[child-rights] Zimbabwe: Increasing numbers of reported child sexual abuse cases

UNICEF Press release

UNICEF: End the abuse in Zimbabwe

HARARE 23 January 2006 - In the wake of a worsening orphan crisis and
accusations this week against a headmaster who allegedly raped six primary
school pupils, the United Nations Children’s Fund today repeated its call
for communities to speak out against all forms of child abuse.

UNICEF said it was horrified at the continued sexual abuse of children,
most of them primary school pupils, and by those in trusted positions.
Anecdotal evidence from local NGOs and clinics around Harare show child
sexual abuse is rampant. Last year alone, a local NGO recorded 4146 cases
of sexual abuse against children in its area of operation alone.
 
“This is an utterly intolerable violation of children's rights,” said
UNICEF’s Representative in Zimbabwe, Dr Festo Kavishe. “At a time when
Zimbabweans are making phenomenal efforts to absorb more than one million
orphans, there appears a small number who prey on the most vulnerable of
children. It seems that every day there are fresh reports in the local
media about children being abused, sometimes at their schools, other times
by family members, but mostly by figures of authority, trusted figures.
Community leaders need to be explicit in their condemnation of such
abuse.”

Despite growing public concern against child sexual abuse, together with a
child friendly judiciary system in Zimbabwe, reported cases continue to
rise. Recently, school staff members were charged with abusing 52 girls
from one boarding primary school near Marondera (just outside the
capital), while in Harare 14 primary school girls were also allegedly
abused by staff members.

UNICEF, in partnership with Government ministries and several NGOs
supports a national campaign on ‘Zero Tolerance Against Child Abuse’.
“Zero tolerance means ending all forms of abuse against children,” said Dr
Kavishe. "It means stamping out every horrible facet of child abuse and
exploitation.”

As part of the campaign, UNICEF supports the training of trainers'
workshops and community-based education. Participants include government
officials, NGOs, journalists, police and teachers. The children's agency
says it is currently stepping up its work with communities, seeking to
further educate them to spot the signs of child abuse and to tenaciously
protect their children by establishing and supporting functional child
protection committees, where children themselves are represented.

“Community leaders, teachers, mums and dads – these people are the front
line in the fight against child abuse,” said UNICEF’s head of child
protection, Jose Bergua. “If perpetrators are going to be stopped, if
children are going to have the confidence to speak out against these
evils, then authority figures need to make it patently clear that child
abuse in their communities will not be stomached. Silence on this issue
shelters the perpetrators and is a crime against children.”

UNICEF says it remains necessary in Zimbabwe to create a culture of
prevention of child abuse, to mobilise public opinion and action, to
continue to disseminate prevention programs, and to encourage the
denunciation of abuse.
 
UNICEF also says that children who are raped are the most vulnerable to
contracting HIV/AIDS and the organisation called on all Zimbabweans to
vigorously protect these “invisible children”.

“For those children who suffer abuse, the impact can last a lifetime,”
added Dr Kavishe.