Sexual Abuse of Children in Awka, Anambra State Nigeria
The writers begin the article by describing the meaning of child abuse. They state one definition by Crystal (1995) who defined child abuse as the unacceptable treatment of a child to particular culture and time. Child abuse is a serious problem in many countries. There are 10.000 cases reported about child abuse in a year, this number is not included the unreported cases which may be far greater. This is because the children are afraid to tell anyone what has happened and it is difficult to validate a case in legal procedure.
The childhood period is the time of full of joy, happiness, playing around and free from any danger. Therefore, children must be totally protected and provided secure and healthy growth, and their physical as well as psychological needs should be fulfilled adequately to ensure that they childhood time spent well, they argue.
An exploratory research has been conducted by the writers to establish three things: the incidence of defilement in Awka and its environs; the profiles of the victims and assailants; and the situational associated with the problem. In conducting this research, they collected the data and information about the issue from the records of Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) of the State Ministry Justice.
Through the study, they found that the mean age of the victims (children) is around seven, while the assailants’ ages are ranged between 20 and 42 years old and mostly they are unskilled labor. Surprisingly, the majority of the victims had known the assailant before the attack. Because of that, the writers state that the parents should not instruct their children to give relatives and other people hugs and kisses, and teaching them basic sexual education.
Furthermore, when parents deal with the children who have been the victims of sexual abuse, the writers advise, beside giving the children mental health assistance and medical examination, they should provide them a safe environment and reassure them that they did nothing wrong. This is to encourage the children to share what they have experienced and avoid them from developing a negative view about themselves and feeling worthless.
In closing, the writers mention that there is a need to further research about this issue. Using only one method of study is not sufficient, because it left some unanswered questions. Therefore, they suggest conducting another research with a combination of methods of data collection to come out with better result.
