and Kurunegala (32.66 percent) were the other
‘biggies’.
What do these numbers indicate? First of all, we must caution
ourselves that these refer to only pending cases. So it is possible that
the justice system finds it difficult to dispense of child abuse cases
as quickly as it does other kinds of litigation. The implications are
serious though. I don’t have a break-down of the average duration of a
child abuse case.
The data set indicates that close to 20 percent of all pending cases
before the High Courts are of offences committed before 1999 but there’s
no category-wise break down. We can assume however that a significant
number of cases are ‘old’ (‘significant’ to me would be equal to ‘one or
more’). What does this mean for the abused child?
He/she is abused in the act and abused frequently thereafter.
Finality, or ‘closure’ as it is popularly referred to, comes very late
and this can only be traumatic for the victim. The true repercussions
moreover can never be fully comprehended and there’s no way of telling
what could result on account of this trauma.
I must add that this is a travesty that is suffered not only by
victims of child abuse but all victims of sexual harassment and rape in
whatever form (there is no ‘mild’ in these things).
We’ve heard it often, this thing about justice delayed being justice
denied, but the issue of child abuse tells me that there are degrees of
perniciousness wrought by delay. Every extra day that the victim has to
wait until the Court issues determination is a repeated denial of
justice. Quick closure is the only consolation for the victim and it is
incumbent on the judicial system to correct whatever delay-making flaws
there are to ensure that there is minimal ‘unwarranted punishment’ being
meted out to him/her.
Another critical point to remember is that there is massive
under-reporting when it comes to sexual abuse and especially child abuse
given inherent vulnerabilities and the fact that a significantly high
percentage of the perpetrators happen to be either close relatives or
persons that are familiar to the victim.
Thus, on account of delay and on account of numbers, we really have a
serious problem on our hands. The horror that chills our spines when we
hear of a child being molested is therefore one that is milder than it
really ought to be. We can’t watch over our children every minute of
every day. And when it comes to a point that we can’t trust anyone, not
even a close relative or a teacher we are really in perpetual distress.
Foreboding becomes our constant companion.
I know of people who were abused as children but didn’t utter a word
about it for years, suffering the fear, anxiety and even guilt in some
cases silently and alone while life went on totally oblivious to all
this. Psychologists, perhaps, will be able to elaborate on the damage to
a child’s mind, the implications for his/her future and the impact on
society in general. We can, as laymen, only surmise. It is still
mind-boggling and that’s putting it mildly.
What should be done? Whose responsibility is it to do something about
this? I believe that the judicial system should undergo serious reform
when it comes to streamlining process and clearing backlog. I don’t know
whose responsibility this is, but I am hopeful that Milinda Moragoda
will do what is necessary in this regard. As for preventing child abuse,
it is a matter that the Court system and the law-enforcement authorities
cannot handle on their own.
To begin with, it is impossible to station a police officer inside
every house. It is about awareness, then. It is about giving meaning to
‘may all being be happy’ and ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’. It is
about being vigilant not only about one’s own child but all children
because the person who abuses another’s child could very well abuse
one’s own child at a later date.
I think it is time that the talking stopped. I am getting sick of
‘children are our future’. We are doing precious little to stop a
significant number of children being traumatized, mentally, and
therefore offering our silent consent to a crippled future.
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