‘About time parents took note of children’s sexual abuse complaints’

As cases of child sexual abuse reach a record high in Pakistan, a panel discussion, held at the Aga Khan University Hospital on Tuesday, brought to fore the role elders, especially parents, need to play in raising children’s awareness about the crime.

Before the discussion commenced, a documentary narrating the ordeal of a child abuse survivor who opens up about the trauma was also shown at the event. Tehmina Shahid, Children Empowerment Association of Pakistan CEO, who was also behind the making of the documentary, said speaking to children about their bodies may save them from falling prey to abusers.

“It’s disheartening to see schools’ management not cooperating when it comes to organising awareness sessions. Even parents hesitate to speak about it — if we try to reach out to a thousand people, perhaps 20 would actually be interested,” she said.

Advisor to chief minister on social welfare, Shamim Mumtaz, while briefing the audience about developments made by the provincial government in the past seven years said, Child Protection Act passed in 2011 was finally being implemented, whereas child protection units have also been established.

However, she felt the clerics needed to clear their misconceptions related to raising awareness about child abuse. “When we try to talk about good and bad touch, some clerics think we are corrupting the youth and create hurdles for us to raise awareness about this menace.”

Shamim also urged the judiciary to pay heed to child abuse cases and speed up their process to do justice to those who have been wronged. Speaking of children’s state of mind following the abuse, clinical psychologist, Rubina Feroz, said elders needed to pay heed to not just children’s sexual but also emotional abuse.

“I strongly feel that elders especially parents or guardians need to give enough room to their children that they open up about their experiences. When parents tend to emotionally abuse children, they become distraught and refrain from sharing such painful instances. This later hampers their productivity because the memories get repressed,” she explained.

When poverty was quoted as a basic reason for abuse, director Imkaan Welfare Organisation, Tahera Hasan, felt the issue was not limited to one class. While acknowledging that majority of the street children brought to Imkaan had been abused, Tahera, however, maintained that children belonging to any class are vulnerable to the abuse.

She said the crime was as rampant in different economic classes as the abuse of women. “If women of different class groups are put together, majority of them would acknowledge that they have been abused,” she explained.

Speaking of awareness, Tehmina stated that parents need to start telling their children about their bodies’ private parts at the same time they teach them about their facial features. “The concept that children would become sexually active if they are taught about their bodies is an odd one because in this age of information, children will find other ways to educate themselves but these ways usually lead to more harm than good.”

Furthermore, she stated that in order for abuse survivors to help others healing is the first step. “I would reiterate that parents take their children seriously, and in case of a child who has been abused they [the parents] need to be the person they yearn for when trauma hits them.”